Page 24

“Zavier? Hello?” Her delicate hand waves in front of my face and cars honk behind us. I startle and step on the gas. Catching me off guard is no easy task and yet Celine does it effortlessly.

My brain short circuited when she brushed an eyelash off my cheek a second ago. It’s the first time our bare skin has touched, and I want to cement the memory so five-hundred years from now I still know how it feels.

“Are you okay?” she presses. “I shouldn’t have touched you without your permission,” she apologizes.

“No, no, it’s not that.” I swallow down my desperation to sayyes, please, touch me some more. Touch me everywhere. Touch me any time you want.“Just lost in my thoughts,” I finish with instead.

“Thanks for driving me home. I would’ve hated to make Ava and Spencer go the opposite way of their apartment just for me.”

My steering wheel squeaks in alarm when I squeeze too hard in an attempt to calm myself down. Her words are going in oneear and out the other as I focus on deep breathing just like the yoga instructor in the class I popped into a few months ago told me to do.

My teeth grind together, and I bite down to cover my fangs that have popped out involuntarily.

No.No.

Now is not an appropriate time for a fangboner!

I can’t seem to control them around her and that’s going to quickly become an issue because I fully plan on spending more time with her.

“Mhm.” The garbled response is uncivilized at best, but it’s all I can do.

Celine leans forward to look at me when she finally realizes something’s wrong. I try to lean away and let the collar of my coat hide my face.

Go away!I will the pesky canines to retract, but so far they’re not going anywhere.

“Are you okay?” Her sweet voice holds so much concern, and I jerk when she lays her palm on my thigh.

I’m already dealing with a fangboner. The last thing I need is an actual one too.

“Just started to feel a little weird.” I mumble around my fangs, willing them to recede.

Stupid fuckers never listen.

“Do I need to drive? Do you want to stop?” The concern in her voice amplifies and I curse myself for worrying her.

Wait. She’s worried about me?

If I could blush, I most certainly would be. My sweet girl is worried about me, when all that’s wrong is me wanting to take her to pound town and mark her as mine.

“No, I’m fine.” I try to reassure her. “We’re close to the apartment.”

She makes a noncommittal noise, and I know she doesn’t believe me but keeps quiet otherwise.

The remainder of the drive is spent in silence, and I hate it. I haven’t had much one-on-one time with her, and I want to ask her so many questions. What’s her favorite color? What makes her laugh? What makes her heart race? How can I make her smile? I look forward to finding the answers out to everything and more when the time is right.

Rolling into the parking garage, I pull up to the nearest elevator and stop the car.

“I’m going to drop you here.”

Confusion wrinkles her brow when she turns to me. “Is your spot far away or something?”

“Yeah,” I choke out, and will her to head upstairs.

As much as it pains me to leave her, my episode has caused me to burn through the remaining donor blood in my system. Any that remains has rushed straight to my dick and I need to visit my supplier stat, or I won’t be able to hold myself back.

I’d never hurt Celine but a vampire in bloodlust, even a more mature one like me, is bad news. Mix in the fact Celine is my mate and I’ll be trying to claim her before she’s ready for it, which I refuse to do. Mates are a temptation like no other and it’s rumored their blood is a rush of adrenaline.

“I’d rather you get out here, so I know you’re safe in the elevator. I … have an errand I need to run,” I add when she hasn’t made any progress on getting out of my car.