one last time.”
He glared at me. “That’s not funny.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I’ve waited too long to see you and hold you again for it to come to such a gruesome ending,” he said, making an effort to keep the mood light. He took my hand and kissed the tips of each of my fingers, then my engagement ring. He lifted the pendant off my chest and noticed the key still hanging there.
“You really waited,” he murmured.
“Of course.”
“Lucas said they’d convinced you I was dead.”
I shuddered at the thought, then shook my head. “The only news I ever heard was just a couple days ago. A video sent to convince me…but I just couldn’t believe it. I knew I still needed to hang onto the hope for you.”
“Thank you,” he whispered as he let go of the pendant, his fingers brushing lightly against my neck.
“Did a vampire really bite me?” I asked, his touch on my throat reminding me.
His face went dark and he frowned. “I’m sorry I didn’t get there in time.”
“You were just in time.” I remembered the blonde bending over, her mouth at my throat, and shuddered. “So how come I’m not a vampire now?”
“You have Amadis blood and Daemoni blood. Vampires are nothing compared to that combination. Besides, it takes more than just a bite.”
“Oh.” I shivered, remembering the hatred I’d felt for the blonde. “Who is she?”
Tristan grunted. “Do we really have to talk about her?”
“You don’t want to tell me.” It wasn’t a question. History apparently existed between them, history he didn’t want me to know about. Possibly even recent history. My heart shrunk at the thought. Did he faithfully wait for me as I had for him? Did he have a choice? These were unknowns I wasn’t sure I wanted the answers to. I just wanted to be happy he came back to my side—that he wanted to be here with me and nowhere else. But still…
He rolled over on his side and sighed heavily with resignation. Here it comes. “Vanessa is just a spoiled brat who somehow got the idea in her head a long time ago that she and I should be together and she won’t give up.”
My throat worked overtime as I tried to swallow the disappointment. “So you and her…?”
He lifted my chin with his thumb to look into my eyes. “Never.”
I blew out a sigh of relief. I hadn’t even realized I held my breath.
“She doesn’t seem to think so. And she certainly doesn’t like me.”
He chuckled. “She’s used to getting everything she wants and doesn’t like to be told no. I’ve told her ‘no’ many times. In fact, given the choice, you are my only ‘yes.’”
“So no others I should be worried about?”
“I don’t think so.”
My stomach rolled. “You don’t think so?”
His voice came soft and low. “Alexis, I’ve been around a long time. You know I had a past, but no one else has pursued me anything like Vanessa.”
I bit my lower lip and nodded. “So no one…” My breath hitched as I forced the words out. “…more recently?”
He braced my face in his hands. “Absolutely not. Only you, my love. You have my heart, my soul…my everything. I would have let them kill me before betraying my love for you.”
I searched his eyes and only saw sincerity. And deep-rooted, soul-bound love.
Feeling guilty for even doubting him, I cupped my hand around his face and brushed my thumb over his cheek. “I love you, my sweet Tristan.”
“And I love only you, ma lykita. Always.”
“I remembered her from a long time ago, when she and the others attacked me before we moved to Florida….” That whole night came back to me with perfect clarity and I remembered being attacked with a certainty I’d never had about it before. I had been right. I hadn’t mixed up the details or confused the real events with a dream, as I had thought…as Mom had made me believe. There had been a witch and a werewolf and Vanessa the vampire.... “Holy hell! That was you and Owen who saved me!”
He chuckled. “I wondered if you ever figured that out. I’d been watching you that night. Owen was hanging out with me.”
“So what took you so long? They would have killed me!”
“We would have never let it get that far, but, first, we had to see just how far they would go. If we stepped in unnecessarily, Sophia would have killed us for breaching the secrecy. But when Vanessa showed up, I made Owen go in. And then…I just couldn’t help it. I couldn’t just watch without helping him. It was reckless on my part—not knowing if I’d want to hurt them…or you.” His voice trailed off at the thought, but then picked up again. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you before. Sophia said you couldn’t know. In fact, Owen was supposed to erase the details from your mind, but he couldn’t bring himself to do the job completely. He didn’t think it right and I thought you deserved to know enough to be aware and alert. But Sophia disagreed. She insisted that you at least thought the attack was a dream, until…well, until now, I suppose.”
“Do you know I dreamt of you every night after that? Of course, I didn’t know who you were then. And then the dreams stopped—” Oh! I smiled. “They stopped the night I met you, well, when we actually met, that first night of college. Do you remember that night?”
“How could I forget?” He smiled at the memory. “I thought converting to the Amadis changed my life forever, but I still lived in the shadows. My own shadows, not theirs anymore, but still a darkness as deep as the night. When I met you…it was like someone finally turned the light on. Or the sun came out. For months, I could feel something out there, an energy I felt pulled to. But I wanted to resist the draw, not knowing what it was. My darkness blinded me to the truth. It was you—your life and hope and love—pulling me and I didn’t know it until that night.”
We exchanged grins—along with the feeling of knowing something magical had already been in the works, long before we actually met. He kissed me and I returned it. And the passionate desire rose again. Damn it! Damn them! Before I got carried away, only to be disappointed, I pulled back and reluctantly rolled out of bed. I really didn’t want to leave his side, part of me still afraid he would be gone when I returned, but I couldn’t put some things off any longer.
“I can’t believe you left me in this disgusting dress,” I said as I headed into the bathroom.
“I didn’t trust myself to undress you.” He paused, then added lightly, “I might’ve taken advantage of you.”
“Yeah, right.”
I looked at myself in the mirror. He’d left the blood-stained dress on me, but it looked like he’d removed all the glass—no lumps under my skin—and cleaned up the cuts. They were completely healed now and only a few specks of dried blood remained. I wondered if he had healed me. At one time, that had freaked me out—his ability to heal other people—because he had to suck my blood. Not for nourishment, like a vampire, but to clean the wound because it couldn’t heal itself. Now, though, I didn’t care if he’d healed the cuts and didn’t even ask. I drew in some deep breaths and I felt well, healed. Pulling the dress over my head didn’t hurt at all. I tossed the ruined dress into the trash.
I stood under the hot shower—our shower, it felt natural to be in here now—and let the water flow over my body. It felt remarkably good, washing away years of crusted-on pain and darkness. All of my anger flowed away and swirled down the drain. I wanted to stand there forever, but I also wanted to hurry, to be back in Tristan’s arms. When I turned around, though, I saw him watching me from the bathroom door. A minute later, he stepped in to join me, my soap and shampoo in his hands. His hair hung loose now and to his shoulders, falling in his face. I brushed it away and his eyes smoldered.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
He smiled. “I’m sure I can’t stand it any longer.”
He pulled me into his arms and we were finally flesh against flesh. The electricity jolted between us and it had never felt so good. Every touch shocked me. Every kiss on my neck, my chest, my breasts sent a current through my nerves, making my body throb desperately in anticipation. I was so hungry for him. It had been so
