Page 4 of Protecting His Vampire Mate

“Look, I’m not completely immune to you or anything. I said it before: I like you. A lot,” I told him, knowing I needed to leave, but still feeling unwilling to hurt him on the way out any more than I absolutely had to. “Way more than I should. And maybe someday, we can see if there is something. But until then, I don’t want you putting your life on hold for me.”

Tobias snorted at that. “Right, like I’m chomping at the bit to date around.” But then he paused. “Where will you go?”

“I’m going to spend some time with my maker in Las Vegas. She’ll let me crash at her place until I can figure out what I’m doing next. I’ll be okay, I promise.”

He nodded, seeming satisfied by my response. “And this is what you need?”

“Yeah. It is. I can’t be here anymore.” I laughed, but it wasn’t a humorous sound. “I’m scared to even leave this room, if I’m being honest. I grew up in this city—and everywhere I look, it’s all just going to be memories of who I used to be, before all of this. And I can’t see any of that right now. It’s just too awful.”

His expression went softer as he studied me. “That makes sense.”

Something in my chest twisted at the wrongness of leaving him behind. Part of me wanted to ask him to come with me. But that would have been insane. Not to mention unbelievably selfish, to ask him to give up his whole life. And it would’ve been dumb, too, because it would have defeated the whole purpose of keeping him safe from what I might eventually do to him the moment my guard slipped.

After all, I had already hurt far too many witches and warlocks, hadn’t I?

No, he was better off without me.

I slipped past him and stepped into the hall.

“If you ever need anything, you can call me,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how much time has passed. I will always be here for you. I swear it.”

I glanced back at him to find that he wasn’t looking at me at all anymore. His gaze was locked onto the far wall of my bedroom, staring straight ahead with his jaw tight. He blinked rapidly, his breath hitching. But he still wore that fucking mask, concealing how he really felt. Making this easier for me.

I hated it.

“Yeah,” I told him thickly, wanting to curl into his arms and fighting the urge to go to him. “I know that.”

Then I used every bit of my speed to put as much distance between myself and Tobias Hawthorne as I possibly could. I didn’t want to linger one moment longer. I was scared that, if I did, I might change my mind.

CHAPTER ONE || BRYAN

“You afraid of a little sunlight?” The well-manicured forty-something woman behind the front desk raised her gaze from the identification I’d handed her—a fake—and narrowed her dark eyes at me in suspicion.

It was two months after I had left the stronghold and I was standing in a drab motel lobby playing chicken with the sun, which was definitely going to win.

The front desk worker’s eyebrows shot up when I cringed away from the patch of daylight that was inching toward me along the carpet.

“No, ma’am,” I replied hastily. “The sun is fine. Great. Love it so much. Can’t get enough of it.”

She frowned, staring at me like I was an alien, her eyebrows arching—if it were even possible at that point—even further up toward her hairline.

I let out a long, even breath. And then alarm rocketed through me. Because how long had it been since I had last breathed in her presence? Had she noticed the oddity?

I gulped. “Um. Look, I’ve just been on the road way too long already and I’d like to get into a warm bed and get some sleep.”

I tried my best to sound like a weary traveler, like I belonged here even the slightest bit—even though I knew I didn’t. Though, in my rumpled denim pants and matching jean jacket, with the over-stuffed backpack slung over my shoulder, I knew I at least looked the part.

Her frown deepened as she gave me a once-over that stopped at my dark-tinted sunglasses. “It’s a little early for those, isn’t it?”

It was, in fact, a little early for sunglasses. It was barely after six in the morning and the early June sun had just begun to seep over the purple slashes of mountains in the distance, which were steadily becoming more visible through the eastern-facing front office window. But I knew that in twenty minutes, the patch of daylight would have steadily expanded so that the whole room would be filled with sunlight. And then I would be dying.

Well, okay, not literally dying.

Vampires don’t actually burn in the sun or anything like that. That’s a myth. But still, I’d be extremely uncomfortable. My eyes would be burning, my skin would feel almost unbearably hot and stretched way too tight, and I would become so exhausted and drained of vitality that I’d be drooping against the counter like an under-watered houseplant. Older vampires can manage much better, but I’ve only been undead for a few years and I know way better than to be out during the day if I can avoid it.

“I’d really like a room,” I repeated, enunciating each syllable, hoping she’d get the hint and work faster. My smile tightened and I fought back the dark impulses that surged up, threatening to show this poor mortal woman my fangs. I added, forcing myself to sound at least passably calm and pleasant, “Please.”

She shrugged, handing my ID back to me. “You just passing through town, or do you plan on being here a while?”

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