Chapter Fifteen
Grant
Iwake to the sound of voices. Specifically, Asher’s voice, which is confusing because I’m pretty sure he shouldn’t be here. Not that I’m sure where here is. Or why I’m sleeping when Asher is clearly here, and Quinn too, by the feel of it.
Doesn’t matter. Everything aches, but in a vague way that isn’t quite bothering me yet. Like the day after a hard workout. I’m pressed up against something firm and warm or, wait—
Someone.
Not just anyone. I let out a little hum and turn my face more into Vlad’s chest. His chest hair tickles. I kissed him, didn’t I? More importantly, he kissed me back. I try to fight the grin that wants to spread across my face, but to no avail.
“We know you’re awake, pup,” Asher says. I tense up at first—that’s what they said to me in the van—but Vlad runs a soothing hand up and down my back, and the momentary fear passes quickly.
“Don’t wanna,” I mutter, still not opening my eyes. Vlad’s chest moves, and even if no sound comes out, I know he’s amused. Asher laughs outright, and Quinn lets out a little huff.
“It is almost sundown,” Vlad says quietly. “I thought you might not wake in time.”
I lift my head as I open my eyes, so the first thing I see is his face. My breath catches in my throat. His hair is all mussed, beard and moustache unkempt like he’s been in bed beside me all day. He’s shirtless, too, of course, skin hot and soft beneath my fingers.
It’s not that. Not all that. It’s the fondness in his eyes. Did I never see it before because I didn’t want to or because he was hiding it from me? Either way, for a moment, I can’t breathe, and he stares back at me like he can’t, too.
If I’d thought he might brush the kiss off or pretend it never happened, that thought is gone. My hand drifts to one side and his muscles tense beneath my touch. We’re already in bed. We could just—
Asher clears his throat. Fuck. I whip my head around, heat flooding my face.
I genuinely forgot about them. He’s wearing a shit-eating grin, too, which is fucking rude, considering I was so nice to him about Quinn even though it was obvious from the first time he came back from Mischief & Mayhem that he was head over heels already.
“We can go,” Asher says. Quinn doesn’t even hide the elbow he digs into Asher’s side, and Asher pouts at him, rubbing the spot for far longer than necessary.
“No,” Vlad says. Does he sound reluctant? I reach for our bond, wondering if it’s stronger, wanting to see, but draw back at the last moment. “We have other matters to discuss.”
I groan and sink down the bed again. I don’t let go of Vlad. I don’t want to. Unless he says otherwise, this is how we’re staying. “What did you tell them?”
“About the job so far. Jakob and Eirian. That you—” His voice catches. “That you were out in the sun.”
I sit up so quickly that Vlad startles, jerking back himself. “Oh, fuck! I forgot about that. I can go—Is it still light? I can try again, see if—”
“No!” Vlad and Asher shout at the same time, and Quinn’s gaze ping-pongs between them just the same as mine does. Vlad’s hand is tight around my forearm.
“Not again,” Vlad says.
“Not ever?” I ask.
“You—”
“Because I think I need it.”
The silence that blankets the room is heavy. Vlad and Asher exchange a look, and Quinn frowns.
“Why do you think so?” he asks. He simply sounds curious, though I’m sure he worries about me just like the rest of them.
“I felt… No, I feel hungry.”
“You’re a vampire,” Quinn replies.
“Yeah, but I’ve not been hungry before. I mean, not since—” I look at Vlad. “Not since you turned me. Not like this.”
He frowns, even though I don’t want him to. “How hungry are you now?”
“Not very.” I feel it, though. I’ll make it through tonight, for sure.
Maybe tomorrow. A third night will be a push.
And I wonder if I’m going to need direct sunlight because that is going to be a fucking problem, especially in winter, though maybe I can convince Vlad that we should go somewhere sunny—
“Grant,” Asher says, and I jerk my head up. “You wandered off.”
“Sorry. Just wondering if I need sunlight or, you know, general daylight.”
“It is something to think about,” he replies. “Do you think Maurice will know anything?”
“Doubtful,” Vlad says. He tugs at my arm, the movement almost imperceptible, but I sink into his side all the same.
Quinn’s eyes go big again. I don’t think he wants to make fun.
I think he’s happy for me. “The Huntsman may, but until he returns to the Otherworld, there is nothing we can glean from him.”
“What about Spectra?” Quinn asks. I’ve met her a few times myself. She runs a speakeasy-style bar in London, and I’m pretty sure one of her parents was high fae, the other some other kind. She knows her shit, basically, and she’s very powerful.
“I would prefer not to entrust anyone outside this room with this information until Eirian is captured,” Vlad says. “I believe then we will have little choice.”
I grimace. “About that…”
“What happened?” Vlad asks.
I hesitate before I explain all that took place the night before. Eirian waiting for me in that room. Waking up in the van, the troll pushing me out onto the beach…
And the fact that two vampires and a human got away.
Asher leans back in his chair when I’m finished. “Fuck.”
“Eirian will know you did not burn up,” Vlad says.
“Yeah. And I’m pretty sure the two bodies I”—I wave my fingers in the direction of the wall—“out of here this morning went straight to her. Or somewhere. I don’t really know. It was a weird morning.”
Vlad only sighs. “It was.”
Asher looks like he’s torn between gaping at us and laughing hysterically. Can’t blame him. I’ve been there.
“Right,” Quinn says. “What do we do next?”
Vlad shifts subtly, and I tuck myself against his side even tighter. “I believe our best course of action is to liaise with those here who would fight against Jakob and the others.”
I gape at him. “We can’t!”
“This room is well-warded. I do not believe Eirian would make it through without great effort, which allows us some time to prepare. Bringing Margot and Rachel here—”
“Vlad!”
“It is that or we return to London.”
“What?” I look at him, then at Asher and Quinn. “You can’t be serious.”
“Your job here was only to get Eirian’s name,” Asher says. “We have that. There’s no reason to have stayed at all.”
“Then why did we?”
They’re all silent. Vlad swallows when I look at him, eyes darting away, just for a second. “I believed… I did not want you to wake in London and be angry. Someone needs to stop Jakob. Even if he no longer needs to procure young vampires for Eirian—”
“He’s still a danger,” I say. Fuck, I agree.
But Asher’s right, too—we’ve done the job, even if Vlad got the name in the end because I got myself captured—and the fact that Vlad asked Asher and Quinn to come here and made no moves to get us out of here after sundown— “You didn’t want me to be angry? ”
Vlad looks away entirely then, and I feel the tremble of his embarrassment at being so exposed, but he just admitted that and not only in front of me, but in front of Asher and Quinn, too.
And there’s a thought. “Come back later.”
Quinn laughs, even as Vlad shakes his head and Asher ruefully gets to his feet. “How much later?” Asher asks.
“No,” Vlad says. “We have to—”
“I’ll ring you,” I interrupt. “Time to go.”
Asher’s trying to pay me back for the night we were all at his, when Quinn killed the high fae out to kill the pair of them, but Quinn pushes him from the room and when I hear the click of the door, I turn my whole body to face Vlad.
“Is their room well-warded, too?”
“Of course. And Quinn is more than capable of holding his own against a high fae, should it come to that.”
And I’ll feel that. My power has curled out of me since I’ve woken, extending beyond our room and into the rest of the building. I’ll know as soon as she comes inside.
“Good,” I say and kiss Vlad just like I did this morning.
He doesn’t hesitate to kiss me back. I moan when his tongue slides alongside mine, then do my best to clamber over him.
He pulls back and huffs but helps me straddle his hips, and this gives me a nice new angle to explore.
The way he grabs at my hips when I tip his head back and kiss him again leaves me panting.
Fuck. I’ve imagined all kinds of things but never anything quite like this.
More importantly—I’m still dressed. He isn’t. Well, except for his pyjama bottoms, but they’re thin and the more I move my hips, the more I feel how interested he is in what’s going on. When he pulls back again, the skin around my mouth tingles from the friction of his moustache and beard.
I grin and roll my hips. “What’s the problem?”
“Who said there was a problem?” His eyes are all dark, an amused little twinkle in them I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. My breath catches again, and I can’t help the words that spill out of me.
“I didn’t actually die out there, did I? Like, this isn’t some weird dream before I’m gone forever?”
“No! No.” Vlad’s fingers shake when they stroke down my jaw. “This is real.”
“But you…”
“I what?”
Fuck. I should’ve shut up and let things carry on. In my mind’s eye, I can already see where they’d lead. Get my clothes off, get his bottoms off… Ugh, why am I ruining it?
“Grant.”
“I didn’t think you wanted me like this. I was…” I shake my head. “This morning, I was thinking I didn’t want to regret not making a move.”
“And now?”
“What about now?”
“Where do you want this to go?”
I gape at him. “Vlad. I’ve been in love with you for fifteen years.” As soon as the words escape, I snap my mouth shut. Well. That’s not what I wanted to lead with. Not before our first time.
Vlad doesn’t reply. He stares at me, and either I can’t read his expression or I don’t want to. Probably the latter. He hasn’t instantly reciprocated, which cannot be a good sign, right?
“Grant…”
“Fuck,” I mutter, and when I push away from him and stand on shaky legs, he lets me go. “Fuck, I’m sorry, I should never—”
Where can I go? Not to Asher and Quinn, not when they’re probably getting up to what we could have been doing. Better to know this now, I guess, but it still hurts.
“Grant, I—”
“No, it’s fine. I should… It’s almost sundown, right? You’re right, we should deal with everything. I’ll get ready.”
I flee to the bathroom before he can reply and let out a sigh when I lock the door behind me. Well, that was foolish. At best. I tip my head back against the door. Now the ache feels worse than before, making my muscles shake.
My lips still tingle. I don’t dare look at myself in the mirror because it’s only been a few seconds, so they’ll still be red from our kissing. Did he not know how I felt about him? Why kiss me back?
Doesn’t matter. I bite back a frustrated sound and reach to turn on the shower before I strip out of my clothes. I need to get my head on straight, especially if Rachel will be here. It’s time to get this job truly done.