Page 47 of Bite The Power That Feeds

I slowly turned at his statement.

“Now I worry. Now I’m scared. Emotions I’ve never felt in my life.”

“What are you scared of?”

“Something happening to her. I want to protect her always, but I can’t do that when we’re in different places. I can’t do that if she chooses to remain mortal and within her own lands. I asked her to be a vampire, but I’m afraid she’ll say no.”

“You seemed confident before.”

“It’s just a front,” he said, arms on his knees. “I don’t know what I’ll do if she says no.”

“You can still be together.”

“For like a decade…and then she’ll age, and everything will change.”

“You wouldn’t love her anyway?”

“I’ll always love her. But the relationship will change and become a relationship I no longer want. I’d rather end it if she chooses to be mortal than subject myself to that torture. You wouldn’t expect a woman to be with a man if there was an expiration date, so why should I?”

I gave a nod in understanding.

“If she says no, I’ll go back to my old life. Meaningless flings with women who want my bite as well as my dick. But it’ll never be quite the same, not when I know there could have been more.”

“Tell her how you feel.”

“It’s too late for that.”

“How so?”

“I should have told her before I left, but I chickened out. I offered to marry her instead. She’s smart, so hopefully, she realizes it’s pretty much the same thing. She’s supposed to give me her answer when I return. And in the meantime, I can’t influence her decision. It’s too soon to say that shit anyway.”

“It’s never too soon if that’s how you really feel.”

“I’ve never told a woman that before, and I’d rather not say it straight out of the gate. I’d rather take my time, make sure she feels the same way first. In all honesty, I’m not sure if she’s there yet.”

“I think she could be,” she said. “She let you bite her.”

“True.”

“Maybe I could talk to her.”

He looked at me. “And say what?”

“Tell her about my reservations about immortality…and how I’ve changed my mind about it.”

“You have?”

I nodded. “I want to be with Kingsnake, no matter the cost.”

“Is that how you really feel? Or is it because that’s how you have to feel?”

I stilled at the perverse question.

“I won’t tell him what you say.”

“He’s your brother.”

“And you’re my sister.”

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