Page 35 of Liberty

“Thanks for the reminder.” I knew she would bring that up. I fucking saw her mind filling it away, waiting to remind me.

“You didn’t break up with her.” It was both a question as much as a statement.

“Why would I have? She was fucking perfect. Funny, smart, curvy. But also, human. And every few decades, I need to get my heart broken to remind me that humans and my kind can’t mix and match. It’s impossible really.”

“You don’t believe that. She still seems interested.”

I cut her off. “In fucking. We fuck when I’m in town.”

“Your crudeness is sounding like Sterling. Do you still love her?”

I pulled over to the side. “Would it matter if I did?”

“Yes,” she answered, then changed it, “No. Maybe. I just, I assumed you three were unattached. I never gave much thought to your past until Ellis brought it up.”

“Was that before or after you both were dry humping in the library?” Shit. I hadn’t meant to let that slip.

“Definitely before,” she sneered. “He was too busy, only thinking of me after to even think of past loves.”

“Awful confident of how appealing you are, don’t you think?”

“What bugs you so much, Oak? The fact that we kissed, or the fact that he did it first?”

I wished I knew the answer to that; I really did. I knew it would happen; of course, there was no way around it. All three of us lusted after this female so hard, it was nearly painful. But a part of me had thought that maybe, just maybe, she felt the same about me. That perhaps for once in my life, I wasn’t picked after the other two bastards but picked first.

“Neither.” It was a lie, she had to know it, but she let it go.

“I didn’t like the way Maggie looked at you,” she admitted, resignation in her voice as she said it. “Is that crazy? Do you think that’s crazy? I’ve known you all less than a day. I don’t own you. I hardly know you. But when she looked at you, I felt a sense of ownership. Like you were meant to be mine. But it’s not just you. I felt the same way when Ellis was near. And Sterling, in our brief interactions. Is it you? Do you guys have the power to persuade me or to make me feel this way?”

Her confession sent warmth spreading up my spine. “Until that alley. The only real and confirmed power I had was running really fast and convincing females that a fun time is letting me suck their blood. A task I hadn’t actually done in years, FYI.”

“I don’t know what’s happening, Oak.”

I was practically the president of confusion. “I don’t either.”

Her fingers came up to latch onto the stone she wore around her neck. “Do you think this stone will protect me?”

How the conversation had changed. “It depends, what exactly are you wanting protection from Liberty, the witch that is attacking you in your dreams, or the vampires destined to interfere?”

I had thought the question would have been easy. But it wasn’t. Which one of us was the greater of the two evils? The witch who would stop at nothing to see her dead seemed like the obvious choice. But three vampires? Three vampires who suddenly gained unique power just by meeting her. Three vampires who were all almost fighting to be near her. Three vampires, who would stop at nothing to keep her safe, to make her theirs? Maybe we weren’t as secure as I initially thought.

Her fingers curled around the stone again, and the power it held reached for her. “You know, most people would be terrified of three vampires.” I opened my mouth to speak, but she held up her hand to stop me. “Most people would be terrified of vampires, but for some reason, you don’t frighten me, Oak. You should; you should terrify me. But when I look at you, or even Ellis or Sterling, I feel no fear at all, and that, well, that’s the terrifying part.”

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