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“Me, too. We’ll find our way together if that’s what you want.”
“It is.”
“I’m not going to have a normal job, you know. It will mean traveling a lot and doing dangerous things. And I’ll be partnered with Tanager for a while yet.”
“That works for me. I didn’t say I wanted to settle down, only that I want to be with you. I’m sure I have some skill they can use.” She canted her head, her voice dropping to a whisper. “They don’t just hire people with powers, do they? Because I think that’s discrimination.”
For the first time that month, he laughed. Only she had ever been able to bring out the lightness in him like this; he’d always been serious, even as a kid, focused on string theory, particle physics, and shit that puzzled the rest of the world. He’d wanted to make a difference—and he would, just not in the way he’d originally intended. But as John Lennon said, Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.
Silas kissed her temple. “I tried so hard to give you space and distance, so you could be sure this is what you want. But without you, I was so much nothing. Just skin and bone, going through the motions.”
Juneau exhaled in a shuddering breath, and then her mouth found his in a kiss that broke him and reshaped him with its heat and sweetness. Even though she hadn’t said the words, he felt it in her lips with each brush, each tease. I love you. I love you. Afterward, she framed his face in her hands and rubbed her forehead against his. With her fingertips, she traced the patterns on his arms. He still remembered all the names of the people he’d hurt, but he no longer felt quite so doomed or displaced. Working with the resistance, he could make amends in a tangible way.
“This is a kind of madness, but I don’t want it to stop.”
“Our life together won’t be safe or settled, but I promise it’ll be extraordinary. If you come away with me, I’ll dedicate the rest of my days to making you happy.”
“That’s exactly what a mother wants to hear,” Mrs. Bright called from the kitchen.
The oh-so-beloved woman in his arms gazed into his eyes and laughed. “Sold. But I think you’d better come meet my mother properly.”
“I’d love to.”
And that was the last normal thing they ever did.
Don’t miss
Skin Heat
by Ava Gray,
now available from Berkley Sensation!
Angel-Claimed
JORY STRONG
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Thanks to my critique partner, Sue-Ellen Gower. Your insight and support are greatly appreciated!
ONE
Sajia woke to the acrid stink of fear. Her nightgown clung to her body, wet with sweat. Or perhaps from the fog creeping in off the San Francisco Bay as night battled with day, streaking the sky with hints of color.
The chill she felt at seeing the drapes pulled back and the window open pebbled her skin in a way the cold didn’t. Though she now lived in a mansion guarded by vampires and their servants, old habits remained, as did a human’s inherent fear of the night and predators that roamed it.
She’d shut drapes and window alike before going to bed. It was a habit drilled into children from the moment they were old enough, mobile enough, to unlock a window and die as a result of it.
Sajia rubbed her chest as though she could slow the thundering beat of her heart. She tried to shake off the fear-smell, but it clung like a heavy shroud, making her think it belonged to her until movement, a nervous fluttering at the doorway, jerked her from a terror that had only recently crept its way into her life with each awakening.
She saw the blood-slave then, and dread descended, as thick and heavy as the fog outside. The girl was pale, wringing her hands, frightened that she would lose her life because of something others had done.
There was only one reason a blood-slave would come for her, and it jerked Sajia from the bed. “Corinne?” she asked, naming the scion she’d only recently become companion to.
“It’s not my place to say,” the girl whispered. “The Master demands your presence.”
There were many masters in the Tucci household, but only one by that name.
