First night in this apartment and sleep didn’t come easily. It was all Zelen’s fault. Apparently, he had decided his snores should wake the entire block.

Tired of tossing and turning, I got up. Ceris had made sure the heat was on and set to a high temperature before going to bed, so I left the room in my pajamas pants and without a shirt.

Barefoot, I walked along the hardwood floor trying not to make a lot of noise. I halted when I entered the living room, not sure what I wanted to do. There was no TV, no radio, and no books. I could exercise a little—I guess burning some pent-up energy wouldn’t be a bad idea—but I would probably make a lot of noise and wake everyone.

In the end, I headed to the kitchen, grabbed a beer from the fridge, and sat on one of the stools around the island. I took a long swallow of the cold drink. Bah, I hadn’t drank any beer in so long. In little over three months actually, but it felt like years.

The chilly liquid went down my throat, and I let out a huge “ah” of satisfaction.

Damn, the thing was good.

On instinct, my left hand went to the necklace around my neck. I was able to control this gesture when around others and when focused on something else, but alone? I always ended up touching it. Which was ridiculous. It belonged to the human who had carried me for nine months, the one who raised me as her child. In some twisted sense, I had been her child, and she had been my mother.

For some reason since restoring my memory, I was weirdly unsettled about my feelings for the humans who had been my parents. Until then, I had loved them. I had adored them. I wanted to avenge them, remember them, keep their tokens. Then everything changed, but I still couldn’t take off this damn necklace.

Nadine had been right, as usual—not that I would ever admit it out loud. To convince me to strike the Soul Oath with her, she tried to make me understand how much she needed to do something for her family by reminding me of my own. Back then, I would have done everything for them. Everything. That was why I ended up accepting the Soul Oath.

Granted, when we made the deal I was sure I could repress my feelings for her. I was sure she was nothing more than something pretty to look at. However, I was kidding myself because she had already reached deep into me, and I didn’t want to admit it. Silly me because now the time was passing; it was flying, and I didn’t know how to fix this fucking oath.

The problem was, I knew there was no fixing it. I didn’t want to accept that, so I tried not thinking about it. I tried to not remember I had screwed up.

I finished the beer and considered going back to bed but decided Zelen would keep snoring, and I could use another drink. I threw the empty bottle in the trash and opened the fridge.

I closed it when I heard mumbling.

I kept still, paying attention to it. The mumbling sounded louder this time, and I followed it. I ended up facing the first bedroom’s door. Nadine’s.

“No,” I heard her voice through the door. “Oh, God, please, no!”

Knowing exactly what was going on, I swung the door open and entered the bedroom.

“Nicole,” she whimpered, thrashing in her bed. “No, no!”

I closed the door behind me and rushed to her side. “Nadine,” I called her, touching her shoulder. “Wake up, Nadine.”

“Oh God, Morgan.” Then she screamed.

I grabbed her upper arms and shook her, not too hard but not too gentle either. “Nadine!”

Her scream died out, and her eyes flew open.

“It was just a nightmare,” I said. Her lips quavered before she hid her face behind her hands. “It’s okay, darling, you’re safe.”

She shook her head. “But they aren’t,” she said, her voice breaking.

For a moment, I was undecided about what to do. Just pat her arm, tell her she was okay, and leave? That would be the right action. I had to keep my distance from her.

I groaned. Who was I kidding? I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and for once I did it. I pulled back her comforter and slipped under it with her.

She peeked at me through her fingers, and I held back a chuckle.

I lay in her bed and opened my arms for her. “Come here.” Her hands slipped away from her face, and she stared at me with teary eyes. “I’ll take care of you. Come here.”

She scooted closer, turning her back to my chest and fitting her tight little ass on my hips.

I took a hard inhale. By the Everlast.

What the hell? This was paradise, and I was going to enjoy it. I put my arms around her waist, placed my head on the crook of her neck, and inhaled deeply again, savoring her sweet wild rose scent and her perfect, warm body—clad in a skimpy tank top and shorts—pressed to mine.

She sniffed and I tried snapping out of it.

“Want to talk about it?”

“It was the same nightmare,” she whispered. “But Morgan was there this time. He told me it was my fault, that I didn’t give him time to change back.”

“Darling.” I placed a soft kiss on her shoulder, and she shivered shaking against me. I bit back a groan, desperate to jump on her, run my hands on her body, kiss her … I sighed, concentrating on her current problem. “It wasn’t your fault. If you want to blame someone, blame me. You were trying to save me, and I’ll be forever thankful for that.”

“I know. But it doesn’t change the fact that I killed a human.”

I brushed her hair away from her face and back to the pillow under us. My fingertips lingered on her neck. “You’ll be all right, darling. Everything will be all right.”

She took a deep breath, pulling my arm that was over her tighter. My hand, guided by her, landed an inch under her breast. I wasn’t complaining.

“I know,” she said. “It’s painful, but I’ll make it. It won’t be long now until the Soul Oath is complete and I’ll have peace.” I stiffened. Oblivious, she turned her head to me. “I will have peace, won’t I?”

By the Everlast.

She would. I wouldn’t.

As if I could protect her from the Soul Oath with my bare hands, I pressed her even tighter against me, resting my forehead on her cheek. “I—”

She squirmed, which didn’t actually help my cause. “Ouch, you’re gonna squeeze all the air from me.”

Sighing, I loosened my arms, but only a little. “Sleep, darling. I’ll take care of you now. I promise.”