Page 98 of Marked By the Pack
“What is this about?”
“Why aren’t you answering me?”
He sighed. “I watch what I’m saying around everyone, Emma. Because what I’m mostly thinking during a conversation with someone is how much I’d rather being doing something else.” His eyes dropped to the side of my neck.
“So you like talking to Kebe, but when we’re talking you’d rather just drink my blood?”
“That’s not what I said…”
“That is what you said, Callum. You just looked at my neck.”
“This isn’t coming out right. You’re not most people. I just looked at your neck to show you what I was referring to. I meant strangers. Strangers like Kebe. And I was just trying to say that I didn’t feel that way around her.”
“So you don’t want to drink her blood. You just want her to flirt with you and touch your thigh?” God, I sounded exactly like how I didn’t want to sound.
Callum raised his eyebrows. “You’re jealous?”
“No.”Yes. Gah!“Let’s just pretend I didn’t say anything.”
“Hey.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me onto his lap. “There’s nothing to be jealous about. I loveyou.”
I pressed my lips together. How could I be worried when he was staring at me like that? “I didn’t like the way she touched you. And how okay you were with it.”
“I didn’t even notice. But if it makes you uncomfortable…”
“No. It’s okay. As long as you swear there’s nothing I need to worry about.”
“Absolutely nothing.”
I let my hands settle on his shoulders.
“But when you touch me?” He smiled at me. “I notice.”
I couldn’t help but smile too. “You know, you can say whatever around me. I won’t make fun of you for using an old-fashioned phrase. Like calling my outfit a petticoat or something.”
He laughed. “A petticoat goes underneath… You know what? Never mind. Thank you. And I’ll cancel my appointment with Kebe for tomorrow.”
“That’s not necessary. I trust you.” I didn’t necessarily trust Kebe. But I definitely trusted him. Really I was the one that had broken his trust. He’d been a little annoyed with me for talking to Bennett this afternoon. I was going to try to be better about letting Callum in. Not holding anything back. “Can I talk to you about something else?” I asked.
“Anything.”
“Can you have kids?”
He raised his eyebrows again. He seemed more surprised by this question than me being jealous. “I…I don’t know.”
“How do you not know?”
“I’ve never met another vampire, Emma. In all the years I’ve been alive. Not one. At least, that I know of. Whoever changed me left me on my own. And everyone I’ve…” He cleared his throat. “I don’t know.”
“What were you going to say. Everyone you’ve…what?”
“Everyone I’ve had sex with was someone that didn’t last the rest of the night. I told you. The idea of feeding arouses me. I’ve killed every woman I’ve ever been with.”
My heart started pounding in my chest. I took a deep breath to try and steady it. “Except me.”
“Except you. And last time I checked, you’re not pregnant.”
I smiled. “And I also don’t have a secret 9-year-old kid right now.” I’d been so surprised when he hadn’t used a condom the first time we were ever together
