Page 45 of Crimson Storm

Being here made me feel sort of like a criminal returning to the scene of the crime.

I settled onto the floor near the front of the loft where I could peek out and quickly identify any threats, to rouse my friends should I hear someone pull into the driveway or enter the barn.

Shane leaned back against a nearby hay bale and stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankles. Plucking a straw from the floorboards, he twirled it between his fingers, but his eyes were on me. It made me uncomfortable.

“Your wrists look better,” I said for something to say. His skin there was still pink but no longer raw.

“They feel better.” He checked himself, holding up one hand then the other and twisting them in front of his face. “I’m glad you trust me enough now to skip the cuffs. It would do me zero good to try to run away anyway. I have no freaking idea where I am.”

“We’re not that far from civilization. It only feels that way.”

“You grew up here?” he asked.

“Right next door. Of course, ‘right next door’ is a couple miles away. Welcome to the sticks of Pennsylvania.”

“So then... is this where we were heading all this time? Your home?” He seemed a little disappointed.

“It isn’t my home anymore. Hasn’t been for a while... since I turned. But we’re not too far away. Our destination is only about five hours from here.”

“Have to say, I never would have guessed you were Amish.”

“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.”And a lot of things you’ll never know.

“Like what?”

For a moment I just looked at him, this human guy who’d come into my life so suddenly and strangely. Our shared journey was almost at an end.

Tonight, we’d go our separate ways, and I’d never see him again. Never talk to him again. It was weird to think of a person playing such a pivotal role in your life—literallysavingyour life—and then—poof—they’re gone like they never existed.

There really was no point in a tell-me-your-life-story chat. Still, I answered him.

“Well, I can milk a cow. I can sew. I can make homemade butter, and I bake bread like nobody’s business.”

Placing a hand over his heart, he dramatically stretched the other arm toward me. “Marry me.”

He was joking, but I wasn’t laughing. He’d inadvertently hit on a sore spot.

According to Imogen I’d never be able to marry—not if I accepted my “destiny” in the vampire world anyway.

And suddenly I was overcome with irritation. Why were Shane and I sitting up talking instead of getting some sleep? We weren’t on a date. We weren’t even friends, not really. I wasn’t sure why he’d even be interested in knowing anything about me.

“I’ll never get married,” I said more harshly than I probably should have. “I’ll never have babies.”

“I’m sorry.” He paused, looking hesitant to ask, but he did it anyway. “Did you want to, you know, before?”

“One day, when the time was right. I always assumed I’d be a mother someday.”

“You would have made a great one.” He played with the straw in his fingers, pulling it apart. “It seems like the marriage thing is still on the table, though. I mean, I’ve met married vampires before. And plenty of human men don’t care about the baby thing and would love to be with you, too.”

His eyes left the tattered piece of straw and came up to meet mine. “Take my word for it.”

I glared at him. “If that’s true then they’re stupid. It’s completely out of the question. It’s too dangerous to be with a human. One wrong move, and I could kill him.”

Using as intimidating a tone as I could muster, I added, “Never forget that. Your girlfriend Marjorie... Kelly, Heather... me... every vampire you’ve ever met—we’re dangerous predators.”

Shane’s gaze locked on me, and his heartbeat, which I could hear clearly, increased in pace.

“I’m not scared of you, you know.” His tone wasn’t quite seductive, but it was definitelysomething.

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