Page 53 of Hunting His Vampire Mate

“Fine,” Thierry said, obviously growing exasperated with us. “If Danny is having sex with you now, he was never straight in the first place. Becoming a vampire doesn’tmakeyou bisexual or pansexual, or any of the other silly little terms you lot have for whom someone is or is not sexually attracted to.” He paused. “There are plenty of fully straight and fully homosexual vampires. All the change does is strip away the social conditioning around your sexual desires, to let whatever is latent come forth and express itself more fully.”

“I’m not complaining, butwhy?” Michael demanded.

Thierry shrugged. “No one knows for sure why dying and coming back does that, but I assume it is because in light of your own death your subconscious finally gets the memo that those things don’t actually matter. It’s a rather freeing experience.”

“So, that means I always had some level of desire for having sexual encounters with men?” I ventured. “Or maybe just with Michael?”

Thierry rubbed his temples with his fingertips. “I cannot believe you two are forcing me to have the vampire equivalent of the birds and bees talk with you. I don’t get paid nearly enough for this, truly.” But when Michael and I both just stared at him, Thierry’s hard-edged expression softened fractionally. He met my gaze and added, “But of course you have questions. Allow me to put your mind at ease: whatever desires you feel for your mate are organic to you, young one. They weren’t put there by your new condition.”

Relief crashed through me. I had already put together that maybe I had been demi-sexual all along, but it was another thing altogether to hear Thierry confirm it. Michael had been right to ask.

Michael shot me a small smile, his eyes warm.

“But most vampires are bi,” he said, turning back to Thierry. “Tobias told me—”

“That is because mostpeopleare some degree of bisexual. Sexuality is a spectrum, and the vast majority of people fall somewhere in the middle of it. Vampires are no different. They simply no longer have the same fears, hang-ups, and social pressures they did when they were human.” He paused, then his electric-blue gaze met mine once more and he added, “Now, bringing this back to what truly matters. In Michael’s presence, you’re not feeling any hunger? No pain? Or desire to feed from him?”

I gave Michael’s hand a squeeze. “Not really. It’s still there. Kind of. But it’s like someone turned the volume down so low on it that it’s almost on mute. I have to really focus in order to feel it at all. But the moment he leaves the room—”

My mouth snapped shut. I hadn’t meant to tell Michael that. I hadn’t wanted him to know that whenever he left me alone—even for a few minutes—the pain came back.

Michael’s eyebrows slid together at that little piece of information.Huh. Well, shit. I can totally work with that.

Thierry frowned at us. But something relaxed in his stance. “Interesting.”

And then some of the disdain slipped from his expression. It happened so abruptly that I wasn’t entirely sure he actually felt any hostility toward us at all. And without the sardonic mask, he looked almost bewildered.

He added, “I hadn’t been aware that a blood bond was capable of suppressing a newborn’s feeding instincts. But then, someone much older and wiser once told me that the bond is whatever the couple needs it to be, when they need it to be that thing. And certainly, at the present moment, both of you need Danny’s feeding instincts under control when you are together.”

Weird. It’s like he’stryingto be nasty and then he sometimes forgets.I shot Michael a bemused glance.Like he wants to make us dislike him for some reason. But if it’s something he has to do on purpose, he probably doesn’t actually mean it, right?

It’s probably easier that way,Michael mused, humming a bit in agreement. He cocked his head to the side as he studied Thierry.I’m betting he’s been through a lot. It’s probably a defense mechanism. It’s way easier to keep people at arm’s length if they think you’re a dick.

I couldn’t help the incredulity I felt when I shot Michael a questioning sideways look.

Michael flashed me a sheepish smile.What? I read. Sometimes.

I returned his smile. It was hard not to.When did this start?

I mean, I guess it’s been pretty recent. I’ve… um… I’ve had more time lately.

The image of him sitting alone in the car, parked at the edge of a massive, big-box store parking lot, glued to his phone, rippled through the bond and I knew precisely what he meant: all those times when I hadthoughthe was off hooking up. Instead, he’d been sitting in the car.

Reading, apparently.

I felt a surge of… something. It was a mix of relief and annoyance and tenderness, all wrapped up together, all at the same time. An emotion bomb. Michael had been dropping those on me for the past twenty-four hours. For a guy who had gone to great lengths, apparently for months if not years, to cover up his real feelings… well, he was letting them out well enough now, wasn’t he?

You almost died.Michael explained, losing his smile.That’s what changed. I thought I had lost you for good, so I guess you can say it gave me perspective. Just to put it out there, you are way more important than trying to act like nothing bugs me. I do care. And I’m sick of pretending that I don’t. I want you to know that I do.

Good.A hot lump of emotion knotted into place in my throat. It was almost painful, but not necessarily in a bad way.I love you, by the way.

Michael’s answering grin, the way his eyes lit up just a little, was enough to melt my heart all over again.

“You two haven’t heard a single thing I’ve just said, have you?” Thierry demanded, cutting into our private exchange.

We both startled, but Michael was faster to recover. He flashed Thierry an unapologetic smile. “Sorry.”

Thierry huffed. “As I was saying, as irritating as it might be, the blood bond between the two of you may help us in this situation.” He glanced at Michael. “Danny clearly doesn’t need the same tactics as an ordinary newborn. So long as you’re beside him—so long as he is subconsciously aware that letting out his deeper vampiric nature in your presence might put you into grave danger—he should be fine. You should be safe. And perhaps others will be safe in his presence, so long as you are beside him.”

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