Crimson Born - Amy Patrick Page 0,53

please... stop trying to make things harder than they already are.”

Harder than they are?

There it was again—a thinly veiled hint that Reece wasn’t happy with his “choice” to join the Bloodbound.

We trudged home side by side but worlds apart. The quiet between us cloaked a cacophony of arguments and questions screaming in my head. Reece hadn’t said it outright, but he’d hinted a couple of times now that his enlistment with the Bloodbound had something to do with keeping me safe.

At this point, only five days away from the ceremony, I was much more concerned with his safety—with his freedom.

And with his future. A conversation we’d had the night of the bonfire had stayed in my mind, the one about settling for a good-enough life.

It seemed obvious to me that was what he was doing by joining the Bloodbound.

Now to convince him of that before it was too late.

26

Beyond the Scope

Once we’d turned thirteen and had grown out of baby dolls and treehouses, Hannah and I used to spend a lot of time in my room—or hers—discussing her new favorite topic. Boys.

She’d had a lot of theories about what they liked, what they wanted. Some of them seemed pretty crazy to me, but one had stuck with me.

“If you kiss a boy, he’ll do anything you want him too,” she’d informed me.

Then she’d proceeded to prove her point by flirting with one boy or another in our village, finding an opportune moment for this magical kiss, then asking boy-of-the-moment to do her farm chores for her.

They always had.

It seemed to work pretty much the same for Heather. She always had some lovesick male vampire following her around, and since she did kiss and tell, I had a good idea why.

There were no unsavory chores I wanted Reece to take over for me, but I did want him to talk to me, to tell me the truth about what was going on with him. The whole truth.

So as we arrived back at the Bastion and he walked me to my chambers, I formulated a plan.

We arrived at my door, and Reece opened it for me.

“I’ll see you tomor—”

“Come in please,” I said, cutting him off. “I need your help with something.”

Reece inhaled a long slow breath and let it out but said nothing. He stepped inside, and I closed the door behind us.

I turned to him. “I’m still cold. Would you build a fire in my fireplace please?”

His eyes narrowed in suspicion. Noticing the dark circles around them, I felt a little guilty.

It was almost morning. He had to have been exhausted after training for hours and then accompanying me on my long hike.

But I stomped on the guilt, compressing it, and proceeded with my plan.

This was my chance to make Reece admit he didn’t want a mate-less, mostly celibate life—and to put Hannah’s theory to the test for myself.

Seeing him shirtless in the cave—his smooth, touchable skin, his incredible stomach muscles—was not something I’d forget easily. The images were imprinted on my brain.

Now it was my turn.

As Reece knelt before the hearth loading logs into the fireplace, I stepped into my closet and took off my wet clothing.

Instead of selecting a new outfit, I reached for my robe. It was long and warm and when cinched tightly, it covered my entire body neck to toe.

I did not cinch it tightly.

I left the closet with it loosely draped around me so the opening in front split to reveal my legs when I walked, and the neckline plunged dangerously.

Reece didn’t notice at first. He was too busy getting the kindling going beneath the logs. When they were crackling, I stepped close to the fireplace—and to Reece.

“Feels good,” I said. “Thank you.”

He glanced up almost absentmindedly. “You’re wel—”

Popping to his feet, he let his gaze travel from my face down the front of my body to my bare legs and feet then back up again. He cleared his throat, swinging his eyes back to the fireplace, which was blazing now with light and heat.

“You should... put something on. It’s going to take a while for the room to get warm.”

“I’m fine in this,” I said, making my tone blasé. “It’s a warm robe.”

“Yeah, okay,” he said stiffly, sounding uncomfortable. “Well, I should go now and let you get some sleep.”

He turned to leave, but I said, “Wait.”

Dropping the robe from one shoulder, I turned my back to him.

“I’ve got a kink in my neck from hunching over in that cave for so long.