Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“Do you cook?” Rosemary asked as she sailed back into the house, swinging the door shut behind her.
“I can,” I replied, following her into the kitchen.
“Me too.” She stopped in the middle of the kitchen and huffed in annoyance. “At least we’ll never starve.”
“What do you want?” I asked, moving toward her.
“Grilled cheese,” she stated firmly. “And homemade tomato soup.”
“Sounds good,” I murmured as she stomped to the fridge.
“Wait a second,” she said, looking up at me. “Where’s your blood?”
I looked down at my body.
“Very funny,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Didn’t you bring blood back with you? I mean, you weren’t planning to complete the bond, right?”
“It’s in a cooler in the car,” I replied with a grimace. After we’d completed the bond, I’d completely forgotten it was there. Once a Vampire was mated, donor blood was no longer an option. It would keep us alive, barely, but only our mate’s blood could keep us healthy.
I hadn’t even thought about the blood I’d left in the car. There was a chance it was still cold, but more likely I’d just wasted hundreds of dollars.
“Whoops.”
“I forgot about it,” I said, taking the items she handed me as she searched through the fridge.
“Easy to do. It’s not like you need it now.”
She said it so easily that I was reminded again of how lucky I was that my mate understood the ins and outs of the mating bond. There was no tiptoeing or trying to explain the finer points in a way that wouldn’t make a human woman run screaming into the night. Rosemary wasn’t surprised by any of it.
“My brother Beau went back to donor blood very briefly after he and his mate completed the bond,” I told her as I sliced cheese. “She freaked out when she found him gray and passed out on the couch.”
“Why the hell would he do that?” Rosemary asked in surprise, her mouth dropping open. “That doesn’t work.”
“He was trying to respect her wishes.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Not sure what was going on with them—I didn’t ask—but they clearly weren’t sharing blood.”
“What a bitch,” she replied, shaking her head.
I let out a huff of laughter.
“What?” she asked. “That’s a shitty thing to do.”
“It’s her choice,” I reminded my mate. “Her body.”
“Okay,” she conceded. “That’s true. Still, yikes. That must’ve been hard for both of them. It’s not like she was comfortable withholding the exchange.”
“When she found him, she cut open her wrist so he’d feed—”
Rosemary shook her head in exasperation.
“She meant well,” I said with a smile. “But my father had to stitch her up. She just expected it to close on its own if Beau licked it or something.”
She laughed. “Not quite.”
I smiled back. Gods, she was lovely.
“I can’t imagine getting saddled with a mate—”
“Hey, thanks,” I cut in.
Rosemary laughed. “Getting saddled with a mate who was completely clueless. Like everything must seem so overwhelming and strange.”
“I imagine so,” I agreed.
“Like the biting,” Rosemary continued, glancing my way. “What if I didn’t know that I needed your blood too? I’d just be in a suspended state of animation for God knew how long? Sounds like hell.”
“A Vampire would have to be raised by humans or something not to know that,” I pointed out.
“Fair enough,” she agreed. “But still. The heat and the forever and all of it? What a mindfuck for a human expecting to live like eighty years.”
“It’s an adjustment,” I agreed. “Both my sisters-in-law struggled for a while.”
“With good reason,” she said, swiping the cheese I’d cut so she could assemble the sandwiches on the stove. “Even I was shocked, and I know what it’s all about.”
“You seemed to accept it pretty quickly,” I replied, leaning against the counter to watch her.
“Well, yeah.” She kept her eyes on the stove as she answered. “Once we met, I knew it was inevitable. Fighting it would just suck for both of us. What’s the point?”
I hummed in agreement.
“It’s different for me anyway,” she said softly.
“How so?”
“I never thought I’d live long enough to see my cousins mated or meet their children or any of that,” she said, staring at the grilled cheese. Her voice grew husky. “Most of the people I love are immortal or will be.”
“But not your pop,” I replied quietly.
“But not my pop,” she confirmed, finally looking at me. “But I always knew I’d outlive him.” She let out a huff of pained laughter. “I mean, I hope we’re both really old when it happens, but yeah. He was fifteen years older than my mom when they met, so he was over forty when I came along. You’ve seen him. He’s not exactly aging gracefully.”
“You’ve still got a lot of time,” I assured her.
“I know.” She swallowed hard. “Plus, he’ll be with my mom when he goes, and I know he’s looking forward to that.” She wrinkled her nose. “Okay, that sounded morbid, but you know what I mean. It’s not like he’ll be alone.”