Page 15

I t’s done.

He knows.

I’m not sure how I expected him to react. Angry, sad, confused.

“Millie…”

“I’ve obviously changed my mind—”

Teddy stands and grabs me by the wrist to pull me up into his arms. He cups my face in his hands and kisses me. It’s slow, deep, desperate.

He moves us, slowly, until my back hits the kitchen island, then he slides his hands around to cup my ass. He squeezes roughly, and I moan against his mouth. Without breaking our now frantic kiss, he lifts me up to sit me on the counter .

He rubs his palms along my back, my hips, my legs. Anywhere he can touch. My hands are in his hair, tugging the strands to add a little pain to this sudden… shot of lust.

When he pulls away from the kiss, his cheeks are flared red, and his breathing is labored.

“Teddy—”

“Shut up,” he whispers, and I scoff. “Just… shut up and let me convince you to never have those thoughts again.”

My face must soften because he holds up his hand.

“I know you said you changed your mind, but hearing you say you wanted to face the sun… I can’t imagine a world without you in it, Milli Vanilli.”

He steps closer between my legs and rubs his palms over my thighs again.

“This is me begging you to let me worship you. Let me care for you and treat you like the queen you are. Let’s spend the rest of our lives getting to know each other and fall in love.”

I open my mouth, but he holds his finger over my lips. I’m tempted to bite that finger. I don’t think anyone’s ever shushed me before.

“I’ve already asked you to turn me. I know you don’t want to…”

I do though .

I’m just terrified that I’ll fall in love and lose him like I did my family. Or that we’d spend eternity together and he’ll end up hating me and abandon me and I’ll end up alone.

It’s the same fear I have with Layla; that someday she’ll grow tired of my company.

“I still have time to convince you. I mean, not a whole lot of time. The doctors did only give me like four months to live. And my body will begin shutting down at some point. I’ll lose a lot of motor skills and—”

I clutch him by the shirt and tug him to me.

“Okay, I get it. I’ll—”

“Think about it,” Teddy finishes for me.

Why am I struggling with this so much? I turn him, and he lives. I don’t, he dies, and I’ll never see him again. I would have no reason to live if he’s not in my life.

Aside from Layla, but she doesn’t need me standing in her way any longer.

Maybe I’m fighting turning him because I’m enjoying human Teddy too much. Because every newborn vampire is different from the human life they once lived. They are more prone to blood lust and have to learn to control those urges.

Henry never did that for me. He encouraged my urges. Once I severed his hold over me, I called on a vampire friend to help rehab me. Someone who was killed by Henry once he found out all his hard work making me an ‘evil vamp’ had gone to waste.

I had already moved to America when I learned my friend was dead. I’ve lost too many people close to me, and I think that’s my biggest hesitation.

“I see that head of yours working in overdrive so let’s fix that.”

Teddy pushes me down until I’m lying on the countertop. He tugs off my pants and underwear and teases my entrance with his fingertip.

“Mmm. So wet, Millie.”

My fangs drop, and I close my eyes as he dips a finger in. He curls the tip, and I scream when it grazes my g-spot.

“I’m going to taste you now, Your Majesty.”

Ugh, why do I love it so much when he calls me that?

I’m pretty sure he started doing it as a joke. Now I would beg him to call me that if he ever stopped.

Which is crazy since I do not want to be queen anymore.

I will always be his queen.

His lips descend on my clit, and he takes it in his mouth, lapping his tongue over the sensitive bundle of nerves. I move my hands to my breasts to play with my nipples and he adds a second finger .

He thrusts in deep, hitting that perfect spot, causing me to moan and arch off the countertop.

“That’s what I want to hear from my queen.”

My queen.

“Please,” I whimper.

“Would you like to come?”

I nod, but he must have seen my nonverbal response because he drives his fingers into me harder while covering my clit with his mouth again. He reaches his free arm up and I grab him by the wrist. The moment my fangs sink in, my orgasm erupts.

Teddy waits until my pussy stops spasming before removing his fingers and licking them clean.

“Now, you’ll never want to face the sun again. Isn’t that right, Millie?”

“That’s right, Puppy,” I say and sit up to kiss him.

I taste myself on his lips and groan. I taste so sweet. It must be from the blood mate bond.

That’s another reason I’m hesitant to turn him.

Does he realize how connected we would be? More so than the sire/fledgling bond? Would I have control over him like Henry had over me?

We need to talk about this but before I can utter a word, my phone rings. I curse against Teddy’s lips and break the kiss to jump off the counter and grab my phone on the table.

“What?” I growl into the receiver.

“Wow, I must have caught you mid-fuck,” Layla chuckles.

“What do you want?”

I make my way into my office, half naked, and thinking about all the ways I can torture my bestie for the interruption.

Layla, however, is unaffected by my attitude and sighs heavily.

“We have another body.”

I curse. “That makes nearly two dozen now. The media will take notice soon, if they haven’t already. We can’t keep covering this up. Anything from the gargoyles?”

“No. They’ve managed to get glimpses of Henry but by the time they follow him, he’s long gone.”

That’s because he’s fifteen hundred years old. Even if we capture Henry, he’s stronger, faster. He could take out dozens of vampires on his own in a battle.

But I’m determined to end him.

I will kill him.

Somehow.

“We need to draw him out,” Layla says.

“And how do you suggest we do that? ”

The other line is silent and if I didn’t hear my friend’s nervous tapping on whatever surface she’s nearby, then I’d have thought she hung up.

“You won’t like it.”

“Say it and I’ll decide if you should live or die over the suggestion.”

She snorts, not even a little intimidated by my threat.

Because she knows I wouldn’t hurt her.

Even if she hurt Teddy?

I shake the thought because my best friend would never lay a finger on my mate. She fights and kills those who deserve it, like her husband and the vampire who turned her... and the hunters who aim to destroy our kind. But she’s never taken an innocent life. Even when she was a newborn vamp, she never let her urges win. She’s always been so strong willed, which is why she deserves to be the Vampire Queen of New York City.

“We use Teddy as bait.”

Or I kill her and find a new successor.