Page 37 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 1

“Cool,” she said. “Okay, I’ve gotta get out of these wet clothes.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, hard. “I’ll…” I managed. “Give you some privacy.” I reached for the flap of the tent.

“What, are you afraid to be around a woman who’s changing unless you have a chaperone?” Evangeline said. “You need to get changed, too. We can both just turn the other way.”

“Of course. Very practical.” My voice came out level and calm. I mentally congratulated myself.

Evangeline rummaged in the bottomless tote, reaching into the small bag, all the way up to her shoulder. She pulled out a bundle of clothes and passed the bag over to me. I found my own sleepwear, and we both turned our backs. I took a deep breath as I heard the rustle of Evangeline removing her clothes, trying to keep myself under control. The deep breath was a mistake. Evangeline’s sweet, floral scent was strong and maddening.

I stripped out of my clothes with numb fingers, folding each piece neatly. The silk of my pajama bottoms was decadently soft, but I barely noticed it. I did spare a moment to wish I’d brought a proper shirt, but I had planned on sleeping alone. I would have to make do with my spare undershirt, which, luckily, was a fairly practical black tank.

“Are you decent?” Evangeline asked.

“Not particularly, but I’m fully dressed,” I said. I heard her huff out a soft laugh, but it died suddenly in her throat.

“I didn’t know you had a tattoo.” Her voice sounded odd.

I turned to face her. She was wearing soft flannel pajama bottoms, and a spaghetti strap top the same deep green as her eyes.

“They’re my clan markings,” I said. “Heirs get them when their transformation is complete.”

Evangeline looked at the spots where the lines of the magical tattoo came up over my shoulders. “Interesting,” she said faintly. “I think I’m gonna turn in. Big day tomorrow.”

“Of course,” I said. “We should both get some rest.”

Once she’d climbed into the bed, I tugged a ribbon embroidered with a lantern that hung from the edge of the ceiling, and the lights extinguished. I slid into the other side of the bed, pressed myself as close to the wall as I physically could, and prepared for the least restful night imaginable.

13

EVANGELINE

Iwoke up warm and perfectly cozy, with my cheek nestled on something that felt like the cool side of the pillow. Humming happily, I nuzzled closer to it. It was pleasantly solid. I was pretty much wrapped around the lovely coolness, with an arm around it and one leg thrown over it.

My nice, cool pillow moved, and my eyes shot open. My cheek was pillowed on Gabriel’s chest, and I was wrapped around him like a particularly handsy koala.

I sat up.

He was lying completely still, his body gently curved toward me, staring up at the roof of the tent with a horrified expression.

“Oh, my God,” I said. “Oh, my God, I’m so sorry. I swear I’m not usually a clingy sleeper, I would’ve warned you. Honestly.” I pulled my leg off him, and my thigh brushed against something hard. I tried my hardest to avoid being mortified by focusing on the fun new fact I’d just learned about vampires—they got morning wood. I was pretty sure I was blushing all the way to the roots of my hair.

“It’s fine,” Gabriel said. His eyes flicked down to my chest for just a fraction of a second, then back up to my face. “It’s fine,” he repeated, sounding strangled. “You’ve, ah…” he added, gesturing vaguely at his own chest.

I glanced down at myself, and my face flamed. It was a universal law that if you went to sleep in a tank top, at least one of your tits would escape, and this morning was, unfortunately, not an exception.

“Shit,” I hissed, pulling my top back up over the escapee. “Sorry. I’m... Wow.”

Gabriel had gone back to staring at the roof of the tent. I’d seen corpses that looked less grim.

“I’m just gonna—” I jutted a thumb toward the door of the tent. “Breakfast. You can join me when you’re…” Don’t look at his boner. Don’t look at his boner. Don’t look at his boner. “When you’re ready.” Aaand I’d made it sound like I expected him to jerk off in the bed we’d shared. Great. I wouldn’t say that I ran away, but I definitely made a speedy, tactical retreat.

Breakfast was quiet and painfully awkward. I made myself some eggs as quickly as possible, and Gabriel disappeared into the forest for a while, then came back with his lips stained red and a few droplets of blood on the collar of his jacket.

“You’ve got a little something on your jacket,” I said.

Gabriel looked down at himself and scowled.

“Breakfast had higher blood pressure than I expected,” he said. He grabbed something from his supplies and began using it on the stains. I let out an amused little huff when I realized that it was a Tide pen.

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