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“I suppose so,” I gave a theatrical put-upon sigh. “The chocolates can come. And so can you.” I gestured for him to follow me to the couch.

“Wanna watch some movies?” Theo dimpled at me, after he threw himself on the couch with childish enthusiasm, bouncing on the cushion. He held up the laptop he brought with him and raised an expectant eyebrow.

“That depends upon what your taste in movies is,” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Well, currently I’m deliberating between a funny show about gay pirates, or a devastating show about a future where corporations own your soul.”

I blinked at him then smiled.

“I think we will get along just fine.”

We had a good time watching both of the shows on Theo’s laptop and snacking on delicious chocolate strawberries – evenif sometimes we were interrupted by a call or a text from Matthias – until darkness fell outside the window.

“I had a good time today,” Theo said. “But it’s getting late and you probably need to go to sleep to get up fresh and early tomorrow... Can I get a kiss before I have to go sleep on the floor?” He made huge puppy eyes at me and I had to laugh.

“One, tomorrow is Sunday, and it’s the one day out of the week I don’t have to work... well, unless I’m taking someone else’s shift for some favors... but this Sunday I’m free. Second, didn’t Matthias tell you he has been sleeping in my bed since day one?”

Theo gasped in outrage.

“That bastard! He let me believe he was sleeping on the floor like I had to!”

“Third, yes, you can have a kiss.”

The outrage left Theo immediately as he focused on a more important feeling of my lips on his.

At first, the kiss was sweet, a mere press against each other, but it quickly turned into the heat of open mouths, and then the slickness of tongue twinning around each other. Before I even realized, my hands wandered to roam over Theo’s body and he pulled away from me with a groan.

“Maybe I should sleep on the floor... if you let me in your bed I don’t know if I can stop myself...”

“Am I so irresistible?” I asked. Maybe exposing my neck was a bit mean but I wanted more of that devilish red to seep into Theo’s bright eyes.

“You have no idea, Victoria,” Theo leaned closer, his nostrils flaring as if he was hypnotized by the display. “The moment we smelled your blood we knew you were ours. Our soulmate, our future, our everything.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” I pushed Theo back, my fingers digging into his shoulders. “You... what?! There’s actually a reason you fixated on me so hard? I’m... your mate?”

“Oh,” Theo blinked at me. “I thought Tristan or Matthias had told you already... Uh, surprise? We have a magical bond?”

“Youhave a magical bond, I don’t feel anything,” I said sternly only to wince at the way Theo’s expression crumbled. Okay, so maybe, just maybe, they had my attention from the moment I saw them but... magic?! I just accepted that I, as a person with no supernatural creature inheritance, could not do anything magical only to learnIwas magical? Or... cursed? Affecting the vampires in some strange way? “How does it feel to you?” I asked Theo.

“You... your blood, when we first met, smelled like a beautiful meadow full of blooming flowers. Like almonds in honey. Irresistible, tailor-made for me. In my whole life, I have never smelled anything so perfect. And then I saw how distressed you were and I wanted to kill that vile man. And not only him, his father too. He wasn’t worthy of even looking at you,” Theo said and, at some point, his words slurred just a little. I realized his fangs had dropped, the terrifying visage of a vampire out in the open, complete with red eyes and a thundering expression on his face.

“That only tells me that I’m catnip to vampires,” I said helplessly. “Not that you are my soulmate.”

“Can you... trust me?” Theo placed his hand on his unbeating heart and looked at me so earnestly. “I have never felt so sure of anything in my life as I am of the fact that you are my soulmate.”

“I can’t just blindly trust in this,” I said. “But I can give you a chance to prove it to me.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Oof!” The air was knocked from my lungs as Theo threw himself at me, ensnaring me in a tight hug and peppering my face with kisses.

Just like that, we were back on the trajectory we left as the kisses turned less innocent.

“If my blood smells so good to you... do you want a taste?” I whispered in Theo’s ear, making him shiver.

“Yes! I... yes...” the poor man seemed to be lost for words.

“You can taste me. But promise me something.”