Page 13 of Eternally Yours

Without invitation, I reached across and feathered my fingertips over the area where he’d been bitten. His breath intensified, chest rising and falling with every touch of my hand. “That thing mauled you,” I said. “You shouldn’t be alive.”

“Vampires can heal fast, but toxins in the saliva of those monsters slow down the healing process. It’s how the Order has been able to hunt us down. Without accelerated healing, it’s easier to chop off our heads. One of two sure ways to kill a vampire.”

“How were you able to save me?”

“The toxins slow down the healing process, but they don't stop it altogether. Eventually, I regained enough strength to wake up. That’s when I saw it tearing into you.”

My gaze shifted to my hands cradled in my lap. Rubbing at the now-healed wound on my wrist, I breathed in disbelief. How could any of this be possible? Vampires. Wolf-like monsters… these were a thing of fiction. I was a pediatric nurse. I lived in the world of science, not the world of the supernatural.

“I sliced its fucking throat,” he gritted, unaware of the confusion swirling inside me. “But I was too late. You had already lost too much blood." His breath deepened. “I couldn’t let you die.”

Peering up at him, I said, “Why not? You didn’t know me.”

He stood and walked toward the window. “You’re an innocent, Loren. Another human caught in the crosshairs of an ancient battle you didn’t even know existed.”

“But that doesn’t explain why you chose to saveme.”I pushed to my feet and followed after him. “You could’ve left me in that alley.”

He turned to face me. “But I didn’t.”

“Why?”

He clenched his jaw as his Adam’s apple bobbed.

“If what you’re saying is true,” I went on. “And now I’m like you…”

“A vampire.”

I blinked. Time seemed to stop as that word sank in. A vampire. I was a vampire. I still couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t understand it. But if what he said was true, and now I was a member of the undead, my life had changed. Irrevocably. “What if I didn’t want to be a vampire?”

“I saved you.”

“No. You saved yourself.” Pointing an accusatory finger at him, I said, “You chose to turn me because you felt guilty about stumbling into that alley. About bringing your world to mine.”

“You were an innocent.”

“You didn’t want my blood on your hands, so you made the choice for me.”

“What other option did I have? Would you’ve preferred I’d left you there to bleed out? Dying in agony?”

“The hospital was a block away.”

“And what would I have said to them? That you were mauled by a genetically engineered wolf?”

I stared at him. He was right. He couldn’t have just walked in and told them the truth, but that hadn’t been the only option. “You could’ve left me in the ER. No need to provide an explanation or a bogus lie.” I drew closer and gripped his arms. “You could’ve given them the chance to bring me back.”

His brow creased. “Is what I am so repulsive to you that you’d rather take a chance with death than become one of my kind?”

My brows tightened closer. “That’s the thing. I don’t really know what your kind is. I don’t know what it means to be a vampire, but I know it sure as hell won't fit into my regular life, now will it? You said it yourself. I can’t go back. Think about that. You’ve taken my life from me. And maybe being a vampire isn’t as terrible as I imagine, but I wasn’t given a choice. And you didn’t have the right to make it for me.”

He stuck his hands in his pockets and lowered his chin. “You’re right. I was selfish. I sired you because I couldn’t bear having your blood on my hands.” Lifting his head, he pinned me with a hard gaze, his green eyes darkening. “I could’ve left you to die. Gone on with my life, free of any responsibility to a woman I didn’t know. No one would’ve been able to trace your death to me. You might not have even made the headlines.”

A string pulled in my spine. His words were cutting. But true.

“But that’s not who I am, Loren. I’m not some asshole who doesn’t give a fuck about the repercussions of my actions. And I’m not afraid of making tough decisions. I’m sorry I didn’t give you a choice. You were unable to consent. It was a life-or-death situation and death was not an option. Regardless of my reasons, I wasn’t going to let you die. And I made the choice that guaranteed you’d live. Even if that meant not as a human.”

Not as a human.

That phrase struck me like a bolt of lightning, rooting me in place. My mind spun, nausea rising up from my gut. It wasn’t just that I was a vampire. I wasn’t human anymore. Up until I’d gone into Fairgrounds for my doughnut and coffee, I was oblivious there was an option to being anything but human.

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