Page 39 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Kiss

My laugh was short, but genuine. The bond between us felt nearly tangible, like our display had strengthened it.

“But what about right now?” I barely recognised the breathy quality of my voice, but desire was thrumming through me, tightening my nipples to stiff peaks. God, I ached for him.

He shook his head. “I don't think this is the best place for what I have in mind,” he murmured. His fingers brushed my collarbone and I arched into the simple touch. “If I touch you here...” His fingertips coasted lower, over my breasts and stomach, resting on the top of my thighs before halting. “…Then everyone will see how wet you are for me.”

“And that's a problem?” I wasn't even sure I'd said the words aloud, but his smirk confirmed it.

“As hot as it would be, you know you're mine, Nora.” Hayes hand shifted to cup the inside of my thighs on top of my jeans. “So while I'd come hard knowing they were watching your pretty pussy fluttering around my fingers... I'd also have to rip out their eyes for looking.”

I wasn't sure when my eyes had fallen closed, but when I opened them, he was smirking at me with his hands resting in his lap—despite the fact that I could still feel their ghost on my skin.

Bastard. “Stay out of my head.”

“But you make it so easy, love,” he crooned. Before I could respond, Emerson appeared at my side with Novalie in tow.

“So, what did Adrian want?”

I glanced between them in surprise. Adrian had been here?

“He knew we left when we went to meet Cal, but I think he thought we were heading for Ashvale.” Hayes’ voice was completely calm and composed—like he hadn't telepathically mind-fucked me two seconds ago.

“So he's watching us.” I shrugged. “We knew he would. Plus, I'd assumed from the crossbow-greeting and the hand in my chest that he was a little on edge.” Novalie and Emerson looked alarmed at the thought and I waved them off.

“Maybe.” Hayes stood and stretched, his T-shirt riding up. “Or maybe he's just watching in general.”

“For what?” Emerson's hands curled into tight fists before unclenching when she noticed my attention.

“Or who,” Novalie pointed out and Hayes nodded.

“And why,” I said slowly, thinking again about that crossbow and the mage who’d interrogated me not so long ago, “is he so scared of them?”

Chapter Twenty

Hayes

“Normally, when someone completes a kill list, they tend to be happier about it.”

I shot Cal a look as the severed head turned to ash after we’d extracted its memories. “I'd be happier if they gave me something I could use to find my family.” So far, their information had all been the same.

However Adrian had pulled this off, he'd kept the circle small.

“Hayes...”

“Don't.”

Cal understood that I wanted answers—his brother had gone missing along with my parents and sister. But he'd also accepted what I hadn't.

“There's no point endangering your life like this, not when?—”

“Don't say it,” I hissed, done with having this argument every few months.

“—when they're probably dead,” Cal finished. “I know you want to go after Adrian, but it's not going to bring them back. They’ve been gone for years. Even if they are alive, you know they will not be of sound mind. Those who go without blood for so long… It lays them to waste, Hayes. This vendetta will only put you—and Leonora—at risk.”

The ripple of fur under my skin was hard to contain, but I managed it. “Is that what this is about? You're worried I'll get your real kid killed?”

Cal's eyes flew wide. “You're being an arse and you know it. Adrian is an undead vampire that's hundreds of years old. He will kill you.” The mage grabbed my chin across the workstation where the head had burned away. “And don't you dare suggest I care about Leonora more than you ever again. Or I'll turn you into a toad,” he added, a flinty look in his eye that made me believe him.

“Sorry.” I turned away, pushing a hand through my hair and dropping it before I could rip any out. “But the thought that they could be alive out there, waiting for me to help them...”

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