Warin chuckled behind me, sending a wave of amusement and fondness through the bond. Then he finally moved, reaching up above us to push at the darkness surrounding us. It broke apart and crumbled, and I shielded my eyes as dirt rained down over us.
“Come, my love. It’s time to rise.” Warin released his grip on me and jumped out of what turned out to be the hole we’d been laying in. He crouched down on the edge of it and reached a hand down toward me.
I blinked up at him, squinting through the soil that still clung to my eyelashes—and gasped in awe at the sight that met me. Behind Warin was a vast expanse of midnight blue night sky dotted with millions upon millions of stars. High above us, galaxies swirled in the distance.
A gust of wind hit my nostrils, setting my senses alive with the thousands of scents it carried. But strongest among them was Warin’s. Crisp, earthy, and powerful. Goddess, the power radiating off him made me dizzy with longing. I looked up at him then, truly looked… and gaped in wonder. He was even more beautiful than before. His skin glowed in the starlight, and those blue eyes… they were so filled with love and light.
I didn’t think—only reacted as need so urgent I couldn’t control it washed over me.
Warin laughed, but it was cut short when I leapt out of the hole and into him, knocking him to the ground. I straddled his sprawled-out form and pressed my mouth to his, kissing him with everything I was worth. He wasn’t cold to the touch anymore.
The golden bond inside me still hummed, but I was too focused on the velvety sensation of his lips and tongue against mine, and his arms around my body.
“Warin,” I breathed into his mouth.
“Hmm?”
“I’m hungry.”
“I know. I’ve brought you something to eat.” He sat up, gently moving me from his body to the ground. I looked around us as he got up. We were surrounded by a thick coverage of brambles and bushes.
“Where are we?” I asked with a frown.
“Michigan,” he said. He was reaching for something underneath a particularly thick cover of bushes.
Michigan?
“What… happened?”
Warin sighed softly. In the bond, I felt hesitance… and a wave of guilt. He returned to me and crouched down as he handed me a plastic bag filled with something dark and viscous. “How much do you remember?”
“I…” I forced my mind to go back. It was hazy… almost as if my memories were dulled in comparison to the present. Everything was so crisp and clear now, as if my senses had been fine-tuned after a lifetime of being too weak to properly grasp the full colors and contrasts of the world. “I remember Zeth bringing us to Indiana. Escaping the cage…”
“You were so clever, my love,” he whispered, but I could sense his sadness in the bond.
“I killed someone,” I said, rubbing at the place in my chest where the unhappy hum from the bond seemed to be tied. “I hid you—I didn’t know my magic could do that. They said… Oh, goddess, the skinwalkers! The captured me again, they—“
“They’re dead,” Warin said. “Aleric killed them when he came for you.”
Something in his voice… a hardness that hadn’t been there before mixed with the pang of sorrow and fury in the bond made my memories finally click into place.
Aleric. Aleric had tried to Embrace me. I’d been dying, and it was the only way… And I’d been slipping away, but I remembered what he’d said.
“I’m Thea?” I whispered. “I’m… I was… We met before? Eight hundred years ago? I died?”
“Yes,” he said. “You were my soulmate, and you died.”
Then something else dawned on me. I stared at the bag Warin had offered me.
It was filled with blood. Donor blood.
“I died,” I repeated, eyes wide in horror. “Oh my goddess, I’m a fucking vampire!”
“I am… so sorry.” It was a soft whisper, but in the bond I felt tenderness and shame. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t lose you, Liv. I—“
I put a hand on his arm, silencing him. “Warin—please, don’t. Don’t apologize for saving my life.”
He drew in a deep, shuddering breath. So unnecessary, yet I found myself mimicking it. “I passed my curse on to you. The one I wished to protect the most. I was too weak to let you go, and I doomed you to the eternal night by my side. How can I not apologi—“
This time, I clapped my hand over his mouth to stop him. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Warin. I felt you when I woke up. You were happy. And I… I am alive. Or… kind of alive, as it were. I’d be dead if you hadn’t Embraced me. Truly dead. Do you know what I felt when I woke up? Peace. I knew you were with me, I knew we were together, and I felt nothing but peace. This… this was always going to happen.” I moved my hand from his mouth and gave him a small smile. “You don’t fall in love with an immortal and then just kick it after a good sixty or so years. That’d be pretty dickish.”
“How are you so calm?” he asked, searching my eyes. He reached out and touched his fingers to my cheek, as if in wonder. “I took your humanity.”
I wrapped my hand around his, pressing my cheek to his palm. “You gave me so much more in return. This? This doesn’t feel like a curse to me. I can feel you, inside.” I pressed my free hand to my chest where the bond hummed contentedly.
“I feel you too,” he whispered.
I leaned in and kissed him again, and moaned when he parted his lips and took me in, clutching me to him.
“Liv,” he moaned in between passionate kisses. “My Liv. My soulmate.”
I pulled back at that word, eyes widening. “Warin, what… what happened? With Thea, I mean. Why did Aleric know about her when you didn’t?”
His gaze hardened even as he stroked my back soothingly. “Around the year 1200, he and I were traveling on the British Isles. Raiding remote villages. He told me… we came across her—across you—in one of these villages. And I recognized you. I took you with me. But we didn’t know what you were, so we sought out the nearest Ancient for guidance.”
“Zeth,” I whispered.
“Yes.” Warin’s eyes darkened for a moment. “Zeth. He knew what you were. And he and Aleric conspired to kill you.”
I gasped. “That prick! Why?”
“Aleric didn’t go into details for Zeth’s motivations, but when I woke with you this evening, I understood why. It’s the power… I have never felt stronger than this night, with you by my side. He must have known… and wanted to get rid of a potential rival before our bond solidified. As for Aleric…” Warin closed his eyes for a moment, and I felt sadness and fiery anger flare in our bond. “He thought you were twisting me… changing me. He was afraid he’d lose me because of you. But when you died, he realized his mistake. He felt my pain in our bond, and knew I wouldn’t live long with a shattered soul… so he sought out a witch. Zeth’s witch. She placed a curse on our bloodline, to make me forget. To ensure I, if you ever came back, wouldn’t know you for what you are.”