Page 25 of Protecting His Vampire Mate

He was right, in the sense that the rug hadn’t inflated or anything dramatic like that. Technically, I could have transmuted it into something like a soft mat for me to sleep on, but that would have been a flashy waste of my magical energy. Simply laying down a spell to cause it to be comfortable achieved roughly the same effect, without needlessly taxing my powers.

I hadn’t rested properly and all the spell-casting I’d done over the last two days, including the demon I had banished right before coming here, had all done a number on me. I badly needed a good night’s sleep. Not that he needed to know any of that.

I shrugged. “Some spells are subtle, like this one. And sometimes that’s exactly what you want.”

“I half-expected you to turn it into a four-post bed or something. And maybe conjure an army of singing mice or something to tuck you in for the night.”

“In a room this size?” I laughed easily at the thought, meeting his gaze, feeling happiness surge through me at being so near to him. I added, “Besides, there’s a big difference between turning it into something close to what it already is and making something completely brand new out of it. That would wipe me out for days.”

My mouth snapped shut the moment I realized what I had just said. But the damage was done. The problem was, once I was around Bryan, it was far too easy to talk to him.

“Magic is hard on your body, then?” He didn’t look surprised, but he didn’t look happy about it, either. He gave me a once-over, frowned, then added, “Yeah, I guess I’ve been wondering that. And I’m betting you’ve had to use a lot of spells recently. Since rolling into town, I mean.”

I shrugged again, but my amusement evaporated in an instant. I didn’t like the accusatory way he’d said that last bit. The big implication there being that I shouldn’t be doing so many spells on his behalf. Though, he had already made it perfectly clear that he aggressively didn’t care, right?

“It’s not that big a deal. And I’m fine,” I lied. “I just need a little sleep. I’ll be okay after that.”

Bryan didn’t quite seem like he believed me, but after a moment that lasted longer than it should have, he seemed to decide against grilling me about it, because he nodded without questioning me any further. Then, with brisk movements, he stripped the comforter and one of the two pillows off the bed and tossed them to me.

I caught both easily.

“I’ll sleep with the sheets,” Bryan said shortly. Then he kicked off his shoes and climbed into bed without even bothering to get undressed. He rolled over so that his back was to me, causing the bed to creak under his weight. Then he reached over and switched off the light on the nightstand. Without looking at me, he added, “Goodnight.”

I stood there in the sudden dimness, with only the orange edges of the lights in the parking lot filtering in from the gaps where the curtains hadn’t completely blocked the window behind me. I held the comforter in one hand and a pillow in the other, staring at his back. But I still couldn’t help feeling calmer than I had in weeks—months—that he was right there, close enough to touch. And that, for tonight, at least, he was okay and unharmed.

“Goodnight,” I told him softly.

Then I laid the blanket out like a sleeping bag, set the pillow down, and settled onto the rug that was now far more comfortable than it had any right to be. Blissful relaxation stole over my body.

For right now, everything was just as it should have been in my world.

And for the first time in a very long time, I went right to sleep, secure in the knowledge that my mate was only a few feet from me and that I would do literally anything I needed to do in order to keep him happy and well.

CHAPTER EIGHT || BRYAN

The nightmare was the same one as always.

It was Teresa Dames, the first witch Giles had forced me to kill. A handful of humans I had hypnotized were standing so close to us that I could practically feel their breath on the back of my neck. It was a move I had been forced to make during every killing in order to stop my victims—all of them witches and warlocks—from using truly lethal magic against me in order to protect themselves. Someone like Teresa never would have risked hurting an innocent person. Not even to save herself from a monster.

Their glazed eyes were upon us, watching without understanding anything.

“Please don’t do this,” Teresa whispered, staring at me with wide, terrified eyes. She was trying to appeal to my humanity. But I had none. She was talking to an empty vessel. A brick wall. Tears spilled over and she added, sounding like she was fighting to remain calm, “I have family. I have friends. I’m in love with someone. Please, I don’t want to die.”

The compulsive spell didn’t let me speak, though if I could have, I would have begged her to run instead of trying to appeal to my humanity. Or, I would have pleaded with her to at least use a spell to save herself, even if that meant setting me on fire and burning me to ashes. But the compulsion was so total that it didn’t allow me to express any outward emotions at all.

I couldn’t even blink under my own power.

But somewhere, deep inside, I was trapped inside of myself, watching this happen and fighting to stop my body from moving to hurt her.

Kill her.

The voice was silent and sounded insidiously close to my own mental voice, even though I knew it wasn’t.

No no no no no no, I begged silently, my voice distant and useless, rising up from the darkest corners of myself I had been locked into. But my body didn’t obey me.

Instead, it obeyed the voice.

My fangs dropped and a raw, awful hunger swept over me. The urge to feed flooded into every part of me, possessing every cell of my body. It was the darkest vampiric instinct, one that lies dormant in all of us, suppressed by our humanity, to take and take and take until nothing was left at all. It was an instinct I had always been able to fight against with such ease that it was barely noticeable, even in my first few months after turning. But this time, it took me over completely, eclipsing everything else.

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