Page 39 of To Love a Vampire
My heart pounds, my lips falling open without a sound, his admission sending a blooming feeling through my chest.
Raske turns his back on my father, sending him a single message as he leaves, “You know nothing of these people.”
My father doesn’t know me at all. He should have protected me. All my life he should have protected me.
You know nothing of these people.
He’s right.
* * *
“Have you decided, Fallon?” Raske asks, nothing but kindness and concern fill his deep amber eyes. He looks at me the way a father would look at his daughter. He speaks to me the way a father would console a daughter. And yet, he doesn’t acknowledge Luca in the least, and she returns his sentiment.
“No, I have not decided,” I say in an even tone as if we’re discussing which dessert we might eat after dinner.
How can he even be thinking about this after what just happened? A union won’t fix the damage that’s been done. The suggestion of a biracial union is what caused this mess. President Docile said they’d return to check on us.
And so they did.
The thought of what they did to this community burns anger and hate through my veins like I’ve never felt before, setting my fists tight and my mind reeling.
“I don’t mean to pressure you. It’s just,” he pauses, scrunching his brows as he thinks, “with the bombing… There’s still a chance to unite the mortals and the mystics. The races once worked together against a greater evil… We could do it again…” He can’t seem to find the right words to convey his thoughts. “Everyone’s morale is a little down… You don’t seem taken with anyone really. I know for a fact you have more than enough offers. I watch males flag you down daily, but you don’t give them the time. You have to make friends with the wind if you ever expect to fly.”
I want so badly to roll my eyes at his remark but somehow I remain neutral to his ridiculous words.
“I am not unkind. I’m just…”
“Uninterested?” He finishes for me.
I laugh loudly at his remark. Unable to keep the hysterical noise within my tired body.
His brows rise at my brash behavior and it makes me laugh more. The people cleaning up the fallen limbs and debris pause to take notice of my fit of laughter. Asher smiles into his glass, cocking an eyebrow at me over the brim. Kaino continues to talk to the hybrid as if I’m not sitting before them all like a hyena on laughing gas.
“The finest warriors in our community are funny to you? My son is funny to you?” Raske’s stern voice rises. He is no longer amused by my inappropriateness.
The reminder of Kaino sneaking around behind his father’s back to be with Shane surfaces in my mind and I can’t help but laugh some more, touching my palm to my aching stomach as the uncontainable laughter swirls within me.
“You do understand that these mystics have been watching you with bated breath, for you to take an interest in any one of them and you do nothing but laugh in their faces for their efforts. I’m not forcing you, Fallon, but you could at least have the courtesy to take them seriously.”
My labored breath halts entirely, the laughter is sucked from my body. All the hysteria leaves me and is replaced with anger. The emotional flow is so quick and my lungs can’t catch up. I clench my jaw and raise my raging eyes to meet his.
Asher and Kaino stop speaking, those around us stop speaking. My silence is passing into them and it’s as if they can feel my mood that’s boiling to the surface, threatening to spill over onto them.
“The courtesy?” I ask loud and annunciating. “You think I owe your people a courtesy?” My eyes are wide, my lips thinning between words, pressing tightly together as my mind swirls in a flow of angry thoughts. “Every man here, and a few women as well, have embarrassingly approached me as if I’m a pet to play with. To take home and entertain theirlordwith.”
“Fallon, this is not how we should discuss this. We should talk privately-”
“No, this is something everyone needs to hear,” I say, cutting him off, my eyes shifting from him to the large crowd around us. The crowd that’s watching me intently. “I am not your entertainment. I am not a chess piece to be played and pushed around the board. I am not an obstacle stopping you from living your lives and I most definitely am not a prize. I won’t join someone who sees me as a piece to be played, an obstacle or especially a prize.”
My narrowed eyes scan the mass of people before me. The males hold my glare and the females nod their heads in agreement. My loud words are shouted into the silence and are absorbed into their minds, to be understood or to be misconstrued but the words are taken all the same.
Asher does his best to remain impassive but I can see how his eyes are lit up with interest at my angry seminar I’m now holding. Kaino’s arms are crossed but he isn’t angry, he, too, is intrigued, his naturally tense features smoothing slightly. Luca smiles widely from nearby, all but cheering me on.
“I am not your opponent and I will not bow to a mystic who does not see me as a teammate.” Luca nods giving me courage. A strange fear and nervousness presses heavily into my lungs as I realize what I am about to do.
“With that being said,” I pause, walking slowly up to Asher, his brilliant silver eyes never leave mine, but search my face for any indication of what I’m about to do so publicly. “Asher Xavier… would you…” My mind searches for the word his grandpa used over a year ago. It’s foreign and my tongue struggles to pull it from my memory. I bend one knee, bowing before him like a servant to her master. “Would you marry me?”
I’m breathing hard but I keep a façade of calm in my features as I look up at him. His lips quirk, tilting up into a small smile. The crowd around us hums to life. Words flow quietly from one person to the next, as everyone waits for Asher’s reply.
