Page 30 of To Love a Vampire
He shakes in his seat next to me. His body trembles to release his natural form, a rage-filled form. But control is practiced in ten fold in this community. His fists are clenched on the table tops, his knuckles white, his eyes blazing. Briefly, a snarl escapes his quivering lips, his mouth turning snout like for just an instant before he takes deep breaths, reigning the beast back in.
“Obviously, you have no idea what my interests are. Because you don’t know me.” I stand, my chair sliding unevenly against the dry dirt.
I walk away in silence into the dark night. I let the full moon shine down on me, the beautiful clear light soaking calming thoughts into my messy mind.
I’ve just made it into the tree line, stepping over a large branch that is barely seen in the darkness, when a hand clutches firmly around my arm.
Fear and anger spark through my nerves, instinctively I grab the dagger at my waist and turn, plunging the blade into the mystic’s shoulder. Pain etches the face before me. But it isn’t the hate filled wolf from the meeting. Asher’s beautiful face is cast in the white streaks of moonlight that filters in through the leaves above.
I cover my mouth with my hand.I can’t believe I just stabbed him.
“Asher, I’m so s-”
His hands grip both of my arms and he pushes me harshly against a tree. A slight pain stings through my shoulder blades as the bark bites into my flesh. Confusion creeps over my face.
Then his lips press firmly against mine and I settle into him, the tension leaving me in an instant. He kisses me urgently and strongly, all of his strength pushes at the surface to be released as he kisses my lips.
“I can’t believe you said that,” he murmurs against my lips quickly before kissing me again.
His tongue slips against my own, caressing mine before his teeth rake over my bottom lip. He holds my head with both hands, his fingers pushing into my messy hair before his hands dive down and lift me in one swooping motion. My legs wrap around him as he holds me against the tree. My hands travel up his smooth chest and my fingers collide with something hard. With my lips still on his, my eyes flutter open and I see the hilt of the dagger still sticking out of his shoulder.
He kisses slowly down my neck. His tongue flicks over my pulse and my breath comes in uneven attempts.
“You spoke out in a room of silence,” he says, his breath hot against my neck as he kisses me there over and over again, building a warmth deep within me.
My hand drifts against his blood stained shirt until my fingers curl around the wooden hilt. I rip the blade out of him with a quick turn of my wrist before throwing it to the ground at our feet.
“Fallon,” he groans loudly into my neck, his muscles pulled tight beneath my touch from the agony that I just released into him. He bites my neck lightly, a hum of a growl still pulsating over his lips and into me. I shudder a breath as pain flashes into me but it doesn’t hurt, it’s a different kind of pain. A good pain. My back arches against him as I slowly release the breath I was holding.
He flicks his tongue over the shallow puncture wound, healing the wound instantly and I feel my body hum to life. An energy and warmth spread through my heart and settles under the flesh beneath his mouth.
“Fallon, I,” he says kissing back up my jaw as I grind my hip against his.
I pull his hair roughly until we are face to face again and his lips are against mine, his tongue tinged with a faint copper-like taste. His hips align with mine perfectly and I can feel him against every inch of my body, his fingers digging into my thighs as he holds me to him.
“Fallon, I love you,” he says in a harsh whisper—more words that my mind isn’t grasping at the moment.
But he stops kissing me abruptly, pulling my attention back to his words. Replaying them in my mind until the meaning surfaces there.
His mouth is parted and his eyes are wide as he looks down at me. His lips are swollen from kissing me and a trickle of blood clings to his bottom lip. He licks it away as he slowly releases his hold on me. My feet touch the ground, I’m grounded again. I can think again.
My heart pounds hard against my ribs.
Did he really just tell me he loved me?
“Why did I say that to you?” He asks, mirroring my own confusion.
What he just said stings against my chest but I don’t know why. We’re friends and his thoughts are just as chaotic as mine are.
“Did you mean it?” I ask in a quiet and nervous voice.
He licks his lips again and takes a step back from me, my hands fall away from him and hang numbly at my side. He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
Then he nods heavily before taking another step back as he looks at the dry leaves at our feet.
“Yeah, I did,” he says and looks back at me, his wide and terrified eyes searching mine.
For the first time, I see fear there. Mixed in with the severe white and brilliant silver, there’s fear. My heart both melts and shatters all at once and I’m not able to form thoughts or words.
