Page 138 of Black Bird

“Oh, whatever. I’ll still fight off the reek of romance for as long as I can. And I can’t sit here and say I wouldn’t eat the toenails off the drummer from the same band if he offered.” Wren snorted, earning an eye roll and a giggle from Sarah. “But I am truly happy for you. And I mean that. You deserve it after all you’ve been through, Sarah. So does Athan.”

“Thanks, Wren. I know the circumstances suck … but I’m glad we’re all here together. I love you, bitch.”

“Don’t get soft!” Wren tossed a handful of snow over her, and slaps started flying between them. “You haven’t given me details yet!” Sarah scrambled to get away and Wren chased her back to the porch.

The fun …wasfun—while it lasted, anyway. They bolted through the door and came face to face with Athan and Rhaena, both of them looking like someone just ran over their dog. Wren and Sarah stared at them for a moment and then gave each other identical looks of dread.

“What’s wrong?” Sarah breathed.

Wren met eyes with Rhaena, who was doubled over with sweat and an apologetic look. “I was gonna wait, but … you guys need to sit. We’ve gotta talk.”

It was difficult to look at her. The night they’d just had. The morning that seemed so … effortlessly happy. All of that was about to come crashing down about as quickly as it came. Athan had taken his turn in the shower, unfazed by the lack of warm water left. When he’d gotten out and dressed, he sipped on his coffee and had turned toward the front window just in time to see Wren clothesline herself on the rope swing and face plant into the snow. It almost forced coffee out of his nose. He thought about going out to join them both for a cigarette but realized that they were likely doing what best friends do and mulling over every dirty detail of what they’d done last night. That was not a conversation he wanted to be part of. He didn’t realize he’d started daydreaming about those details himself, until Rhaena stepped up behind him chugging more water from her jug.

“You wanna talk about it? They certainly are.” She snickered, turning the jug back up. Athan sipped his coffee again, both of them watching the girls.

“You know better than to think I’d kiss and tell.”

Rhaena wiped her mouth on her wrist. “Well … I noticed her neck looked pretty colorful. Doesn’t look like you couldn’t control yourself, though. That’s a start, right?” He brought his mug down slowly and Rhaena didn’t miss the sudden drop in his expression. “Right?” She peered around him to get his attention.

“She wanted me to. Asked me twice. I didn’t expect to hear her say anything like that. Especially not after her asking if the bond suddenly meant she’d turn into … something like me.” He finally met Rhaena’s stare.

“Something like you …” Rhaena breathed, nodding slowly and glancing back out the window. “Why would that be such a bad thing, Athan? Maybe it’s less about the downward spiral she’s been in since you bit her, and more about her need to feel equal to the one she’s mated to. If you think about it … it’s really not that surprising.”

“Is it an awful thing for me to want her to have more out of this life than the curse of being such a thing, Rhaena? In over two hundred years, I’ve never been happy. Not until last night, when she got down on that floor and told me that she chose me.”

“Yeah, but she’s not starting out her immortal life unhappy, Kane. She has you. Ultimately … it’s her decision.” She looked over at him again. “Not yours.”

Athan sighed. “I know … and you’re right.”

“Human life is precious. I think that’s one of the most special parts about you, Athan. Even being what you are … you never lost the humane part of yourself that sees her for what she is. Sarah doesn’t see you the way you see yourself. Neither do I … or Wren, for that matter. I can completely understand why you feel so compelled to protect her from this life, but being a vampire never robbed you of that part of your soul. I don’t think it would in her case, either. At least you’d be giving her the choice that was denied you.”

He let that sink in for a moment. “Rhaena … this is probably a strange time to bring this up, but … other than Dahlia, you’re the only person I’ve fucked since being turned.”

Rhaena snorted, “Am I? Well, isn’t that just warm and fuzzy.” She pressed a palm to her chest and grinned, taking another deep swallow from her jug. “As flattering as that is, why do you feel the need to tell me that?”

“Because,” he narrowed his eyes at the girls, who had started slapping each other in the snow. “You’re not human, and you still had some trouble sometimes—taking me.” He pretended not to catch the flush in Rhaena’s cheeks.

“Well … you’re uh—kind of a lot to take in, if you know what I mean.” Her soft giggle made him smirk a little. “Not to mention … you can be downright savage when you fuck. Not that I’ve ever found it in any way un-enjoyable, but had you not had all the control, I feel like I might have yelled a safe word once or twice.”

“We never had a safe word.” Athan glanced at her, and she bashfully turned her jug up and shrugged.

“Why are we talking about this, anyway? Did you hurt her, or something?”

Athan slowly shook his head. “No … I just found myself wondering. Last night, I practically had to force her to rest. We probably got about two hours of sleep, if that. Any break in between might have lasted all of a couple of minutes. There were only a few times that I really held myself back, and the only reason I did was to keep us both quiet.”

Rhaena smiled like she was thoroughly impressed. “I’m not really seeing a problem here.” She laughed.

“I’m not saying there is one. It was just something I noticed about her. Sarah might have flinched for a second or two every once in a while, but the way she took me …” He blew out a breath. “It was like I could give her all I had, and she could still take more.”

“What are you saying, exactly?” Rhaena asked, now wholly invested in the conversation. Athan lost patience and snapped his head toward her.

“I’m saying I fucked her harder last night than I ever fucked you. What kind of human can endure that? What kind of human can endure that andcontinueto endure it for hours, until I insist that she stop for her own good?” Rhaena’s mouth dropped slightly open as if she finally realized what he was getting at.

“You think she’s—”

“I dunno. Like I said … it was something I noticed. I did bite her once, and she’s been different ever since. Either my feeding on her really did more than we initially thought, or …”

“Or maybe she’s not human?”

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