Page 32 of Snowed in with the Vampire Prince

Everyone stared at me. Jeremy most of all, though, I could feel Pierce’s mixture of pride and awe at what I was doing, like I had done something remarkable instead of just choosing to talk to the Alpha like he was a regular person. I also sensed that if anyone so much as flinched wrong in my direction, Pierce was fully ready to kill to protect me.

I gave Jeremy a very small, very sad smile as I added, “You’re the kind of person who sees the loneliness in another person and wants to do something crazy to keep him from ever feeling that way again. That’s your very first instinct when you see someone in pain. You’re the kind of person who cleans your mate’s old paintings every day because they’re the one piece of him you have left. You’re the kind of person that’s worth following. Or, at least, your wolves sure as hell seem to think so. They’re willing to follow you, even when you’re doing something crazy.”

I pointed at myself, and I caught a few of the wolves giving me grudging smiles from the sidelines. I could still feel Pierce’s eyes boring a hole in my back.

I added, “You’re the kind of person who deserves a mate who chooses you too. You’re the kind of person who deserves something real. You’re the kind of person who wouldn’t take something real away from anyone else.” I looked at him, locking eyes with the Alpha again. And then I asked the most dangerous question of all. “Am I wrong about you?”

“You think you have something real with the vampire?” Jeremy demanded, even though the defeat was obvious in his voice. He sounded just as miserable as he looked.

“I’m connected to his mind,” I replied quietly. “It happened last night. I can talk to him without words now as easily as I’m talking to you. And he can do the same to me. It’s the most real thing I’ve ever experienced. And there won’t ever be anyone else for me now. I’m sorry.”

Then I said the one thing I promised myself I would never say. The one thing I promised myself I would never feel. “I’m in love with him. I didn’t mean to be. But I am.”

You could have heard a pin drop in the clearing. That’s how quiet it got.

“A blood bond,” Jeremy said, breaking the silence at last. His voice came out as a ragged and sharp whisper. He raised his gaze to meet Pierce’s behind me, and I knew from the way that he looked at my lover that the battle was over. “That’s how you found us. That’s how you found him.”

Pierce stepped forward to join me at my side. He nodded back at Jeremy, but the murder he would cheerfully commit to protect me was still plain to see in his eyes.

“I’ll protect him with my life,” Pierce growled. I felt him putting every ounce of his devotion and fury into the words. “And I’ll love him for as long as I live.”

Jeremy swallowed hard and then nodded at Pierce sharply. All the fight drained out of him in an instant. He turned back to me with a rueful smile, even though the pain stamped across his face was still naked for anyone to see. “Thank you. You stopped me from doing something pretty stupid here.”

Around us, all the wolves relaxed at once. Then, one by one, they shifted back to human form, their intense relief plain on their faces.

I gave Jeremy a tentative smile. “You’re going to find someone who rocks your world. I know it.”

Jeremy nodded back, but it was clear he didn’t believe me. Then he glanced at Pierce. “Take your mate and go. You have nothing to fear from us anymore. I swear it on moon and word.”

Pierce nodded at him. Then he took me by the hand, and relief flooded through me. With all the wolves in the pack still watching us, he led me out of the clearing and into the darkness of the night.

Chapter 17

James

The journey back to my Jeep seemed to take no time at all. I relented to being carried, and, despite the snow and ice on the ground, it had only taken us a few minutes to get to the parking lot where I’d parked my Jeep. The journey should have been frightening, but it wasn’t. I had never felt safer than I did in Pierce’s arms.

“I have better reflexes and a lot more experience driving in the snow. So, hand over the keys, human,” he told me. I sensed from his mind that he would tolerate no argument on that score.

However, oddly enough, his emotions were like a storm, building in intensity but whipping so fast that I couldn’t pick them out of the fray to get a clear picture of how he was feeling. But the one thing that I did sense from him was his fear.

So, I forked over my keys, but I couldn’t help myself from telling him, “Be gentle with it. It’s about as old as I am.”

He cracked the smallest of smiles at that but didn’t reply.

Of course, we had only gotten to the parking lot exit before we had to stop. It was after hours, and there was a heavy metal gate that someone—probably a park ranger—had padlocked shut.

“Maybe we can go back up to your place,” I suggested, frowning at the gate blocking us. The thought of returning to Pierce’s cabin without the threat of the wolves was a seductive one. What would it be like to be there if it was just us, able to do whatever we wanted with—and to—each other? I added, “There’s no rush now. The wolves aren’t coming back for me.”

“I’m going to see you safely home,” Pierce said after considering it for a moment. “I won’t be able to relax until you are as far from here as possible.”

Then he popped open the driver’s side door, jumped out of the car, and tore the padlock off the gate like it was made of wet paper instead of metal. He swung the gate open, then jumped back into the driver’s seat. The whole process only took him a few seconds.

We drove in silence for about an hour. He kept glancing over at me, but he didn’t speak. My face was everywhere in his thoughts. But so was the fear. It was like it was on a loop.

I didn’t try to make conversation either because he was being so fucking weird. But then it finally clicked that he was pulling away from me.

Fury ignited within me at the thought. It felt good. It felt right. I shot him a glare and found that he’d glanced over at me at that exact moment.

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