AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Right here,” I offered. “Right in front of your eyes.”
She nodded, but only appeared partly mollified. “Nanmo tells me it is possible to make copies of things like this. Do you promise to destroy all other copies if we release my son? And to not put it on the TikToks?”
“This is the only copy,” I assured her. “When I delete it from my phone no one else will ever be able to see it.” I paused and tried to keep a straight face when I added, “I promise you I will never put it on the TikToks.”
She hesitated, as if unsure whether to believe me. And then, after what felt like entire minutes, she drew a deep breath.
“If you are lying to me,” she began, “we will hunt you down like the dog you are.”
The door slammed in my face.
I looked up at Reginald, who wore a wary expression.
“I’m coming down,” he said, floating to the ground as though being lowered by an invisible rope. “I think she bought it, but—”
Before he could finish his thought, the door opened again.
There was Frederick, dressed in the same clothes he’d left the apartment in a few nights ago when he went to the rendezvous at the Ritz-Carlton. My eyes roved over him, taking in every inch of him—from the disheveled way his hair fell across his forehead, to the white long-sleeved T-shirt that clung to his broad shoulders like he was born to wear nothing else.
His gaze bored into mine, as though he were as unable to stop looking at me as I was to stop looking at him. He looked even paler than usual, with dark circles ringing his eyes I’d never seen there before. But he was here, and he was whole, and he was beaming at me with a look of such tenderness and wonder I felt foolish for ever having doubted his feelings.
“You came,” he said, hoarsely. His eyes were wide, incredulous. “Youbrilliantwoman.”
Relief flooded me at the sound of his voice. I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.
“Aren’t you gonna call me brilliant?” Reginald pouted from somewhere behind me. “I helped too.”
“And you even had to put up with Reginald while you did it,” Frederick said, ignoring him. He moved towards me from where he stood in the entryway, reaching for me. After going days without his touch, Frederick’s embrace was like coming home. I feltboth rooted to the spot and seconds away from falling to the ground as he held me, his broad chest steady beneath my cheek, his hands a chilly counterpoint to the warmth of my winter jacket.
His touch warmed me from within all the same.
“We should go,” Reginald cut in, brusquely.
Frederick lifted his cheek from where it had come to rest on top of my head. “You’re right,” he agreed. He pulled back a little more so that he could look into my eyes. “They’ve let me go, Cassie. But it’s not safe for us to stay here a moment longer.”
“I’d offer to fly you back to your apartment, but I can’t carry you both,” Reginald said. He added, smirking, “I’d also rather not be around the two of you lovebirds right now anyway.”
Frederick glared at him and was about to say something in response when I put a hand on his arm.
“It’s fine,” I said, very quickly. “I’ll call us an Uber. It shouldn’t take long for one to get here at this hour.”
I programmed the pickup spot for a few blocks away from the vampire house, just in case. No need to tempt fate so soon after getting him back.
“Thank you for saving me, Cassie,” Frederick murmured, his voice low and awed. “How did I ever get so lucky?”
I kissed him, unable to help myself.
“We can talk about that later,” I whispered against his lips. “For now, let’s get you home.”
We mostly kept our hands to ourselves during the forty-five-minute Uber ride back to the apartment. Frederick’s eyes kept closing, and the fact that I could easily see his fangs whenever he was fully awake told me he was too exhausted toglamour us invisible to the driver. I brushed his hair back and away from his forehead as he dozed, trying hard not to imagine what he must have gone through over the past few days to make him this tired after sundown.
By the time we made it back inside the apartment, though, he seemed to have mostly come back to himself. He maneuvered me through the open doorway and into the living room, as though now that we were here he didn’t want to waste any more time.
“Wait,” I said, when he moved to enfold me in his arms. Iwantedto move closer to him, to let him kiss and touch me. To kiss and touch him back. But I had questions first. “You’ve just been held somewhere against your will for three days, and before we do... anything else, I have to know. Are you truly all right?”
He nodded and closed the distance between us again. “I am now.” His voice was full of so much heat and promise my knees nearly buckled. When his arms came around me and pulled me to him again, it was easy enough to tell myself this conversation could still happen while we were touching.
I rested my head against his chest again, in an approximation of how we stood when we reunited in front of the Naperville house. He started rocking me gently, back and forth. I had never been full of such utter relief, and such thorough contentment.
