Page 25 of Hunting for Redemption

CHAPTER TWELVE

AXEL

I reach overand thread my fingers with Jeff’s, squeezing his hand. “You’re doing so well, Jeff.”

He gives me a quick nod. His body is stiff and he’s not even breathing. We’re outside. We’re walking towards the local campground to meet up with the crew and Jeff is stiff as a board because people are walking towards us.

“You can do this. Just keep holding my hand and focusing on me.”

“I can do this,” he says, his voice strained. “You won’t let me hurt them, right?”

“I would never let that happen,” I tell him seriously. “If I didn’t think you could do this, we’d still be at the apartment. But I know you can do this.”

“Plus I just ate before we left. I’m super full. It wouldn’t even be worth eating someone because I wouldn’t enjoy it.”

I let out a surprised snort. “Oh my gods,” I blurt out, looking over at Jeff in surprise. He’s smirking back at me.

“You’re ridiculous,” I tell him with a giggle and he chuckles back. As we pass the other couple, there’s a moment when Jeff squeezes my hand but otherwise, nothing else happens.

Jeff lets out a long breath before looking at me. “Okay. So. That wasn’t as bad as I thought it was gonna be.”

“Not to be that guy but, I told you so.”

Jeff looks over at me, making a silly face. His voice goes super high as he teases me, “not to be that guy but I told you so.”

We walk hand in hand all the way to the campground with no further distractions or seeing anyone else. I breathe in the fresh air and smile to myself. Living in the woods like this sounds really nice. I’ve been in this same apartment for a while now, so leaving to explore the country doesn’t sound like a bad idea. It actually sounds exciting. And I can easily train someone else to take care of the local blood bank here. I wonder if Angus, a vampire that lives around here with her two mates, would be interested in the job.

I run my free hand over my little bump. Plus, traveling the country will make our baby’s life more interesting. They’ll be able to see the world with their trusted family by their side. The more I think about it, the more I’m on board for this new chapter of my life.

“What the hell did those assholes do?”

Our steps slow down as we find the campsite. There are three campers parked in a half circle. The one in the middle has little lanterns hung from the outside with a welcome home streamer across the door.

“Awwww,” I coo, looking around with a wide smile. “This is adorable!”

“This is so embarrassing.”

“It’s not! They care about you, Jeff. It’s so sweet.”

Jeff continues to grumble but I can see the glint in his eyes. He loves this. As we step inside, I somehow smile even wider. There are two glasses on the table waiting for us and I can smell its blood. There’s fake candles lit all over and the whole place smells freshly cleaned. Everyone is gone, apparently leaving us this little gift.

“So,” I say slowly, stepping over to the table and picking up one of the glasses. “This is your camper. It’s nice, Jeff.”

“Thanks,” he says, picking up his own glass and pulling me past a sheet that’s hung up, dividing the rest of the camper from the bedroom.

There’s more fake candles in here along with some rose petals on the bed. “Would it be rude to umm?”

Jeff’s eyes darken and he smirks. “I think it would be rude not to. Like throwing away a gift, right?”

I giggle before drinking all of my blood quickly. I set the cup down before crawling onto the bed. “Well then, come here and properly show me your bed.”

I sit back against his pillows, watching as he gulps the blood down. His Adam's apple bobs with each gulp and the tiniest drop escapes, dripping from the side of his mouth down to his throat. Fuck, I want to lick it up before feeding it back into his mouth for him.

“Come on,” I say, not disguising the whine in my voice. I’m suddenly overwhelmed with my need for my mate. I want him so fucking badly. I start to shimmy out of my clothes, wanting to be naked and unconstructed by these clothes.

After finishing his cup of blood, Jeff quickly strips out of his own clothes. Gods, I’ll never get tired of seeing my mate naked with all that toned, strong, pale skin. If we weren’t vampires, I would leave so many marks against that skin just so I could see it for days afterwards. But we are vampires, so instead I’ll leave bites that’ll fade by tomorrow.

“Jeff, if you don’t get your ass in this bed--” my words are cut off with a grunt as he leaps into the bed. Our lips connect in a sloppy kiss that’s filled with giggles. I love this. I love that we can have so much fun together. I love that we can also be serious when we need to be. We fit.

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