Chapter 3
Chapter three
Tressa
Mate.
The word flashed through Tressa’s brain like someone flipped the switch on a neon strobe light.
Mate. Mate. Mate.
The vanilla aroma suddenly made so much more sense. Of course the other half of her soul would smell like that.
He’s my mate.
He’s incredible.
He’s… still screaming.
“Hey, calm down,” she cried, grabbing the sides of his face with her hands. Those solid gray eyes locked on hers, but there was something empty in them, something that told her he wasn’t actually seeing her.
Fuck! She couldn’t compel him to relax because he was her mate, but maybe her Gift would still work on him?
“Ethan,” she said firmly, gripping his face even tighter. “You’re okay. Just breathe. Focus on me.” She forced every ounce of calm she could summon into her words and waited for it to penetrate the haze of his panic.
The blood-curdling scream continued for another second before fading away. Ethan let out a small whimper, then collapsed back onto the bed.
“Are you—”
Tressa never got to hear the rest of his question because the door slammed open behind her, and a team of doctors and nurses raced in, shouting orders.
They elbowed her to the side, and she used the chaos of the moment to slip out of the room before someone started asking questions about who she was and why she was there.
Now more than ever she couldn’t risk getting kicked out. Her mate was in that room, and nothing was going to keep her from returning to his side as soon as possible.
Two hours and four compelled medical professionals later, Tressa was able to get back into Ethan’s room and take up a spot in the chair beside his bed.
She couldn’t tell if they’d sedated him again or he’d naturally fallen asleep, but regardless, he was snoring softly, and the tension lines around his eyes were back.
Whatever knocked him out apparently hadn’t sent him to a better place than before.
What exactly was he dreaming about that had him screaming bloody murder when he woke up?
Most likely whatever landed him in a coma, Tressa thought, scooting the guest chair a little closer to his bed.
She was half-tempted to say fuck it and climb under the sheets with him, but she couldn’t imagine that would be the best way to start their story.
Just because women were considerably more forward in these modern times didn’t mean Ethan wanted to wake up in a stranger’s arms.
No, Tressa would just have to suck it up and settle for holding his hand, helpless to do anything to ease whatever torment was plaguing him. Now she had some inkling of what her cousin Saiden had gone through with Cora, and she felt a little bad about all the times she’d teased him.
But only a little. When you lived for centuries, you either became a cynic like Saiden, or you decided that forever was a long time to be unhappy, so you might as well shove all the unpleasantness somewhere deep inside and choose to have fun instead.
And the bit of fun she’d been clinging to for years was about to get exponentially more enjoyable now that she had Ethan to join her. It was like Lilith knew she’d been crawling the walls going crazy lately, so she dropped this incredible gift straight into Tressa’s lap.
Surveying her mate lying in the bed, Tressa allowed her mind to run wild with thoughts about what kind of guy he was. Maybe he would be gentle and kind. He certainly didn’t look like a jerk or the type of alpha male that would be possessive and domineering.
She noted a pair of wire-rimmed glasses sitting beside the bed and smiled.
She’d always thought glasses looked sexy on a guy.
Maybe her mate was a professor? Or a scholar?
His chart said he was a botanist, but she had no idea what that meant other than something to do with plants.
She turned his hand over and grazed her fingers across his skin.
He had a few calluses lining his upper palm, but there were no scars or bumps on his knuckles.
So he worked with his hands to some degree but was definitely not any kind of fighter.
A thousand possibilities spiraled through her brain, presenting her with scenario after scenario about what her mate was like. And all of it served one very important purpose—to distract her from that nagging thought in the back of her brain. The one that whispered…
What if?
What if he didn’t want her? The mate bond drew you toward the other person, but it wasn’t a guarantee they would actually be interested in pursuing anything romantic.
And it definitely wasn’t a guarantee he would want to become a vampire.
What if she found her mate only to lose him in a few decades?
Nope, that possibility got buried deep inside with the rest of the things she chose to ignore.
Focus on the positive, she reminded herself. He was her mate, and they were destined to be together. You don’t reject destiny.
When Ethan’s hand twitched in hers and his eyes began to flutter, she released her hold on him and pushed the chair back slightly so she wasn’t hovering. Brushing her skirt down over her thighs, she mentally prepared herself for the first conversation she would ever have with her mate.
She pasted on another of her patented smiles and took a few deep inhales to force her shaking hands to steady.
Calm, cool, collected. She could do this.
All she had to do was convince him that becoming a vampire was a gift unlike any other. Surely that would be easy enough after whatever injury he recently suffered. Who wouldn’t want to be strong and healthy for centuries?