Page 218 of Blood & Betrayals

Connor cups my cheek, tilting my head up. “Summer.”

I sigh. “I promise I’ll be better tomorrow. Let’s just sleep.” I don’t even know how to begin to talk to him about this. I don’t know if I want to talk to him about this. It feels like something that will taint him.

I move in closer to him, nuzzling into his neck.

“Babe?”

I kiss his neck softly. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” he says, and I can feel the unease in his voice.

We lie in silence for a while. My mind is whirling, and I can almost hear him thinking as well.

“Babe?” Connor whispers after a long while. “You still awake?”

I nod.

“I feel like you’re… pulling away from me, and I don’t know how to stop it.” I push up onto my elbow to look down at him. Connor brushes a lock of my hair behind my ear. “It kills me that I’m leaving you for two weeks. Don’t shut me out.”

“Con?” I say, barely able to see his face in the dark.

“Yes?”

“All I’m going to do for the next two weeks is miss you. I know it feels like I’m pulling away, but I promise you, it’s nothing to do with you. I love you.”

Connor lets out a long breath, and I wonder how long he has been holding it. “It feels so wrong to leave you behind. It feels like I’m leaving my heart behind, and it’s putting me on edge.”

“I get it, big guy, but nothing is going to happen to me. I’ll be with Alice in Transylvania, and she has like royal guards or something. You’re going to go to Eden, and you’re going to have the best time with your family.”

“Two weeks is just… so long,” Connor says, and I can hear the pout in his voice.

My lips twitch. “What if I told you that Alice and I are already planning a summer vacation, and we’ve included the entire Morningstar clan?”

Connor’s teeth flash white in the dark, his smile brightening the night.

“Does that help?”

Connor runs his fingers through my hair, and I want to purr at the feeling. “A little. I still don’t want to go.”

“Connor Azrael Morningstar. Your mother has been planning for you boys to go home for Yule since the semester started. She texts me all the time about it.”

“You can’t be on her side,” Connor groans.

I kiss along his jaw. “She’s so excited, Con. The house has been completely transformed, and she’s been baking for days.”

“She certainly is the queen of decking the halls.”

“I’m not going anywhere, big guy,” I say, gently biting the curve of his powerful jaw.

Connor pulls me tighter into him, and I kiss him deeply. He deepens the kiss, his tongue exploring my mouth, but I can feel his muscles are still tense beneath me.

“Stop thinking so much,” I whisper when I pull back to breathe.

“You first,” Connor whispers back, and I claim his mouth again, trying to distract him and myself from the intrusive thoughts.

I roll onto my back and pull him on top of me. Connor props himself up on his forearms, and I try to tug him down, wanting more of his weight.

Connor laughs and resists. “I’m heavy.”

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