Page 99
‘Lucky me.’
She grins wide, teeth flashing, fangs and all. She looks stunning, embracing this new side of herself.
Bounding to our feet, we keep going, side by side now. The forest thins, and the trees begin to part. Up ahead, through a break in the tree line, I see the roof of my house in the distance, stirring something nostalgic in me. I have been back briefly, but it feels different coming here with Tara.
She slows beside me, eyes wide as she takes it in. It’s very different to Kian’s estate, but it’s still moody and dramatic – or so Cora says.
I glance over at Tara. Her hair’s wild from the wind, and there’s something fierce and beautiful in the way she stands there, marble-like skin glowing under the moonlight, those piercing dark eyes looking perfect on her heart-shaped face.
She was a beautiful human, but my God, she is a beautiful vampire.
‘You’re perfect,’ I whisper, pulling her to me and dipping her head back, my eyes scanning over her face. ‘I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life falling more in love with you.’
She smiles and moves to stand on her tiptoes, pressing her lips to mine in a gentle, caressing kiss that burns through me in ways I could never imagine a kiss to feel. Everything feels different with her. Deeper, somehow.
We head inside, and the air is cool and still, but not lifeless. The scent of cedarwood and old books lingers in the air. Hunter made himself a library when he was here, and not that I’d ever admit it to him, but I find comfort in the yellowed pages of the old books he collected. It reminds me of a simpler time when we were new vampires and there didn’t seem to be so much chaos and disaster around us.
Tara steps in and slowly turns, taking it all in. The wooden beams, the dark panelling, the leather furniture. Her fingers brush the edge of a shelf lined with antique weapons.
‘This is a big place for one person,’ she murmurs.
‘Hunter was here for most of it,’ I point out. ‘But yes, it is quite spacious. More room for activity.’
She glances at me at that, the corner of her mouth lifting.
‘This way,’ I say, leading her through the main hall and down a corridor toward a set of double doors, pushing them open.
The room inside is dark with wide windows, soft moonlight filtering through the almost see-through curtains. Wood floors, high ceilings, and along one side, a wall-mounted display of crossbows. Basically every design of a crossbow ever invented. Tara stops, her jaw dropping open as she stares at them.
She turns slowly to face me. ‘You set this up?’
I nod. ‘Yeah. I thought you might like it.’
She walks over to the display, running her hands over one of the newer models. They’re sleek, and I knew she’d be drawn to them. They’d suit her better now with her speed, if she still wants to use them. Then she moves to the next one, pulling it off the wall and inspecting it closely.
‘I love it,’ she whispers. ‘This is so thoughtful, Theo. Thank you.’
I reach for her hand, threading our fingers together.
‘Come on,’ I say. ‘There’s more.’
We pass a sunroom filled with artificial sunlight, to make it feel like you’re out tanning at the beach, then I usher her through the rest of the house. There’s a library bigger than it needs to be, courtesy of Hunter. A cellar the size of an apartment. An upstairs loft I’ve converted into a sparring room, for training purposes. I haven’t used it much before but I feel like I will now, with Tara. Not that we are planning to be here much for a while.
‘This can be our place,’ I say. ‘Somewhere we can come back to whenever we want.’
‘Sounds good to me,’ she says. ‘Show me where you keep the good whiskey. And tomorrow, I want to try out every damn crossbow on that wall.’
I grin. ‘Deal.’
‘But tonight,’ she murmurs, turning toward me and pressing her palms onto the table between us, a slow smirk inching across her lips. ‘You’re all mine.’
29
TARA
The Host
‘Where do you want me?’
