“Are you hungry? Whitney saved dinner for us.” Trent eased into an upright position. “I can go get it.”
I shook my head and stretched. The pain in my ankle had subsided, and now it was only tender as opposed to sharp and stabbing.
“Wait. You didn’t eat, either?” I asked.
“I didn’t want to wake you, and I really didn’t want you to wake up and find me gone again.” He reached for me, and I curled up against his side. “Besides, being here with you was a million times better than being downstairs with all of them.”
“Thank you.”
“How’s your ankle?”
“Seems to be better. Guess I’ll find out when I try to walk on it.” But for the time being, I was perfectly content to sit with Trent. I didn’t want to be anywhere else. “If you want to go eat, I don’t mind,” I said.
“Sounds like you’re trying to get rid of me.”
I glanced up at him, and he winked, sending my heart into a maelstrom of flutters. I wasn’t sure I’d ever understand why he chose to be with me, why he loved me over anyone else, but I knew it was a gift to be cherished.
“Do you ever wish you were with someone like Whitney?” I asked.
“What?” He laughed like that was the most ridiculous thing ever. “Why would you ask me that?”
I shrugged. “I don’t mean Whitney specifically, but someone like her, a…”
“Vampire? It’s okay to say that word.”
“Okay, fine. Do you ever wish you’d fallen in love with a vampire instead of me?” I turned my face away from his and rested my head on his shoulder. “I mean, it would be so much easier for you, wouldn’t it?”
“In the long run, yes, I suppose it would be easier if I were in love with a vampire. But none of that matters because”—he gently gripped my chin and turned my face toward him—“I’m in love with you, Chloe, and nothing’s ever going to change that.”
The fierce devotion in his gaze was too much to handle. I didn’t deserve someone like him, someone so loving and loyal and protective.
“What about you? Do you wish you’d fallen in love with a human rather than me?” he asked.
An instant knot formed in my stomach. Of course, he’d throw my question back at me. “No,” I said.
He raised a brow. “Not even now, when a coven of witches is coming for you, and you’re forced to hide from your family?”
“No,” I repeated, scooting up so our faces were closer.
Regardless of whether I’d ever met Trent or fallen in love with him, I would have ended up in the same exact situation I was in right now—the only person able to break the Halstead curse. One way or another, I was supposed to be with Trent. There was no debating that fact or fighting it.
I cupped the side of his face and brushed my lips over his. He welcomed my kiss, allowing me to have complete control.
He’d told me he loved me, that he couldn’t lose me, and Jax insisted that Trent and I would be together until the day I died—the same day that I unavoidably destroyed Trent. But… did Trent really want that? Did he want me until death? Or longer? I needed to know for certain.
“If you weren’t cursed, and I wanted to become a vampire, would you change me?” I asked, barely moving my mouth from his.
“Yes,” he said without hesitation.
I flung my leg over his waist and straddled him. “You’d really want to be with me—just me—for an eternity?”
“Yes.” His tone was forceful, insistent. He ran his hands up and down my thighs before settling them on my hips. “Your mortality scares me, Chloe. I have nightmares about it.”
I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat. I held the power to not only break his family’s curse but to rid Trent of his greatest fear. Why was I so terrified to do so? I loved him. I hated the thought of hurting him, and I had no intentions of ever being with anyone but him.
“Not that any of that matters,” he said sadly. “Even if I weren’t cursed, you already said you don’t want to change.”
Tears stung my eyes, and I blinked to keep them at bay. I had said that to him, more than once. “If there was no curse, and I insisted on not changing, you seriously wouldn’t force me?” I asked, my tone full of wonder.
He titled his head, a momentary flash of hurt flickering behind his clear blue eyes. “Why are you so afraid of that?” He sat up straighter, bringing his body flush against mine, and he took my face into his hands. “I would never take that choice away from you. And I’d kill anyone else who ever tried.”
I crushed my mouth over his. He parted his lips, his tongue twisting around mine in a tempting dance. My heart was seconds away from exploding out of my chest, and every nerve in my body tingled with desire.
“Tell me what it means to be your soulmate,” I whispered.
A throaty groan rumbled from his chest. “It means we’re forever connected. Physically. Emotionally. We can feel what the other person feels. Their pain. Their love and desire. Their wants and needs.”
That explained why I was able to always sense him when we were in Malibu, before I’d regained my memories. The moments when we instinctively moved together like we just knew.
He nipped at my bottom lip. “I’m already yours, so everything I do is to make you happy, to protect you. But until you let me claim you—if you let me claim you,” he amended with a small smile, “you’re free to be with whoever you want.”
Like there was anyone else I wanted to be with. “And what happens after you claim me?” I asked.
“Then you’re mine. You’ll never want to be with anyone but me, and you’ll have this desire
