Chapter 33 #3
"Eventually. With other things." His hand finds my jaw, turning my face to his. "With purpose. With the network." His thumb brushes my lower lip. "With you."
I kiss his thumb. "That's very smooth for someone who claims I broke his brain."
"I'm recovering."
We're quiet for a moment. His contentment seeps into me, a deep, settled peace that I suspect is rare for him. I want to wrap myself in it, let it drown out the lingering darkness of the night.
"Everyone heard it," I say, changing the subject. "The heartbeat. When you carried me through the compound."
"They did."
"They're going to have questions."
"They already do. Marcellus looked at me like I'd grown a second head." He pulls me closer. "Let them wonder. I don't have answers yet." He shifts, rolling us so he's propped above me, looking down at my face. "Does it bother you? Being visible?"
"No." The answer comes immediately, surprising me with its certainty. "I spent eight months hiding. Pretending to be something I wasn't. Trying to survive without being noticed." I reach up, touching his face. "I'm done hiding."
"Good." He kisses my forehead. "So am I."
"Nadia's going to have opinions about all of it. The heartbeat. The bond. The fact that I'm apparently a sleeper weapon."
"Nadia always has opinions. She's had opinions about me for years. I've learned to ignore them."
"What about the others? Julian? Isabelle? When they find out what Konstantin built into me..."
"They'll help us figure out how to remove it." His voice is firm. "You're part of this network now. Part of my inner circle. That means you're protected. And it means we face threats together."
"Even when I'm the threat?"
"You're not the threat. Konstantin is. You're just the weapon he's trying to use." He cups my face in his hands. "And we don't let enemies use our people against us. We find the vulnerability, and we eliminate it."
I absorb that for a moment. The certainty in his voice.
"And Marcellus?" I ask.
"Marcellus smiled at me." Maximus's expression shifts, something soft and wondering.
"Really?"
"He's not usually expressive. It's not his way. But when I told him I was staying with you instead of debriefing the inner circle, he actually smiled." He shakes his head slowly. "I think he approves."
"Of me?"
"Of us. Of what you've done to me." His hand cups my face. "I didn't realize how worried my people were. About me. About my isolation. Apparently, having a bonded mate makes me less terrifying."
"You're not terrifying."
"I am extremely terrifying. I've cultivated it deliberately for centuries."
"You're a marshmallow."
He stares at me. "I am a six-hundred-year-old vampire who has killed more people than you can count."
"Marshmallow." I poke his chest, right next to the bond mark. "Soft. Squishy. Sweet on the inside."
"I will end you."
"No, you won't." I grin up at him. "I can feel your emotions, remember? Right now, you're feeling amused. Fond. Slightly exasperated. And underneath all of that, ridiculously, overwhelmingly in love."
His expression softens. "That's cheating."
"It's not cheating. It's using the tools available to me." I pull him down for a kiss. "Besides, you can feel mine too. So we're even."
"And what are you feeling?"
"Right now?" I let the bond open fully, letting him feel everything.
The contentment. The safety. The bone-deep certainty that I'm exactly where I belong.
And yes, the fear too. The knowledge that there's something inside me that could destroy everything.
"Happy. Really, truly happy. For the first time in maybe ever. Even with everything else."
He's quiet for a moment, absorbing what I'm sharing. Then he lowers himself beside me, pulling me close.
"I never thought I'd have this," he says quietly. "Any of this. I'd convinced myself I didn't want it. That I was better alone. Safer."
"And now?"
"Now I can't imagine going back." His arms tighten around me. "You've ruined me for solitude, Celeste. I hope you're prepared to deal with the consequences."
"What consequences?"
"I'm going to be insufferably attached. Possessive. Protective to the point of absurdity." He nuzzles against my hair. "You're going to get sick of me."
"I don't think that's possible."
"Give it a century or two."
"I'll let you know in a century or two." I yawn, exhaustion finally catching up with me. "For now, I'm just going to enjoy the fact that I'm alive, you're alive, and we have a heartbeat." I close my eyes, letting the sound lull me toward sleep. "It makes me feel alive. Human, almost."
"You're not human anymore."
"I know. But I'm not just a vampire either. Not anymore." I snuggle closer. "I'm something new. We both are."
"Something new," he repeats. "I like that."
Silence settles over us, comfortable, warm. The bond hums quietly, two presences slowly merging into one as sleep pulls at the edges of my consciousness.
"Maximus?"
"Hmm?"
"Thank you. For saving me. For the bond. For choosing me, even knowing what I might become."
"You saved yourself." His voice is drowsy now, too. "You killed Valentina. You survived the silver. All I did was give you an anchor."
"Still. Thank you."
He presses a kiss to the top of my head. "You're welcome. Now sleep. You've earned it."
"So have you."
"I'll sleep when you sleep."
"I'm sleeping now."
"Then so am I."
I smile against his chest. I feel him drifting off, his thoughts growing fuzzy, his emotions softening into the peace of approaching sleep. I let myself follow, let the exhaustion finally claim me.
The last thing I see before sleep takes me is the faint glow of our bond marks in the darkness.
Two crimson crescents pulsing in perfect unison.
His on his chest. Mine on mine. Two halves of one moon, waiting to be whole.
Proof that whatever we are, whatever we're becoming, we belong to each other now.