His lips brushed my cheek and traced along my jaw, and goosebumps rose on my arms and back as his mouth neared my neck, where my carotid artery pulsed with my lifeblood only inches from his teeth. I felt them graze the base of my throat, and then he stepped away.
I stood motionless, waiting, not knowing what to do, but sensing something important was playing out. I closed my eyes, remembering how I’d felt when I had the crossbow. I’d have done anything for Jared. I’d risked my life by crying out to him and trying to reach the bracelet. Worse, I would have killed without hesitation to save him, even if it had meant I might have died trying.
I felt him move closer, so near I was breathing his intoxicating scent, and I gave myself over to him – whatever he wanted, whatever he needed from me, was his to take. I would offer no resistance. He was mine and I was his, and a strange sense of calm flooded through me as I sensed him only a whisper away.
“No, my love,” he murmured in my ear. “Not here, not now. I would rather die than that,” he said, and stepped away. He moved toward Victor and called to me over his shoulder, “Stay there. I’ll deal with this mess and be back for you in a moment.”
I trembled like a sapling in a hurricane when he vanished into the night, my heart fluttering as I tried to understand what had just passed between us. When he returned a few minutes later, I could feel his energy, his strength, more powerful than only moments before, his vital essence radiating from him like a beacon. He retrieved the crossbow and took my hand, and we walked through the drizzle toward the water, my steps still unsteady but his sure and measured.
The sailboat was beached beside Victor’s motorboat. I turned to look at Jared, barely able to make him out, and then leaned into him. “What did you do with him?”
“Don’t ask.”
“Seriously.”
A long pause, and then his voice, soft as a summer wind. “There’s a well on the other end of the island. He’ll never be found.”
“Are you sure?”
He squeezed my hand and chuckled. “Don’t worry. I have some experience with this.”
Chapter 35
Jared and I sat in his rental car by the Ridley gate, holding hands like high school crushes, though the events of the prior night were still vivid in my mind. By the time we’d made it back to the mansion, Jared had completely healed. The miracle of his anatomy had regenerated the damaged areas without any lasting ill effects. I, on the other hand, had been exhausted, and had collapsed onto the bed within moments of walking into the bedroom. My body, after all, required more than an hour or two to heal itself.
We’d spent the next day in each other’s arms as much as we’d dared, Jared’s willpower stronger than mine, and after an afternoon visit to a doctor to confirm nothing in me was broken, I’d decided that I wanted to return to Ridley while we worked out how to move forward. There were no easy answers to the questions we faced, but we’d talked for hours, and it was obvious that whatever happened, we would find a way to be together.
Jared raised my hand to his full lips, kissed the back of it lightly, and then smiled at me, his blue eyes hidden by his sunglasses. I did the same with his and sighed in frustrated contentment.
“You’re shooting tonight?” I asked.
He nodded. “That’s right. Only two more weeks to go at Ridley, and then we spend a month at the studio for some interior scenes, and it’s a wrap.”
“In Hollywood?” I asked, trying not to sound alarmed. The idea of being separated from him that long instantly made me anxious.
He shook his head. “No. Jersey. That way I can fly back every couple of days and see you – and maybe you can come down on weekends.”
“You had me worried for a minute.”
Jared grinned. “No way am I letting you out of my sight for any longer than I have to.”
“That’s what you say now. Once you’re heading back out on tour, I have a feeling the story might change.”
“We need to figure that out. I won’t go if you can’t come with me.”
I shook my head. “That’s crazy. Of course you will.”
“No. If it’s a choice between supporting the new album or being with you, you’re going to win that one every time,” he said, his tone earnest.
“Maybe I can fly out when I don’t have classes.”
He frowned, unconvinced. “I want you with me every minute, Lacey. We’ve spent too much time apart already. Many lifetimes.”
“But that’s impractical. You can’t just trash your career because I can’t hang out on your tour bus.”
He waved a hand. “I don’t care about that. Nothing else matters but you and me, Lacey. The music was just a distraction.” He squeezed my hand. “This is what really matters.”
“That’s not fair. The songs are really good, and you’ve worked so hard…”
He leaned over and kissed my cheek. I was comfortable enough with him now to where I didn’t recoil, even though it was the side I’d spent so much of my life keeping hidden. “Don’t worry,” he said softly. “We have some time before I need to commit to anything.”
“And we still need to decide what we’re going to do about…us,” I reminded him.
Much of the day had been devoted to discussing our few options. Jared insisted that he could control himself around me as long as we didn’t get too hot and heavy, but that wasn’t a long-term solution – I wanted more than an occasional peck on the cheek, and I could tell he did, too. That only left two possible choices: I had to become a vampire again,
