15. Chance
Chance
“Are you serious?” I stared at my mate, who’d asked so casually why I hadn’t pressed her to complete the bond.
“Yeah,” she replied slowly. “I mean, you didn’t even bring it up. You knew it was going to be dangerous, so?—”
“Let me stop you right there,” I said. I couldn’t believe we were even having that conversation. “I would never, for any reason, try to coerce you into making a life-altering decision like that.”
“But—”
“No. Won’t happen.”
“But you could’ve just told me,” she argued. “Explaining that you’d be protected if we completed the bond—which I was almost ready to agree with anyway—isn’t coercion.”
“Isn’t it?” I asked quietly.
I knew the moment it sank in.
“Almost ready isn’t ready,” I stated firmly.
“Jesus wept,” she whispered. “You’re completely serious.”
“You said you wanted serious.”
Her gaze softened.
“What about me?” she asked after a moment. “I would’ve been protected too.”
“I didn’t think you’d be in danger,” I replied with a wince. “The mates weren’t supposed to get there until everything was safe. I promise, I’ll never put you in a situation like that again.”
“No one could’ve known that guy was underneath the sheet.”
“They were searching for him and hadn’t found him,” I argued. “They shouldn’t have brought you guys in until they had.”
“Oh.”
“Besides,” I said, giving her hair a little yank. “I wouldn’t be stoked for you to fuck me just to become immortal anyway. Talk about a buzzkill.”
She let out a noise somewhere between a snort and a scoff. I wasn’t sure what it said about me that I was charmed by it.
“I don’t think anyone has ever thought about me like you do,” she said thoughtfully.
“How’s that?”
“Just…I don’t know. You put me first. You’re so careful with me.”
“Of course I am.”
“There’s no of course about it,” she said dryly. “I could name ten men right now who would’ve had sex with me no matter why I’d told them yes.”
“Give me their names,” I replied gruffly.
She rolled her eyes.
“There’s no rush, sugarplum,” I reminded her.
“I’m ready now.”
“What?” I stared at her in shock.
“I’m ready now. To complete the bond. Tie ourselves together for all eternity. Have babies. All of that. I’m ready.”
I let out a whoosh of air like I’d been struck.
I’d thought that she would want to eventually.
We were clearly an excellent match, and the connection just kept getting stronger as we spent more time together.
According to Aunt Helen, our souls were a match.
It was impossible to fight that kind of link forever.
But I hadn’t expected for her to agree in my aunt and uncle’s house when there was nothing I could do about it.
“Love, I am so glad,” I choked out apologetically after a moment. “But we may have to wait a few days.”
Rena’s eyes crinkled at the corners as she laughed at me.
“We’ve got time, right?” she threw back at me as she rolled from the bed.
Seconds later, she’d turned the lights off and climbed back in, cuddling against my side.
“Night,” she whispered, kissing my chest.
“Are you fucking with me right now?” I asked, staring sightlessly at the ceiling.
Rena laughed quietly. Ten minutes later, she was drooling on my chest.
It wasn’t nearly as easy for me to fall asleep.
I’d overdone it in a big way, trying to act like I hadn’t lost so much blood that my oldest brother had seriously thought he would lose me.
A benefit of being a Vampire was our ability to heal quickly, but the downside of that was the speed at which we metabolized everything, including pain medications.
Because of that, they never worked. Basically, we hurt, but for less time than humans.
I wasn’t sure it was a fair trade-off, but whatever.
She wanted to cement the bond. She’d agreed to be my partner. To have children with me. To make a life with me.
I’d known it would happen someday, but I was having a hard time believing that the time was now. I’d found my mate, and we were going to start our lives together as soon as I could get my dick up and complete the bond the way it should be done—with hours of sex and a blood exchange.
I lay there for hours, thinking about what our lives would look like, reveling in the knowledge that she’d accepted the bond, and worrying about how long it would take for the wound in my side to heal. I didn’t fall asleep until nearly sunrise.
“Chance,” Rena called, waking me.
I opened my eyes to see her leaning over me, our noses nearly touching. She jerked back in surprise.
“Do you always wake up like that?”
“When someone’s calling my name an inch from my face, yeah.”
“Sorry,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “Sven just came in and said Alice is asking for us.”
“Shit,” I mumbled, throwing the blankets back.
“Could you stop doing that?” she asked in exasperation. “It’s like you’re flashing me.”
“Nothing you haven’t seen,” I replied reasonably, reaching for the overalls she’d set on the bed. “Or touched.”
“Is romance dead?” she asked the ceiling.
“Just on hiatus,” I replied, pulling the overalls up my legs. “Do you know why she’s asking for us?”
“He didn’t say.”
Reaching for the water on the nightstand, I drank the whole thing and then stood up and fastened the overall strap. Rena threaded her fingers through mine when I joined her at the door, and hand-in-hand we walked across the house to Aunt Alice’s room.
When we got there, Danny and Rosemary were just leaving, and I tried to gauge their moods by their expressions, but I shouldn’t have bothered. Both of them were masters at shielding their thoughts.
“Hey,” Rena said as we walked over to the bed.
“Don’t use that tone with me,” Alice barked. “I’m not a rabid dog.”
“If you were a rabid dog, I wouldn’t be talking to you at all,” Rena snapped back with no heat.
Aunt Alice’s lips twitched. “Fair enough.”
There were two chairs set at the edge of the bed where Aunt Alice could see them, and I helped Rena into one while trying simultaneously not to show how absolutely wrecked I was. I’d never seen Aunt Alice in bed. Even when we’d stay with her as kids, she was always up before we were.
“Get that look off your face, Chauncey,” she ordered.
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied automatically, trying to fix my face.
“I called you in here to say goodbye,” she announced plainly.
“A little dramatic, for you,” I said before I could stop myself. “We could’ve just waved as Uncle Sven carried your ass out of here.”
She let out an amused cackle.
“Jesus, Chance,” Rena said under her breath.
“Get used to it,” Alice told Rena. “I couldn’t count the number of hidings that boy got for his smart mouth. It didn’t make a damn bit of difference.”
“I cannot be tamed,” I announced loftily.
Alice made a pfft noise.
“So we’re here to say goodbye?” Rena asked.
“Sven and I, well, we’ve been here a long time,” Alice said, her gaze meeting mine.
And that’s when I knew.
I gripped the arms of the chair so hard that they creaked in protest.
“Leo’s been waiting a long time, Chance,” she murmured.
“So that’s it, then?” I gritted out as Rena’s hand fell lightly on my back.
“We’re going to go home for a while,” Alice said softly. “Enjoy watching the seasons turn in the house we built. Haven’t done that in longer than I can remember. When the time is right, we’ll go see Leo.”
“But we won’t see you again,” Rena guessed.
“No, you won’t,” Aunt Alice replied. “You’re my family, and I love you, but it’s time to be with my mate for a while. Just us.”
I struggled to find the right thing to say.
“I’ve been traveling for longer than I can remember.
Helping where I can. Visiting. We’ve barely been back to the old homestead in years, and even then, it was only a stopover.
Sometimes fate forces you to do something you might not have otherwise,” Aunt Alice said, looking at me softly.
“Fate is telling me it’s time for me to slow down. ”
“I can’t change your mind?” I asked, the words garbled. I cleared my throat, but it didn’t clear the lump there.
“No, pal,” she said. “You can’t.”
The sob caught me by surprise, and I coughed, trying to hide it. Aunt Alice hadn’t called me pal since I was a boy.
“I guess it’s only fair,” I said, clearing my throat again. “Leo should get a turn. But you know, I’ve never been good at sharing.”
Aunt Alice smiled tiredly. “You’re a good boy, Chauncey,” she said.
“Will we know?” Rena asked. “When you decide to go?”
“No,” Alice replied kindly. “It’s better that way, I think.”
“Better for you, maybe,” I argued. “You won’t have to go through all of the goodbyes again.”
“I’ve said enough goodbyes to last ten lifetimes,” she shot back. “I’m due a little peace. Watching my garden out the window. Listening to Sven tell stories and read to me. I’ve earned that, don’t you think?”
“Of course,” I replied, chastised.
Aunt Alice looked at Rena. “This is a blessing,” she told her. “I knew it the moment I woke up. There will always be people in need, and I couldn’t ignore that need in good conscience. So fate has taken it out of my hands.”
Rena nodded.
“You did the right thing bringing me over to that mate,” Alice continued. “They’d been pumping her so full of sedatives that she may have never woken up if I hadn’t counteracted them.”
“If I hadn’t?—”
“Pshaw,” Alice said. “None of that. If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t get to have Sven at my beck and call for the first time since he wooed me. I’m looking forward to it.”
“When will you leave?” I asked, dreading her answer.
“When we’re done,” she replied. “Matthias will fly us home.”
“You saved me for last because I’m your favorite, right?”
“Hasn’t it always been obvious?”
“Kind of, yeah.”
Aunt Alice laughed. “Well, maybe I should’ve hidden it better.”
“No, it’s good you didn’t,” I replied, my voice wobbling. “Because then I wouldn’t have been anyone’s favorite.”
Aunt Alice’s eyes filled with tears as she smiled at me. “That’s just plain untrue,” she rasped. “Now come give me love and get out of here. Sven’s itching to see the house again, and you know how pissy he gets when he’s impatient.”