Chapter 32
Blair
Sunrise at the cabin is my favorite time of day. The mountains turn gold first. Then the trees. Then the lake off in the distance catches the light, and everything looks like it’s glowing.
I lean against the railing of the deck, wrapping my sweater a little tighter around myself as the cool morning air brushes my skin.
The old Blair would’ve been disgusted by this place—was disgusted by this place. That girl thought her future looked like penthouses and wealth and private flights on private jets and luxury shopping sprees.
She would’ve—did—snubbed her nose at a rustic cabin in the woods with three blue-collar vampire brothers and a human girl who used to work at an accounting firm.
But I’m not that girl anymore. I’m different. I’m happy. I’m grateful. I’m Kane’s.
Now, this cabin feels like peace. Now, it feels like home.
It’s only been a few days since Kane saved me from Damien’s apartment and we sealed our fated mates’ bond. But I feel like I’ve known him all my life. Honestly, I think I have; it just took me a little bit to realize it.
He is my doll—the man I spent my childhood waiting for—but better. My heart has always been waiting for him to come save me, and even as I fought it, he did.
That first night he saved me from Damien—and after we’d made love for the first time—Kane asked me about my doll while I was rummaging through my suitcase I thought I’d never get back.
I told him all the lore of a young Blair Windsor getting a set of vampire dolls for her birthday, but the one with the green-violet eyes and light-colored hair was her favorite.
And I told him how the first time I laid eyes on him, he reminded me of it.
Now, every morning when Kane makes the bed, he finishes it off by propping my vampire doll on our pillows. It’s pretty damn cute, to be honest.
I know in my bones that I am where I’m supposed to be.
Sure, there’s currently a lot of danger to watch out for related to the elite.
And I know the future isn’t certain and there are things I still need to figure out related to my family and my old life, but I wouldn’t trade life with Kane for anything.
Old Blair would be appalled that this life doesn’t include Damien Snow’s penthouse or the elites or wealth, but she was too na?ve for her own good.
She didn’t understand what real power was, what real love was.
But because of Kane, I know better.
I glance over my shoulder toward our bedroom window, and instantly, I think about how he already made love to me three times this morning and still looked like he wanted to carry me back to bed when I slipped out quietly while he took a shower.
My cheeks warm. Three orgasms and the sun had barely come up.
Unconsciously, my hand drifts to my stomach. Goodness. The fact that a small, hopeful part of me already wonders if I might get pregnant with Kane’s babies soon is…honestly ridiculous.
A month ago, I thought I needed someone rich and powerful.
Instead, I found someone whose real power is doing good. Someone protective. Someone who puts me first always. Someone who makes me laugh—which is another thing I didn’t know I needed in a man, but I do.
Someone who does what’s right, even when it’s hard.
And he’s not alone in these qualities; his brothers have them too.
When it comes to the Slater brothers, Cal is the quiet one, but every once in a while, he’ll say something so dry and perfectly timed that I lose it.
Rook is grumpy ninety percent of the time…but somehow still funny.
But Kane? God help me. That man is the biggest jokester of them all. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in my life as I have the past forty-eight hours we’ve been attached at the hip.
And the three of them together spend most of their time trying to help women who don’t know they need it.
I hear the door behind me open.
Speak of the handsome devil.
“Thought maybe you tried to escape again,” Kane teases, and I glance over my shoulder to find him leaning in the doorway.
He’s shirtless, and his blond hair is still a little damp from his shower.
And his mouth is etched in a smile that has him looking entirely too pleased with himself for this early in the morning.
God, I love him.
“You’re the one who doesn’t sleep,” I point out. “I figured you’d still be upstairs plotting how to seduce me again.”
“Plotting?” His grin widens. “Pretty sure all I need to do is put my mouth on your pussy and we’re all set.”
“Shut up.” I giggle and blush and stick out my tongue at him.
He winks at me before pushing himself off the doorway and closing the distance between us. I expect him to pinch my butt or plant a big ol’ kiss on my lips, but he just wraps his arm around my waist instead.
“Love you, baby.”
I tilt my head up to press a kiss to his jaw. “Love you too.”
“I have something for you.”
My curiosity sparks instantly. “What?”
He grips my hips and turns me toward him. “I figured out a way for you to see your family.”
“What?” My breath catches. “Really?”
“Yes. Your mom, your dad, and Bonnie, too.”
“How?” I ask quietly.
“Cal helped me work out the logistics.”
Cal has this terrifying ability to hear things from miles away if he concentrates. Which means he’s been listening to elite conversations, tracking information, and piecing together movements.
“But you said they still think I’m in New York. With Damien,” I say slowly.
Kane nods. “And they’re still sticking with that story. Your parents very much think Damien is alive and well and you’re happy with him and that he plans to choose you at the Choosing Ceremony,” he says the last two words in jest.
Because it’s not a Choosing Ceremony. It’s a fucking auction. One that hasn’t happened yet but will be happening soon.
Not only are the elites actively trying to find Kane and his brothers and Kylie and me, but they’re keeping everything quiet—aka straight-up lying—when it comes to my parents.
Which means my parents are just…living their lives and completely unaware of the truth.
Kane presses a kiss to my forehead. “We’re going to meet them today.”
“Today?” My heart jumps. “Where? How?”
“A park outside Boston. Near a nature trail. It’s very private.”
I search his eyes. “But is it safe?”
“Yes,” he says. “I mean, it’s a little bit of a risk, but I know it’s something you have to do. And Cal and Rook and Kylie all support it. But we only have a short window,” he continues. “So, we have to go now.”
Emotion rushes through me so suddenly I move without thinking, but before I make it all the way to the door, I skid to a stop and run back to him.
Immediately, I grab his face and kiss him hard.
“I love you,” I say between erratic kisses all over his face. “I love you…I love you…I love you… Thank you!”
He laughs softly against my lips. “You’re welcome.”
But when I pull back, I study him. “Are you really sure this is okay?”
Because this isn’t small. The elites want us all dead. So I know that moving around this close to Boston isn’t without danger.
Kane brushes his thumb along my cheek. “Go get dressed, Blair.” He kisses my forehead again. “We don’t have much time.”
I grin and spin on my heels, and he manages to sneak a butt smack in before I get to the door.
“Move it, baby!”
“Rude!” I squeal and run toward the door.
“Hey, Blair?”
“Yeah?”
“If you take longer than ten minutes, I’m coming upstairs.” And the heated, playful, downright obscene look in his eyes says he means it.
Which I can’t deny is tempting as hell, but…I get to see my family today.
“I’m going! I’m going! Keep your pants on!” I laugh and run inside.
Technically, it took me fifteen minutes to get ready, but that’s because I actually have clothes that fit me now. Yesterday, I demanded Kane get me things—additional makeup, hair and skin products, new clothes. You know, normal human girl stuff.
He only acted annoyed for a good thirty seconds, but then he simply found a way to make all my materialistic dreams come true, and he came back to the cabin with bags in his hands filled with all the things I wanted.
I might not be Old Blair anymore, but I still have priorities, you know?
We couldn’t travel by car—that’d be too easy to track—so we traveled by foot the whole way with me on Kane’s back and Cal following closely behind. Now, we’re just outside of Boston in a quiet little park in a quiet little suburb you wouldn’t even know existed if someone didn’t tell you about it.
Just as we reach the tree line, Kane sets me on my feet. But when I try to hold his hand, he shakes his head. “I’ll be here,” he says. “You go.”
I scrunch up my nose and search his face closely.
“If you need me, I’ll be right here.”
“Are you sure?”
He doesn’t need to answer me—I can feel his intention. I can feel his response.
He wants to give me space—but not too much space. He wants to protect me and watch over me and keep me safe. But he also wants to give me room to see my family and feel out the conversation and how they react.
We don’t have certainty about what they know or don’t know. I have no idea if my dad knows the truth about the elites or if my mom understands what a Choosing Ceremony actually stands for.
I have so many questions, and I need so many answers. But mostly, I just want to see them. I want to hug them. And I want them to see that I’m okay.
But before I try to look for them, I walk back to Kane and stand up on my tippy-toes to press a kiss to his lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too, baby.”
And then, I turn back on my heel and walk toward the park.
It doesn’t take me long to find them; my mom and dad stand beside a wooden park bench that Bonnie’s parked her cute butt on. She’s staring down at her phone, but my parents are very much looking around the park.
It takes them another ten seconds before they spot me.
But then they do.
“Blair!” my mom calls toward me, waving both hands in the air as a giant smile consumes her face.