His lips twitched. “Yes, pigheaded, but it was my fear of loss that kept me away. There’s something you need to know,” Garrett continued. “Right after we met, I stumbled upon this apartment and had this compelling urge to buy it. At the time, I wasn’t quite sure why I needed such a big place, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew it was to build a life with you.” He reached across the table and took her fingers in his, rubbing his thumb across her skin. “Not calling you after everything you’d been through was foolish, but people do foolish things when they’re in love.” He reached behind him and handed her a beautifully wrapped package. “This is for you.”
“Garrett, I…Wait, what did you say?” Her heart began to pound wildly in her chest.
“You heard me. I love you, Gillian. God so much, with all my heart and soul, and every last breath in this hundred-and-fifty-year-old body. I got freaked about not being able to give you a family.”
“We can adapt,” she said, laughing and crying at the same time.
“I’m sorry for being an old-fashioned ass. But if you give me another chance, I promise to make it up to you for the rest of our lives. I vow to be the man you need when things get tough. I’ll be there to dry your tears.” He reached out, caught one with his thumb, and brought it to his lips. “Sweet. I’ll protect you against anything and anyone. You’re the most loving, caring, beautiful woman I’ve ever known.”
“Garrett, I love you so much. I forgive you.” She leaned across the table and gave him a deep kiss. He pulled away and sighed then motioned to the box. “You still haven’t opened it.”
“You didn’t need to get me a present.” She lifted the box and shook it. “Whoa, it’s heavy.” Ripping off the paper, she opened the top to find a set of worn leather books inside. The first edition copies ofPride and Prejudice.“I couldn’t. These belonged to Sadie.”
“I want you to have them, and so would she. I remember you told me that when you moved after your parents’ divorce, the only thing that made the place feel like home were your books. I want you to feel at home with me, Gillian. Always. No matter where you are, you’re my home. Now lift the ribbon.”
“What are you saying?” She glanced down at the book. There was a red ribbon enclosed in the front cover. When she lifted it, a lock of hair was wrapped around it. “You’re giving me your hair? Is this some kind of vampire thing?”
He smiled, his blue eyes crinkling at the corners. “Take a closer look, Gillian.”
When she did, she saw dark hair and a tinge of gray. “What’s this?”
“It’s my hair. I took the potion while you were away. I’m not completely human yet, but the change is taking place and I’m aging, even as we speak.”
“Oh, Garrett.” She leapt up from the couch, and he pulled her into his arms. A flood of happy tears clogged her throat.
He leaned back. Love and passion burned in his eyes. “I want you to move in with me. I moved half of my things out of my closet to make space for you. It’s your home now, if you want it to be. I’ve never lived with a woman before, and you’re the only woman in the world I could ever dream about living with. Please, say yes,” he murmured and placed a soft kiss on her lips.
“Yes! But not right now. I can’t leave Brooke, not after everything she’s been through. Please understand,” Gillian said, lacing their fingers together. “We take it day by day, and in the meantime, I’m available for dates. Do you think you can live with that for the time being?”
He kissed her again more urgently this time, delving his tongue into her mouth with deep, velvet strokes. Butterflies fluttered in her belly. He pulled away, leaving her breathless and happier than she’d ever been in her life. “I can live with that for now. We’ve got a whole lifetime together and it starts now. Remember, baby, I’m not going anywhere.”
Midnight Craving
Arcadia, the demon plane
1324
The air swirled with sand, gritty blasts that caught in Cayden’s throat and stung his eyes. He loathed the desert—loathed the sight of dead grass and tumbleweeds. Trudging through the dunes with two enormous water jugs balanced on his shoulders, he could think of much better ways to pass the time. But this was his job, hisofficium…he was a slave.
This land had once been a Shangri-La, overflowing with lush vegetation and natural springs, but not anymore. Water was now a commodity around here, rationed for their new ruling class, the Coterie. If someone had told him a cadre of vampires would win the war and eventually take over his people, he would've laughed in their face.
Fate could be one twisted bitch.
An acrid blast of sweltering heat hit him square in the chest and made it hard to breathe. Sweat trickled down his back, soaking through to his linen kilt. A former general in the army, he’d been stripped of his uniform and his post. The navy sash around his waist remained, the only marker that delineated him as a former officer. Now cracked lips and an insatiable thirst were his only spoils of war. He’d do just about anything to have a raindrop touch his skin or witness a desert bloom.
War eviscerated hope and any chance of a better future for his people. He tried to tamp down his fury when his nostrils flared with the tang of blood. It was everywhere, winding its way through the canyons turning their once crystal blue lakes to red.
Cayden followed the path from the reservoir to the royal tent. Pushing through the gossamer netting, he walked into a makeshift kitchen set up behind a silkscreen. The tent buzzed with voices and the faint strum of a harp. He settled the jugs on the dirt floor and let out a groan.
“Where have you been? You know better than to keep the queen waiting.”
The soft, female voice made his heart bang against his chest. He turned to find Abigail, one of the slave girls behind him with a teasing smile on her face. Her golden hair wrapped around her small pink horns in long plaits and hung down her back. Blue eyes the color of the sea remained locked on his. He closed the distance between them and scooped her up in his arms. When he lifted her in the air and swung her around, she let out a squeal of pure joy.
“What else can she do to me at this point?” he murmured and set Abigail on her feet. He’d gotten into enough tussles with the royal guard to finally figure out what he could get away with. Maybe that’s why his back looked like a road map of welts and red scars, some of the perils of living under a court filled with ruthless bloodsuckers he supposed.
“Behave yourself. Someone will see us,” Abigail said with a laugh, craning her neck to look him in the eyes. Their relationship remained chaste, never getting the opportunity to do much more than hold hands and kiss, but that would change soon. He planned to make her his for all eternity.
“You go out first and blend. No one will be the wiser.” He winked and tugged on one of her braids.
