“Good luck tomorrow,” Ronan said. “You need anything, holler.”

“Will do. See ya.”

Grabbing his dinner, he headed to the apartment on the fourteenth floor of the hotel, a two-bedroom that had a nice view of the river and a balcony with sliding doors he could leave open when the weather was nice. As he ate his meal, he rubbed the space over his heart. Somewhere out there, his truemate was waiting for him.

He hoped he didn’t keep her waiting too long.

Chapter Two

Georgia Devarsi zipped up her travel case after ensuring she had all her favorite toiletries, when her phone buzzed.

“Hi, Mom,” she said after pressing the speaker button.

She’d come to Villanohvah for her mom’s seventy-fifth birthday, although she’d been turned as a vampire when she was thirty-five, so it was more an anniversary of her fortieth thirty-fifth birthday.

The last week had been a fun time hanging out with her parents’ kiss, which was small and had the benefit of being almost entirely made up of Devarsi family members, from aunts and uncles to cousins and grandparents, they’d all been turned and enjoyed their immortality together, having lavish parties and celebrating anniversaries instead of birthdays.

“Hello, sweetheart, I have a favor to ask.”

“What favor would that be?”

“I’d like for you to talk to your cousin Heinrich.”

“Why?”

“He’s got a friend who would be perfect for you.”

“Ugh, Mom,” she said. “You spent the entire time I was here trying to fix me up with randos.”

“They weren’t randos,” her mom protested.

She shouldered her bag and picked up her phone. She’d been staying in the guest house at her parents’ estate. It had been a nice time away from the underground apartment she had below Heat, the vampire club owned by Caleb and his mate Lia. She hadn’t taken a vacation in years, and her mom’s birthday celebration had been a good excuse to get away from Belle Terra for a little while.

Even if her parents had spent the whole time trying to find her a man.

“I’m waiting for my truemate, remember?”

“It’s been twenty years.”

“I’m aware,” Georgia said dryly.

“So you won’t meet with Heinrich? He’ll be disappointed.”

“He’ll get over it, we’re not that close anyway.”

“Well, if you insist on staying single.”

“Mom, I’m not insisting on being single, I just haven’t found my truemate yet. I’m immortal, it’s not like my biological clock is ticking or something.”

A sad truth about vampires. A male vampire could have children for around ten years after their turning, but a female became sterile immediately. She never really understood why their turnings were so different, but she suspected it had to do with the way a female’s body had to change during pregnancy and therefore, once it froze after turning, the body couldn’t change again.

She hadn’t minded not having kids of her own when she was turned all those years ago, and she truly hoped that her truemate didn’t mind that she was unable to provide children. She’d always figured she’d end up with a vampire for a mate, but there was always the possibility that she’d have a shifter or human for a mate who’d she have to turn herself.

She’d never turned anyone, but it wasn’t a terribly difficult thing to do.

Then she and her mate could live forever and that was pretty damn cool.

“You’ll come to the house to say goodbye?”