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“You’dbetter. But no, I meant—what if the bite hurts? Even if I don’t try to drain you dry? What if it isn’t…good?”

“I want to do this,” I reminded him. “And I’m pretty sure I can handle it.”

Which might have been another lie—it was hard to say for sure. I’d never been bitten by a vampire before. But if it meant Danny wouldn’t be in excruciating pain, I’d risk a little pain. It was a small fucking price to pay to make sure he was okay.

“Right,” Danny agreed. He cast me another nervous look. “And yeah… uh, what if I can’t stop?”

“You’ll be able to stop,” I assured him.

I’m an idiot sometimes, but I’m not dumb. I knew exactly what Danny and I were now. I could feel it between us. It was something so tangible it was almost physical, like gravity was somehow working differently all of a sudden. Instead of keeping me on the ground, it had now decided that its primary job was shoving me toward Danny.

Danny and I were connected. The same way that Bryan and Tobias were. Danny and I belonged together. I could feel it with a calm certainty. It was supremely gentle and inexorable, impossible to fight against.

And somehow, that calm, quiet part of meknewthat Danny would never hurt me. Not just that he wouldn’t want to, but that he literally couldn’t. Just like it also knew I’d never, in a million years, be able to pull the trigger on him. Not unless it was to save the parts of him that were still Danny. Then I’d empty the clip if I had to.

“Right,” he said, grimacing. He cast a doubtful look at my throat. “So. Um. How… err, how are we doing this?”

I held my wrist out to him. I almost wanted to offer my neck, but I was pretty sure that would’ve freaked him out even more. Plus, if I was wrong and his vampiric instincts were stronger than the bond between us—whether it was potentially supernatural or not—it would be way easier on both of us if he was at my wrist.

But the neck soon, probably. We’d both ease into it.

Danny took my wrist in his hand so gingerly that I would’ve been able to pull it back, no problem. He stared down at it, looking unhappy.

“Are yousureyou want this?” he asked.

“Yup. But there’s one more thing,” I told him, realizing I couldn’t just do this without telling him. “Look, I feel really… connected… to you. It’s different now than it ever has been. I can feel it, like a physical thing.”

Danny swallowed. “Me too.”

“And I don’t know if Bryan has talked about this with you, but Tobias explained how the psychic bond between him and Bryan formed. It happens with blood sharing.”

“Sure. But Tobias and Bryan are destined to be together.”

“Yup,” I replied, popping the ‘p’ and letting it hang out there between us.

Danny looked up from my wrist and met my eyes, understanding dawning in his expression. “And you think…?”

He trailed off, looking more baffled than alarmed.

“You just told me you can feel a connection.”

“We’re obviously connected,” Danny grumbled. “We’ve been together for five fucking years, Michael. And I’ve been a vampire for a couple hours at this point—my emotions are probably all over the place. And so are yours.”

I glared at him. “Don’t be an asshole. I’m talking about something else. It’s something… new. It’s like a physical sensation between us, a pull. Like part of me doesn’t belong to me anymore.” I swallowed hard, realizing how true my words were and what they really meant. “It’s completely yours now.”

“I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be more romantic or less romantic with a Glock pressed up against my chest.”

“More,” I informed him solemnly. “Definitely more.”

Danny still looked a little miserable, but he laughed. “You’re such an idiot.”

“You can’t tell me you don’t feel it.”

“No, I do,” Danny looked back up at me and met my gaze. “I get what you’re saying. But what if I feed on you and I can’t stop myself from going too far? And then you’d have to shoot me.”

“It’s a risk,” I agreed.

“Or what if Icanstop, but nothing happens? And then that proves that we’renotconnected or fated or whatever?”