Page 65 of Feral

“That’s right.”

Nodding, I drag my fingers down his thigh. “If that happens… What…? I mean, how…?” I blow out a breath. “I guess I’m wondering about my family and stuff. Would they know?”

“You would look as beautifully mortal as you do now. There is a period of time in the beginning when it’s harder to control your vampiric side, but you’d have me to help you learn. You wouldn’t age anymore though. You’d look like this until time ends.”

Until time ends. I can’t even wrap my head around that.

“We have time,” Hale says. “All we need. You don’t have to do anything right now. You can wait years if that’s what you want. I’ll be here when you’re ready.”

I close my eyes, imagining for a moment what it would be like. I can see my eyes glowing, my long fangs, my increased strength, but mostly what I see is Hale.

“How does it happen? Is it like the movies?”

“I don’t know how it is in the movies, but I would bite your beautiful, sensual neck and gorge myself on your sweet blood.”

As he speaks, his voice lowers and his skin pales slightly. When he parts his lips, I gasp as his fangs drop. My cock swells and twitches in response.

“I would nearly drain you, my darling, until you were on the brink of death.” He slides his fingers through my hair above my ear. “But then I would feed you, fill your body with my essence and bring you back to life. Eternal life. You would be mine until the sun burned itself out.”

“Is it immediate?”

“Yes. I won’t lie, it is a painful process, but it’s over fairly quickly, and I would be right by your side. I’ll take care of you, Yannis. Every need, desire, and want. You’ll be my world and I’ll be yours.”

“I get to take care of you too then, right? You won’t be alone ever again.”

“Right.” He lifts my hand to his lips and kisses the back. “I can’t find words to tell you how much I want this and how happy I am, but there’s no pressure.”

Shit. I’m torn. Of course I want to be with Hale, but it’s all so new and coming at me so fast. Becoming a vampire sounds cool as fuck, but then I’d have to be a vampire. I need time to think this through.

“I don’t want to disappoint you.”

“You can’t,” he says. “It’s impossible.” He kisses my hand again. “Even if you asked me to turn you right now, I wouldn’t. It isn’t a decision to take lightly, and I completely understand how overwhelming all of this must be. You just found out we exist a few days ago.”

“Has it only been a few days?”

He smiles. “Yes. I wasn’t given a choice and I’ll never do that to another.”

“Do you wish things had been different? Would you have rather stayed mortal and died hundreds of years ago?”

“No. I accept my fate, and I believe it was truly my path in life to become what I am. I believe the moment you were born, your path was destined to collide with mine. Now that I’ve met you, I wouldn’t trade any of my experiences. They all led me here, right now, to you.”

I stare at him in disbelief. “No one’s ever said stuff like this to me. I’ve never even been in love or had a serious relationship. It’s a lot.”

He frowns, his brow creasing. “I’ve overwhelmed you.”

“No.” I shake my head. “Not at all.” I scoot closer and kiss his cheek. “I’m not overwhelmed, I’m…” I shrug, grinning. “Full? Happy? I feel good around you, and for the first time, I really want this.”

“This?”

“A relationship. Commitment. Love.” My cheeks burn with heat at my admission. “I believe you, Hale. It must be fate, because the way I feel with you is different. I feel…whole. It always seemed like parts of me were missing or incomplete.”

“Yeah?”

“One time I told my brother that I thought I was broken because I wasn’t into dating and girls as much as my friends. This was way back in my early twenties when every guy I knew was talking about scoring and getting women into bed, you know?”

He nods.

“But that wasn’t me. Dimi told me maybe I was asexual, but I looked that up and it didn’t feel like me either. When everyone else started getting married and having kids, I wanted to run. The idea of settling down made me itchy, like my skin was too tight. I couldn’t picture it at all. Definitely not kids.” I blow out a breath as all my memories rush back. “I guess I was waiting for someone who really lit me up and made me want happily ever after, but it never happened.”

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