Page 13 of Protecting His Vampire Mate

Tobias strode forward, hands already moving to cast another spell. With a few sharp words and a flicking gesture, he turned the jagged wooden fragments hovering at the boundary of my circle into ash, which then harmlessly floated to the floor, coating it in gray.

“Bryan!” Tobias hurried over to me, face creased with worry. “Are you alright?”

The spirit must have realized that Tobias was a huge threat to its unlife, because its ire immediately transferred to him. Without warning, a hideous flower print loveseat came sailing in through the arched doorway leading to the living room and would have totally creamed Tobias if I hadn’t darted out of the safety of my circle and pulled him out of the way.

Warlocks were literally magical and they’re probably a lot more powerful than vampires, provided that they actually get the chance to pop off a spell. But they’re basically just humans with special powers, meaning that their reflexes aren’t the sharpest. Knocked off balance, Tobias stumbled forward, into my arms. I braced myself to absorb the impact of a fully grown man suddenly colliding into me, but my foot slipped on the ash that was now coating the ground.

We both fell backward.

Vampires have the ability to speed ourselves up considerably, which means that our perception of time slows way down. It sometimes happens involuntarily—a reflex. Like, for example, when the warlock who has pledged his undying love to you accidentally runs you over and causes you both to topple to the ground while an evil spirit tries its best to murder you.

With the way we were falling, even though he had stumbled into me and sent us both toppling backward, somehow we’d spun like dancers in some off-brand danse macabre, and now he was plummeting to the floor with me on top of him, where he’d soften the blow of our combined fall with the back of his very fragile, very mortal skull.

No. Absolutely not.

Using every bit of my vampire strength, I pulled him on top of me at the last possible second, so that it would be me and not him who took the brunt of the impact.

The force of my body hitting the linoleum floor caused my teeth to snap together and I tasted my own blood in my mouth. Blinding white light obscured my vision for a split second.

Tobias scrambled off of me and he must have pulled me up, then hoisted my arm over his shoulder, because suddenly I was moving, with his strong arms around my body, even before I had fully recovered from the blow I’d taken.

A moment later, my vampiric healing abilities kicked in and the world righted itself again. Just in time for me to see literally every object around us that wasn’t bolted down floating several inches off the ground.

Including the knives, which had pulled themselves free from the wall at some point since I’d last looked at them. Those were aimed directly at Tobias.

I grabbed at him and used my vampire speed to get us through the shattered front door and out onto the relative safety of the front lawn.

Behind us, I heard every object in the house crash to the ground at once. It was loud enough to set off a car alarm from the black luxury sedan parked in the driveway next door.

Tobias let out a sharp, startled exhale as I halted our momentum.

“Warn me next time!” Tobias gasped out, doubling over.

“I just saved your life!” I retorted. “Be thankful I was fast enough to outrun those knives.”

“I saved your life first!” He raised his gaze to mine and held it, his deep blue eyes were hard and dark for an instant. But then something went soft in his face as he examined me. “Hey, are you okay?”

Seeing him was a shock to me, just like it had been the first time I’d ever laid eyes on him. He was warm, solid, alive, and so handsome that it just made me want to draw him into my arms and never let him go.

His reddish-brown hair was wavy and a bit unruly, his shoulders were wide, and every part of him was strong, hard-edged, and masculine. He had major boy next door vibes. Except, if the boy next door in question happened to be a powerful warlock who could have probably also moonlighted as an underwear model if he’d wanted to.

But that wasn’t all I noticed.

His pulse was hammering in his throat, circulating hot, rich, red blood through his body…

I took a step back from him, terrified my fangs would drop.

“I’m fine,” I snapped, deciding that offense was the best defense. “Or, well, no. I’m not fine. You totally ruined my hunt. And my book is still back inside the house! Along with all my supplies. Plus, I never even saw the ghost manifest. So this whole thing was a waste, thanks to you.”

Tobias blinked at me, his jaw dropping open like it had lost a hinge.

We stared at each other for a long moment, my anger wavering and then draining away from me until I basically felt like a giant idiot.

“Your…” he trailed off, still staring at me. Then he tried again. “Your hunt. As in, you were here on purpose. With a book. And supplies. Trying to get a ghost to… manifest itself?”

I didn’t like the way he said that one bit. Like it was ridiculous. Like I had no right to redeem myself for all the evil I had done. I jutted my jaw out defiantly, glaring at him. “And if I was?”

“Then I’d ask you what the hell you were thinking, trying to take on a spirit this powerful alone,” he replied immediately. But then his tone softened, and he added, “What the hell is this, Bryan? I get that you’re going through something I will never understand. But what is this?”

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