Chapter 15 Definitely Do Rile the Vampire
DEFINITELY DO RILE THE VAMPIRE
RAYA
With the full moon overhead, I expected to be shifting on and off at least every hour, and although I’ve felt the tingles that often or more, it’s only resulted in a partial shift a few times today.
So, pretty much like any other day, but at least it isn’t worse.
As I'm packing up from the last breakout group of the day, I realize I'm excited to see Asher. Not only that, but I think we’ve been flirting.
I'm avoiding inspecting it too closely, afraid of what it might mean for my mental health that I'm having feelings—giddy, bubbly feelings—for a semi-evil vampire.
I consider calling Zuri about it, but discard that idea as quickly as it comes.
The guilt is heavy on my shoulders for keeping this secret from her, but I know how Zuri feels about him, and there’s no way she would understand.
If I do talk to anyone about it, whatever “it” might be, I would need someone much less biased.
Since I don’t have anyone like that in my life, it’s basically me going in blind and hoping for the best.
Always a good strategy.
Sighing, I loop my work bag over my shoulder and meander down the hallway to the exit. Maybe I’ll find him at the bar, or he might already be back up in the hotel room.
“Oof.” I run straight into a brick wall as I round a corner. My nose bounces off said wall, which smells suspiciously delicious, and I pinwheel my arms as my balance is thrown backwards.
An arm encircles my waist, and my balance alters again. This time, when my nose catches that cedar-smoke scent, I recognize that it is not a wall, and is in fact a muscled chest. A very solid, very broad, very defined vampire chest.
“Why are you made of rock?” I groan, voice muffled and nasally due to my hand covering my smarting nose.
“I’m… sorry?” Asher’s baritone voice is hesitant but amused, and I narrow my eyes when I look up at him.
“You should be. I’m surprised my nose isn’t broken.”
I'm only half joking, and his lips twitch up in response as we turn and head to the exit together.
“That sounds terrible. How can I make it up to you?”
“Tacos," I say, no hesitation.
“Haven’t you had tacos, like, every day of this trip so far?”
I stop walking and simply blink at him, eyebrows raised.
“Right. Tacos it is," he says, and I grin at the ‘why did I even ask’ look on his face.
His eyes immediately latch onto my mouth, and my smile turns a little crooked with mischief. I open the door and turn back to him.
“Soooo, now? Or…”
“Seriously?”
When I don’t relent, he rolls his eyes. “Fine, let’s just drop our bags off first.”
I give him my most disapproving look, then twirl on my toes, striding off down the sidewalk in the opposite direction of the hotel.
“It’ll only take two minutes—” he starts to say, then exclaims in my wake. “For real? You ran into me on purpose, didn’t you? It was all a set up. I’m being played and I fell right into it.”
I bite my lip to hold in a laugh. I didn’t, but the nose ache is worth it. I’m going to remember how fun it is to rile him up.
Asher grumbles under his breath as I devour a Chile Relleno burrito, and I quirk a brow at him when he re-adjusts in his seat for the millionth time.
“What’s your deal today?” I ask, and you might think he was the shifter if you didn’t know better. His impression of a deer in headlights is spot on.
I swallow and lick my lips; his eyes drop to my mouth again, then skim my neck, then lower before quickly averting to the metal high-top table between us.
He clears his throat before a mumbled “M’fine” is aimed at the floor.
Very convincing.
I crumple up the aluminum wrapper and hop up off the tall stool.
“Ready to head back?” I ask.
He pins me with a glare as he pointedly grabs his cross-body leather bag from the table, and I pinch my lips between my teeth.
This is so fun.
I'm pretty sure he’s not actually mad. His lips keep inching up at the corners and I’m determined to get him to break at some point. I will get another laugh out of him if it’s the last thing I do.
We’re both relaxing back at the hotel when I send a text to the family chat, checking in and letting them know I'm doing alright with the full moon. I don’t get a reply, but I didn’t expect one.
I check in with Zuri too, asking if her and Reverie want to FaceTime, but apparently Rev is out of commission—crashed on the couch after a sugar high with evidence sent in the form of a very unflattering picture, and Zuri is about to get in the shower after a run.
Asher is on his laptop at the desk and I can see the screen from where I’m propped on our practice-area floor pillows. A low note of disapproval rumbles from his throat, and I catch sight of a new email at the top of his inbox.
From: Claude Walton
Subject: Urgent
Son, this has gone on long enough. We have important news…
Asher deletes it without opening the message, then snaps his laptop closed. My brows furrow, but his family is a sensitive subject and we aren’t that close yet, so I don’t pry.
“How did today go?” Asher’s voice breaks into my doom-scrolling a short while later, and I struggle to pull myself out of the social media zombie brain I’ve fallen into.
“Fine?”
“I mean with the shifting and the full moon and all that.”
“Oh, right. Yeah, pretty normal actually.” I shrug.
“Cool.”
“How’d your day go?”
“Great, zero unexpected animal parts popping up on my body,” he replies.
“Hilarious," I deadpan as I pin him with a mock glare.
He smirks in response and leans back in the desk chair as he watches me.
The silence between us is palpable, and after a few moments I look intently at his shoulder, just below his left ear. I squint my eyes as I lean forward, then I widen them dramatically.
“What? What is it!” He’s twisting and turning, trying to see whatever it is I see, and I burst out laughing.
Asher freezes with one hand fisted in his shirt, stretching the collar and sleeve as he looks over at me. He drops his hand with a glare and then slowly stands. It’s like a switch flips and the predator has suddenly awoken.
My senses spark with the danger.
He takes a single, deliberate step toward me, and I shriek as I jump to my feet and dive across the room. I'm aiming for the bed, but don’t get there before he intercepts me. He snags my waist and yanks me back into his hard chest.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting with this little game, but tickling was not it.
His fingers somehow find every ticklish spot I wish didn’t exist. I'm laughing and kicking out at him, but I can’t find purchase and somehow he evades every swipe.
Distantly, my skin tingles, but I can’t process in the moment what shift is happening or where.
“You dare play tricks on me, little shifter?” He growls at me, and his fingers dance along my ribs.
“Never!” I twist in his hold as I shriek another laugh, but it cuts off when a thudding sound booms from the wall next to us.
We both freeze for a split second before I turn in his grasp and split into giggles, hiding in his arms and pressing my face into his shirt with both hands covering my mouth.
“Oh my stars, the neighbors! What do you think they thought was happening?”
He doesn’t answer me though, and I peer up at him as my hands drop from my mouth. I vaguely notice cheetah spots fading back into my skin, but my attention isn’t on myself. Asher looks thunderstruck, frozen, and his hands around my waist clench tight.
“Oh, no, it’s okay. I’m sure it’s fine, it’s not like they’re going to kick us out for one noise complaint.” I try to soothe him, gently placing a hand on his chest, but nothing I say changes his demeanor.
“Asher?”
I wait a moment, my head angling to the side, and when his gaze doesn’t follow me, I reach up and boop his nose.
His head jerks back, and he snaps back into the present moment.
“What was that?” he asks, his voice gravelly.
“Me what was that? More like you, what was that!” This is ridiculous. I'm starting to think he might want to get his head checked. I mean yeah, everyone zones out sometimes, but he seems to be doing it a lot this week.
He shakes his head in consternation.
“You good?” I ask, more seriously this time, and he nods as our gazes lock.
“Yeah, I’m good.” His eyes soften as he looks down at me. “Should we try some stretching while we’re here?” He gestures to the blanket under our feet, and I shrug.
“Sure, might as well. You think stretching will help too?”
“I do," he says, and that’s that.
We start with tandem breathing, and I revel in the opportunity to ogle him. Obviously, I need to stare at his chest in order to follow his breathing, and if his t-shirt is a little stretched, who am I to complain when it clings to his muscles like that?
He has to clear his throat multiple times to remind me to do the stretch with him when I stare at his lean muscles for too long without mimicking the movements. I'm beyond feeling abashed for it at this point, so I smirk or shrug before leaning into the stretch.
After he demonstrates a few basic ones, he stands and moves around behind me.
“Keep going,” he says, “I’ll help deepen them a bit.”
I'm surrounded by him as I pull in a deep breath, and when I exhale, his hands urge me a little further into it. We do this in a few different poses, with him adjusting his position around me, and my skin has been tingling for far too many uncomfortable minutes at this point.
“Have I shifted?” I finally ask, blinking up at him from where I’m stretched out on my back and straightening my legs as he pulls away.
His eyes flick along my body. “Not that I can see.”
“Huh. It’s felt like I was going to for a while now.”
His eyebrows jump up.
“Maybe you should try to shift on purpose. If it’s already close to the surface, this could be a good chance to gain some more control.”
I’m kind of annoyed I hadn’t thought of that myself, but to be fair, he’s quite distracting. Especially braced above me with his hands on my skin, pushing my bent leg into my chest. Anyone would be distracted in that kind of situation.
I sit up and curl my feet beneath me. My eyes close as I take a deep inhale, noting how our combined scents fill the room.
I look inward, hunting for that inner animal, the ball of essence my family have all referenced in the past. I think I feel it, but it’s different for me.
It’s all encompassing; rather than sitting low in my chest, it fills me entirely from my toes to the tips of my ears.
I focus on the tingles right below my skin, pulling on that essence as I do so.
“Raya,” Asher whispers, his voice soft, almost reverent.
My eyes pop open and he takes my hands, guiding them up to fuzzy ears.
“Black cat," he says, and pride blooms in my chest.
“I did it," I whisper back to him, and he nods.
Beneath my fingers, I feel my ears shift again. This time, they double in size, with the fur turning thicker. My eyes widen in alarm, as this is not something I’ve noticed happen before.
Asher tilts his head as he eyes my changing ears.
“Wolf.” He smiles at me, his eyes lit up in a way I’ve never seen from him. “You did it.”
“That second one wasn’t on purpose, so really I did it only once, and for barely a few seconds.” My shoulders slump, and my ears drop back into my head, becoming human once more.
“Once is infinitely more than you’ve done previously. Once is a foundation. Once is amazing," he says, and my eyes dart up to his, a small smile already forming on my lips.
Who could have guessed a questionable vampire would be the one to help me learn how to shift?