We stepped into my home, the first home I’d had built in a place I knew I belonged. I’d searched for a safe town for years, planning where to move my clan. Find a place we could call home until it made sense to move on again.
And I’d found Silver Creek.
Now…I watched as Hawk took in the space, his eyes moving over the walls and paintings, everything I now had time to show him.
And now I had Hawk. If he’d have me.
I owed that chance all to Jonathan. Not only had he stood by my side when I’d told the clan about Hawk and the mysterious man who had told him of our whereabouts, but he’d made me see that humans weren’t very different than us. At least, not when it came to matters of the heart.
Most of the clan was on my side, but they all still worried about the informant, the man we could only assume was a vampire hunter. Had Hawk’s coming here led them to us? We had to be alert.
But in the end, the clan left it up to my discretion to fill in Hawk. To decide whether or not to tell him about us.
And whether or not I could choose to accept my fate.
I’d gone to Hawk this morning to make sure he was okay—and when I’d walked into the room to see him in the throes of a nightmare, I knew.
He had my heart, so I needed to tell him everything.
Just for today, I could let my clan handle the rest—keeping an eye out for any danger—while I spent time with Hawk.
“Would you like a tour?” I asked Hawk, having no idea where to start.
How did you tell a man that you were completely and irreversibly in love with him while also explaining you were and always would be a vampire, doomed to a life of darkness? How did you ask him if he wanted to commit to you when he had no idea what it was to be Fated?
“I’d like answers,” Hawk said.
I took his bag from his shoulder, already considering it a good sign that he’d come here to stay with me. I could keep an eye on him this way and make sure he was safe. Beyond that, I needed him close. Being that far away from him, a whole town away, made me ache in ways I never knew I could. Not as a vampire.
I reached out and took his hand, surprising him and myself. “I will tell you anything you want, you only have to ask. I thought a tour might put us both at ease until…” Until it wasn’t awkward between us.
His lips curved just slightly. “Makes sense. Where’s Mr. Dupont?”
“I gave him the day off. I think he said something about going to find himself a new pair of socks.” I grinned, and Hawk smiled back.
It relaxed me more than anything else had so far. I’d earn Hawk’s trust, and maybe…maybe if I was lucky enough, I’d earn his love as well.
“Let’s take a tour then,” he said.
I guided him to the library first, passing the painting he’d been so intrigued by the first time he’d been here. “This is my favorite room in the house, for reasons I mentioned before.”
“I would live in here if I could.”
The words warmed me. I wanted him to like my house. To be comfortable here. More than that, I wanted to ask him to stay. Not just for the time he was in Silver Creek. But longer. Long enough for us to get to know each other better. Long enough that he might believe our lives were meant to intertwine forever.
That was how fate worked. It was all or nothing, it seemed. Right now, it seemed like I had it all and there was no way I was going to give it up without a fight.
“Here’s my newest acquisition,” I told him, walking to a shelf and pulling down a book I’d already read through once.
He walked over, his face lighting when he saw his book. He took it from me, amused, and ran his hand over the hardcover. “My first book. Please don’t tell me you already had this in your library. You don’t take me as someone for superstition.”
I laughed, and the release gave me such a carefree and wonderful feeling, I didn’t want to stop. “To me, it’s not superstition. It’s a reality.”
He angled his head. “Bigfoot? Really.”
I clasped my hands behind my back, enjoying our exchange. “I have no knowledge of that, but your creatures of the night. Vampires. They exist. And so do other things you write about.”
“Werewolves?”
I inclined my head.
His mouth dropped open. “No.”
“Why would I lie to you?”
This seemed to sober him more than I expected. He hugged his book to his chest, looking vulnerable. Looking much like the child I remembered from that dark Montana road so many years ago. It felt like the blink of an eye to me, but it was practically a lifetime for him.
“I don’t think you would, but…” He shrugged.
“I told you I’d answer any question you had. I made my choice. I won’t keep secrets from you anymore.”
His eyes locked on mine in wonder. “Why? I mean, why the sudden change? Especially if you were trying so hard to stay away from me before.”
“Oh, Hawk,” I murmured. My natural instinct before would have been to give him space, to let him work through this logically as I tended to do. But I found myself wanting to comfort him. I started to reach out, then changed my mind. “That wasn’t my intention at all. And certainly not what I wanted. But you have to realize I’ve spent decades distancing myself from humans. I’ve learned to blend in with them but never really fit in. It’s like acting in a play. It’s a façade.”
I took a step closer. I couldn’t help it. My body strained toward his.
“And with me? Is this just a façade, too?” he asked.
“No,” I said automatically. “I resolved to be open and honest with you.” I looked down, conflict racing through me. “I told you I wasn’t good at this.”
“Which part. Talking? Or touching?”
I gave the ghost of a smile. “Both.”
“That part isn’t the hard part for me. Maybe I could help.”
My eyes came back up. “Yes.”
He stepped forward, close enough I could feel the heat of his body, though there wasn’t a single part of us touching.
“I think,” he said softly, “I might have known from the very beginning.”
“Known what?”
“That I was meant to find you. Someday. That maybe…we were meant for more than that.”
He understood. Maybe even felt the same way I did.
“We are meant for more. That’s what it means when vampires are Fated. It means we’ve found our soulmate. I’d die for you,” I told him honestly.
“You’re better at this than I thought.”
I couldn’t smile at his joke, however, because I still had no idea what this meant for us. Would it be enough for him to stay?
“Are you scared of what that means?” I asked.
“To be bound to you, mind, body, and soul?” The amusement left his voice. “It’s doesn’t scare me. It amazes me. It’s what I want.”
My composure dropped. I scooped him up, walking to the heavy table my clan and I had talked at last night, and set him on the edge.
I didn’t miss his quick intake of breath, or the astonishment in his eyes. I stepped in between his thighs. “I’m yours if you’ll have me.”
He nodded. “Me too.”
So simple. Just two casual words. Two words that meant everything to me.
I bowed my head, taking his lips in a kiss that was both desperate and grateful. His body came alive in my hands, fingers kneading the muscles in my arms before working their way to my neck to pull me even closer.
“God, you smell good,” I whispered, breathing him in as I ran my lips to his cheek and then down his jaw.
He pulled me closer, so our bodies were touching in as many places as possible. He still sat on the table but scooted to the edge so I could feel the heat of his thighs wrapping around me.
It made me feel powerful and vulnerable at the same time. That I had the world in my hands, and that the man in front of me could bring me to my knees.
His tongue clashed with mine, feeling as desperate as I was to get as close to him as possible.
Everywhere he touched, my skin tingled, heating and sending sparking my nerve endings. It made me feel things I thought were long gone, forgotten when my life as a human had ended.
“Is this always going to happen?” he gasped. “The tingling?”
“I believe so,” I said, my lips brushing his.
His eyes locked on mine, and I stopped to stare at him. To really see the man who was now part of my life.
“I still have so many more questions.”
I smiled, despite the arousal rushing through my body. I could hardly take my hands off of him. “I think I might have someone who can help.”
“Really?”
I stepped back and held out my hand. “Trust me.”