To Love a Vampire - A.K. Koonce Page 0,25

fled. He dragged me away, there was a moment I thought he was dragging a corpse along with him. We ran for days, never stopping. Weeks later, after I healed and we hadn’t seen any sign of veil, I returned and tracked your trail the best I could but it was like you disappeared entirely.”

The memory of stepping into the enchanted society, feeling like I somehow walked through a wall or shield, comes to mind. I did disappear and Asher wouldn’t have found me unless he was brought here just like I was.

“I checked the Burrow, the cave, I even discreetly watched your camp for any sign of you. It was like the beautiful girl that constantly glared and watched me every day through the compound window never existed at all.”

His arms tighten around me a bit more, hugging me to his chest.

“We hid in the mountains for months. That’s where we removed his tracking device and chip.” Where Gabriel lost his hand. In a place made of the only material strong enough to truly harm a hybrid.

Sorting through all of his information, I’m surprised they didn’t run right into Luca during their searches for me.

“You’ve been in Pike’s Peak this entire time?”

I feel him nod against my hair. He rests his head against my own.

They’ve been hiding in a mountain range that literally has their names on it—Pike’s Peak—The Red Hills. All this time Luca’s searched for him and he’s been less than a day’s hike away, living in the shadows of monsters. That’s how he found me—found Luca I should say. The vampires helped him…

We’re both quiet for a while. The strong thrum of his heartbeat against my back fills my chest with peace and his body, wrapped neatly around mine, keeps me warm against the light breeze. The fan of his breath against my neck is a constant reminder that he’s all around me. Finally. After all this time.

I swallow the lump in my throat and water fills my eyes, threatening to spill over.

“I never stopped searching for you, despite my fears that there would be nothing to find,” he says against my messy hair.

His hands loosen comfortably around me and quiet tears slip down my cheeks at the thought of how many nights have passed without him holding me.

We lie in silence, his thumb brushing back and forth against my hip, the only sign that he’s still awake. The bright stars that I’ve poured my heart out to night after night are shining down on us. Two friends lost, then found.

Friends. Is that what we still are? So much time has passed, yet lying in his arms feels as natural as breathing. So much has changed but this hasn’t. We haven’t felt like friends the last couple of days. I guess that’s my own fault. I should tell Raske the truth. Kaino would be relieved.

I just can’t lose Asher again. Even if I am ruining the future for other people, the people here, people like my camp family, people like Ayden. People who are forced into unions and solitude and jobs and lives they don’t want. Is my own happiness not equal to theirs? My mother gave her life to see me happy. Could I be happy with Kaino? As happy as I am right now just lying next to this beautiful and broken hybrid?

“I should go,” Asher says slowly but doesn’t release me from his arms.

It’s like he can sense my worry. My anxiety over something that is actually an easy choice for me.

“You should stay,” I whisper back to him, keeping my eyes closed, my mind dancing between reality and sleep.

His chest heaves against my spine and he nestles his head closer to my neck. “Always so quietly confident,” he says, his lips brushing my neck with every word, making my heart pound with the tiny wisps of air.

A smile forms against my lips at how easily persuaded he is.

Nine

What Do You See

Luca seems drawn to Gabriel, I’m not sure why. He’s the opposite of every male in this community. Maybe that’s his appeal... The one armed, redheaded, blind hybrid that sticks out like a fish walking on land.

Through the throng of people, she leads us. They shift aside easily, making way for the two of us like tiny fearful row boats trying to avoid a hurricane. Luca’s confidence is evident with every deliberate step she takes, in the way her shoulders are held, in the way that her hips sway as she walks.