Page 12 of Hunting His Vampire Mate

“Wait. They’re getting married?” Even though this piece of news startled me, I couldn’t help the way I grinned. But why wouldn’t Bryan have texted to tell me that? “Good for them.”

“Well, no,” he admitted, deflating a little bit. “Not yet. But, I mean, they’re literally fated to be together, right? So, they’ll get married eventually. It’s only a matter of time.” He gave me a smug smile. “And when they do, I’m sure they’ll ask me to be their best man. Tobias will, at least.”

“You tried to kill them both four months ago,” I reminded him.

“It was four and ahalfmonths ago, and technically I just tried to kill Bryan. We only kidnapped Tobias. It’s way different.” He paused. “Besides, it’s all forgiven, right? Total misunderstanding. Tobias texts me almost every day. I even like Bryan. Sort of. Mostly.”

“Yeah, Bryan’s okay,” I agreed, a little too casual.

“Whatever.” Michael’s eyes narrowed. “He called you last week—”

“Two weeks ago.”

Michael snorted at that. “Okay, fine.Twoweeks ago. And y’all were on the phone for almost an hour, just shooting the shit like you’ve known each other your whole fucking lives. How in the hell is that not friendship?”

Though his tone was jovial, I felt another sharp stab of fear in my gut. Because this was another tangible reminder, wasn’t it?

Ever since meeting Tobias and Bryan, the raw fury that had always driven Michael to hunt was gone. And every single day, it seemed more and more apparent to me that he was just going through the motions. And if his need was gone, he’d just wind up leaving eventually, wouldn’t he? He’d go back to the normal life he’d lost—he’d start over somewhere else and get the white picket fence he deserved. And I’d still be here. Alone. Huntingmonsters was the only thing I knew how to do. I didn’t know how to be any other person other than the one I’d been raised to be.

“Yeah, okay.”

“Yeah, okaywhat?” Michael demanded, raising his eyebrows.

“Bryan’s a friend.”

“Was that really so hard?”

“A little. I mean, you’re kind of imposing. With the broad shoulders, the muscles, and all the guns.”

Michael flashed me an impish grin. “Most guys don’t mind.”

My face began to heat up at the memory of how I had all but thrown myself at him the night before, and he had gently rebuffed me. What was stopping him?

I let out a breath, forcing myself to sound normal. “Maybe they’ll just live in sin forever.”

Michael’s eyes widened. “They wouldn’t.”

“I mean, if they’re already fated to be together, why do they need a piece of paper saying so?”

“Marriage isn’t just a piece of paper!” Michael sounded scandalized. “It’s telling the world you belong to each other! It’s showing up every day and loving someone else, even when it’s hard and messy and inconvenient. It’s being best friends and lovers and partners—being on the same team. It’s work and it’s good and it’snota piece of paper!”

I blinked rapidly, startled by the vehemence of his reaction.

Michael seemed to realize it too, because something cracked right down the middle in his expression, and I glimpsed the abrupt pain that leaked out. He let out a short exhale that hissed between his teeth.

“I’m sorry. Joshua and I…” He trailed off, his jaw going tight and his eyes abruptly becoming shiny. He looked away from me.

“You guys were engaged?” I asked, startled. He had never told me that. In fact, he talked about his old boyfriend onlyrarely. Even after it had first happened—even after he’d first lost Joshua—every time I had asked about him, Michael had shut down on me. He’d been doing that less and less over the last four months though. And Joshua’s name had come up more often, too.

Almost like Michael was finally processing his trauma or something.

The thought filled me with selfish dread. How long until he left? Would I even see it coming?

“No,” he told me, bringing my attention back to the present moment. “But we would have been… if things had been different. I was going to propose. I bought the ring and everything. I was carrying it everywhere with me, waiting for the right moment. I pretty much already knew he would have said yes to me,” he added, still looking away. He swallowed. “Then h-he—”

His breath hitched and he broke off, and his shoulders hunched in ever-so-slightly, like he was protecting himself from a blow. I could practicallyfeelthe pain radiating off of him, like it was a tangible thing that was hurting him.

All of my selfish fears evaporated in an instant.

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