Page 104 of Your Coffin or Mine
“I had no hand in thefoundations. That was just something Doyle made up so you didn’t become overly suspicious. I spent most of the night roaming the hills and staring up at your window because my fangs and claws wouldn’t retract.” Holding a hand for her to see, I let my claws come through, biting into the flesh at the tips of my fingers and extending out to razor-sharp edges.
“Wow,” she says, before boldly touching one tip, causing my heart to thud rapidly in my chest. “And how do I know you won’t get all bloodthirsty and eat me?”
My heart sinks that she would even question it, but I supposed she is right to ask. She hasn’t been here long.
“I have not lost control of myself for longer than you can fathom, and I wouldneverhurt you.”
Her eyes roll up to the ceiling and I can practically see the questions multiplying. “The sun?” she finally asks.
“Sunscreen.” I smirk.
I wait for her to try to call for a priest or any telltale sign she’s going to collapse into a heap like women of the past when faced with what I am.
“Oh my gawd.”
“I have only been eating a handful of days. I have been sequestered away for almost a century and did not realize how frail I had become until?—”
“Until you bit me,” she murmurs, an odd expression on her face. She turns her head away slightly, her eyes bouncing across the many trinkets and antiquities I have collected over the years. “The whole entering a house thing—do you really need permission?”
“Since the creation of the welcome mat, not so much actually.”
The alabaster cloak she wears rustles as she nods. “I guess that makes sense. Do you like food at all?”
“I like brandy on occasion.” I’ve only been eating human food for her sake.
“Does holy water work against your kind?”
My teeth clench and I almost stop myself from telling her, but this is Aubrey. “It doesn’t exactly give me the best of feelings to hear you immediately asking about how to kill me, but I’m afraid holy water won’t work.” My stomach suddenly feels full of lead, and I have the horrible suspicion that if she rejects me, it would be my undoing.
“So, you’re a vampire who doesn’t eat humans?”
I push away from the wall I’ve been leaning against and pull her into my arms. “The only thing I want to eat, woman, is the pussy between your luscious thighs.”
Surprise colors her expression before her soft laughter echoes through the hall, her head back, laugh lines crinkling her face with mirth.
“But there is something I must tell you. And it may be, well... to say it is too soon would be an understatement, but I hope you will at least hear me out.” I take a step back, trying to brace myself from an unwanted reaction. “It is, of course, your choice.”
“W-what is?” she asks, nibbling on her lip.
I take a breath in preparation. “You are my mate, Aubrey. Now that I have bitten you, the mate bond may begin. But it can take decades for it to solidify completely.”
She blinks as if trying to comprehend my meaning and hope wells within me. “Holy shit!I’myour mate? What does that even mean?”
I nod succinctly. “It means that I have been waiting for you for a very long time. It’s rare for one of us to find the personwe’re supposed to be with, and even less common for them to be ahuman.”
“Wait . . . that means I’m like your soul mate or something?”
“All of this is entirely your choice, as there’s a fail-safe for our kind to prevent forced matings. You are not obligated to be my mate, but I would very much like you to be. I was telling the truth; Idowant to date you. I want to be with you in any way I can.”
I don’t tell her that rejecting us means I’ll end up being alone for the rest of my life unless I mate with someone outside of our bond, which I would never do. Being rejected by our mate never bodes well, and can be very damaging to an immortal beings’ mind, but the choice must be made willingly, and I will not use any kind of coercion to trap Aubrey.
She slides onto a cushioned bench from another age, as if her knees are growing weak.
I refrain from telling her that the odds of finding a mate are slim to none. I have seen more than one vampire expire from the wait. It can take hundreds of years and the solitude can be maddening, which is why there are so few of us now. The loss of a mate is a death sentence. If she decides to leave now that my side has started . . .
Her shoulders and torso seem to loosen as she blinks. Her golden-haired head lifts and her eyes meet mine, a timid smile on her lips. “Okay.”
Does that mean yes?“Okay?”
