To Love a Vampire - A.K. Koonce Page 0,22
warm neck.
My eyes fall shut. Sleep. Yes. Nothing has sounded more fantastic in all my life.
Nodding up at him, I watch him call over his shoulder and speak with Luca. They talk in slow motion for what feels like an eternity, but I don’t mind. I could listen to his husky voice for hours, even if his words aren’t registering in my thoughts. My fingers flex back and forth against the hard muscles of his abdomen. He holds my wrists lightly in his hands, like a puppeteer with a wandering puppet.
Their conversation of making sure ‘Fallon has enough water to drink and isn’t left alone tonight’ is dragging on. My head grows heavy so I lean into him, resting my forehead against his chest. I breathe him in, a familiar scent of dirt, woods, and soap fill my nose.
“Luca’s going to take you to bed now, Fallon.” A dense pause settles into his whisper. He says my name like it's heavy in his mouth. “Be careful who you trust.” He pauses again like he’s thinking through every word he speaks. Apprehension flits through my mind. Should I be wary of the mystics here?
“She’s taken care of herself for almost a year now.” Declan’s angry and muffled voice cuts him off. I lift my head with concentrated effort to look over my shoulder at him and to better hear him. “Don’t come ruin her fun because you found time to remember you cared about her.”
Flickering rage ignites in his eyes as Asher glares at Declan from over my head. He slowly lowers my hands from him, disengaging our bodies. My hands are clammy at my sides without him and I put all my effort into following the conversation that swirls around me, reaching to catch the words that are too high above me to touch.
The people around us have stopped dancing and talking and now watch our every move. I suddenly want to be them. For the first time in my life, I want to see what others see when they look at me—on the outside looking in.
Luca takes my hand and pulls me from between the two hybrids. We stand a couple feet from them. She pulls at my hand like we might sneak off, but I refuse to leave. The cloud in my mind lifts slightly. Declan’s words flow through my head on repeat. I, too, am intrigued in how Asher might respond.
“I didn’t forget her,” Asher says, his brow lowering in rage. He opens his mouth to explain further.
“Don’t worry, because she finally forgot you,” Declan says in a slow and low voice, cutting him off. Asher turns away from him like he might walk away entirely, shaking his head in annoyance but Declan takes a step closer to Asher. “I helped her forget you,” he adds with taunting confidence, a smirk lighting his eyes as he licks his lips.
The muscles in Asher’s arm tic. He never looks away from Declan. A few mystics glance my way questioningly, but I don’t acknowledge them. The air is sucked out of my lungs at Declan’s confession.
That’s a lie! An exaggeration and an embarrassing confession that isn’t his to confess. You can’t speak for someone, even if they refuse to speak for themselves.
A second passes between them. The relentless drums have finally stopped pounding, realizing there’s new entertainment tonight.
Asher searches Declan’s eyes, calculating. I want to scream that it isn’t true, to reassure him somehow but my tongue is thick in my mouth.
I can see Asher swallow hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing, before looking around at the large crowd watching them. His eyes flash to Gabriel’s, who stands across from me with his head held high to watch every move Declan makes.
Asher leans closer to Declan, his voice just above a whisper. “If you touch her again, I’ll end your little royal life you’ve been playing at here.” A sneering smile touches his lips. “The only thing you helped her forget is that there’s probably a reason society keeps throwing away trash like you.”
Declan’s jaw tics and in a flash his fist is against Asher’s face. I gasp at the sight of blood that gushes from his mouth, startled by the cracking sound that fills the air. Asher tenses but then laughs as the blood trickles down his chin and throat.
“Finally, a fucking reaction I was expecting in this place,” Asher says, wiping the back of his hand against his bloody mouth, flinging the blood from his hand to the dirt.
Declan’s