Page 96 of Taste of Forever
Laith immediately came over and kneeled in front of me. “Are you okay?”
I offered him a smile. “Yeah, just a little tired and dealing with some eye strain.”
“Do you want to go home?” He squeezed my knee, concern and affection in his eyes.
“I can find a couch to lie on or something. It seems you guys have important things to discuss.”
“Go ahead, you two.” Thorne’s hearing was apparently sharp enough to hear our murmured conversation. “We’ll catch you up to speed, Laith.”
Laith rose to his feet and held out his hand. “You heard the boss.”
I glanced at Thorne. “Are you sure? If you need him to stay, I can just?—”
“Go.” Thorne made shooing motions with his hands. “Blood mates go apeshit if they’re separated and I don’t want to deal with his whining.”
Laith grinned. “Dad knows me so well.”
Thorne groaned and muttered under his breath, “For fuck’s sake, I’m not your fucking dad.”
After accepting his hand and letting him pull me to my feet, Laith led me toward the office door. At the threshold, I heard Thorne’s raspy voice once more. “Heather?”
I turned back. “Yes?”
The head of the ruling vampire clan dipped his chin in my direction. “Thank you for your help. Because of you, we’ll be able to move forward with a plan.”
My instinct was to deny and minimize what I’d done. I’d just compared images and tried to match them. Novak could have done it himself if he knew what to look for.
But he hadn’t. All the vampires in the room were looking in my direction now, giving nods and murmurs of thanks. And Laith was squeezing my hand. I could feel his gaze on my profile, feel the pride coming from him like the warmth of a banked fire.
I waited for the voice of my resentment demon to pop up with a disparaging little quip, but none came. I glanced at Laith and his genuine expression of adoration made my heart swell. What did he see in me to look at me like that?
He sees the real you.That wasn’t the resentment demon’s voice, but my own.
Of course. Because now that I’d found someone who didn’t see my personality, quirks, and accomplishments as a threat to his ego, my resentment had withered and died. What replaced it was bright, shining, and warm. A feeling I could wrap myself in like a blanket. A feeling I could certainly get used to.
So I swallowed the impulse to reject the compliment and smiled at the room of vampires.
“You’re very welcome,” I said. “I’m happy I could help.”
With that, I followed Laith out of the study, and we took the stairs side by side. Our hands never disconnected and his gaze rarely left me. Once we left the house and spilled out into the street, he tucked me into his side. His arm went around my shoulders, our fingers still locked together.
A thought hit me as he kissed my temple.
Is this what it feels like when someone loves me?
Chapter 26
Laith
“You were incredible back there.” I kissed Heather’s hairline again, my fingers curling around hers.
“Thanks. It’s sweet of you to say that.” The smile she gave was bashful, but I didn’t miss the pride shining through. She was glowing with it and about fucking time. She deserved to feel pride in her accomplishments.
I brought our joined hands to my lips and kissed her palm. “You heard Thorne. You’ve done a great service to our clan. Blood ‘til Dawn is grateful.I’mgrateful.”
Moving Heather in front of me, I wrapped my arms around her from behind. It made walking a little awkward, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t stop myself from touching her.
“It was…very nice of him to say that.” Heather held on to my forearm and let her head rest on my shoulder. “I get the feeling he doesn’t say thank you very often.”
