Chapter 2 Allie #2
“Your fears are just noise, Al.” He shifted to look at me properly, the humor draining from his face. “You are extraordinary. Hell, you threw yourself at Lilith without hesitation. You closed the freaking gates to hell. And you make seriously awesome chocolate cupcakes.”
I had to laugh. Then, tear up a bit when his expression turned serious again, and he took my hand.
“You don’t freeze,” he continued, his voice rougher now. “Not when it matters. So, stop worrying about whether you’ll be good enough for some kids who are lucky to learn from you, and start trusting yourself the way I trust you.”
“That was a very good speech.”
“It wasn’t a speech. It was the truth.”
I blinked back more tears, then reached up and traced the line of his jaw. Sharp. Perfect. Frozen at seventeen for over a century, and he’d continue to look exactly like this long after I was dust. That was the thing, wasn’t it? The thing I tried not to think about too much.
He was going to look seventeen forever. And I wasn’t.
I thought of Highlander, a movie mom had foisted on me supposedly as entertainment back when I’d first gotten the hots for Jared.
She wasn’t wrong to warn me, because the man I’ve fallen for isn’t going to age.
But I will. And I know most almost-seventeen-year-olds don’t tend to dwell on mortality, but the whole demon-hunting heritage kind of changes that.
And the truth is, that movie will be my future if Jared and I stay together.
I’d watch him stay frozen at seventeen while I turned eighteen, twenty-five, forty, sixty.
He’d stay beautiful while I got wrinkles and gray hair and eventually died, leaving him alone again.
“Where’d you go?” Jared asked softly, his thumb brushing across my cheekbone.
“Nowhere.” I forced a smile. “Just thinking about how you’ve had time to practice everything. Kissing included.”
“That’s not where you went.”
Damn vampire perception.
He was quiet for a long moment, then he sighed and took my hand. “We don’t have to figure that out tonight.”
“I know.”
“We don’t have to figure it out ever if you don’t want to. We can just...” He trailed off, and for a moment, he looked almost vulnerable. A century-old vampire, uncertain. Because of me.
“Just what?” I asked.
“Just be. For now. For as long as we want.”
I nodded, fighting a fresh wave of tears, because he’d given me the perfect answer.
I didn’t want to think about forever right now.
I just wanted to think about this. About him.
Us. About the way his hands felt on my skin and the way he looked at me like I was something precious, something worth waiting a hundred years for.
“Yeah,” I said. “I like the sound of that.” I bit my lip. “Do you know what else I like?”
A sexy grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Tell me.”
“Kissing.”
He didn’t need to be told twice.
This kiss was different from the earlier ones—deeper, more urgent, like we were both trying to outrun something.
His hand slid up my back, pulling me closer until there was no space between us, and I tangled my fingers in his hair.
It was softer than it looked, thick and dark, and he made a low sound in his throat when I tugged on it that did interesting things to my nervous system.
“Allie,” he murmured against my lips. Warning and wanting, all wrapped up in two syllables.
“I know.” I whispered. “Me, too.”
His body pressed against mine, solid and cool through the thin fabric of our night clothes.
My fingers found their way under his shirt again, tracing the muscles of his back—muscles I’d watched in action during countless training sessions, sparring with him until I was breathing hard and he was a little less controlled than usual.
He shuddered—actually shuddered—and I felt a surge of power, liking that I could affect him like this. That I could make a century-old vampire lose his composure.
“You’re dangerous,” he murmured against my collarbone, his lips cool and soft against my heated skin.
“I’m a Demon Hunter. Dangerous is in the job description.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
I knew what he meant. And it thrilled me more than it probably should have.
“You’re beautiful,” he said, pulling back to look at me, and there was something raw in his voice that made my chest ache.
“No fair. I can barely see you.”
“Vampire vision.”
His eyes glinted in the moonlight, and I wondered what I looked like to him—hair probably a mess, lips swollen, cheeks flushed. “That’s creepy,” I teased.
“That’s vampire.”
I laughed, then tugged him closer for another kiss.
“It’s late,” he said, his lips brushing mine as he spoke.
“I’m wide-awake.”
He laughed into the kiss, and I swallowed the sound, wanting to keep it. Wanting to keep this moment, this feeling, this impossible thing tight against me, safe where I could never lose it.
His hands slid up my sides, leaving trails of heat despite their coolness, and I shifted so I was more on top of him than beside him. Somewhere in the back of my mind a voice pointed out that we were supposed to be sleeping, but the rest of my mind told that voice to shut up and go away.
My shirt was riding up. His hands were everywhere. And I was just thinking that maybe tonight would be the night we stopped being so damn responsible when my bedroom door flew open.
And Mom stood there.
For one horrible, frozen second, nobody moved.
Then Mom’s eyes went wide—taking in me on top of Jared, both of us rumpled, my shirt twisted halfway up my torso, his hands frozen where they definitely should not have been when my mother was watching.
Then his hands were gone, moved so fast I hadn’t even seen it happen.
Vampire reflexes. Too bad they hadn’t kicked in earlier.
“I—,” Mom started, then stopped. She turned her head, looking very deliberately at the wall. “I should have knocked. I’m sorry.”
I scrambled off Jared so fast I nearly fell off the bed, yanking my shirt down. “Mom. This isn’t—we weren’t—”
“I really don’t need details.” She was still staring at the wall, her jaw tight.
I noticed that she had dirt on her clothes and her hair was escaping from its ponytail, and there was a leaf stuck near her temple.
She’d been in the cemetery with Daddy—training, they called it.
And I had to wonder if maybe they’d been doing what I’d been wanting to.
“Defcon 3,” Mom said. “Get downstairs.”
And then she was gone, the door swinging shut, her footsteps already retreating down the hall.
I stared at the closed door, my heart pounding and my face burning.
“Well,” Jared said, and there was a hint of amusement in his voice that made me want to throw a pillow at him.
“Don’t.” I grabbed my hoodie from the chair and yanked it on, as if covering up now would somehow undo what she’d already seen. “Just don’t.”
He was already on his feet, calm and composed, like he hadn’t just been caught with his hands up my shirt. “Defcon 3 isn’t that bad. You could handle Defcon 3 in your sleep.”
“I’m not freaking out about Defcon 3!” My voice came out higher than I intended. I took a breath, trying to get myself under control. “I’m freaking out about my mother walking in on us.”
“It’ll be okay. Kate likes me.”
I shot him a look as I shoved my feet into my sneakers. “Maybe not anymore.”