Page 100 of Grave Beginnings

Ready for what?

“What?” I asked Angel.

“I want to help you.”

“Okay,” I agreed.

“That’s not enough,” Xavier said. “You know better. I taught you better.”

Angel sucked in a deep breath; his forehead pressed to mine. “I can help you heal, Jude. Is that okay?”

“Hmm? Like, your variant magic?”

“Yes.”

I could hear Xavier make a disapproving noise and wondered what they were going on about. “Okay?”

“It will create a permanent bond between us,” Angel said.

“Huh?” My brain churned slowly through his words, trying to make sense of them. “Like you have with Victor, where he can hear you when you’re a cat?”

“Sort of…” Angel hedged. “Victor and I were never a thing.”

“Good, ‘cause I don’t want to have to make a fool of myself trying to beat up a vampire.”

“He’s talking about a mate bond, Jude,” Xavier said with frustration.

Angel cursed at him. “I was getting to that.”

“You’re not thinking clearly.”

Mate bond. “Like in a romance novel?”

“More binding,” Xavier said. “Fiction makes it sound like a fantasy, but it’s unbreakable. Mostly. You’ll always be tied to him, drawn to him.”

“What if you don’t like me anymore?” I wondered.

“That’s not gonna happen,” Angel said. “The bond lets me share my ability to heal with you. Please let me help.”

“For as long as you both live, you’ll never desire another,” Xavier added.

What? My head hurt, but the idea of making him bind himself to me—and then he could grow to hate being bound to me—made me sick. “You don’t want me like that. No one does.”

“I do,” Angel said.

I grunted, trying to wriggle out of his grasp. It would hurt lessif we ended things now instead of someday down the road after we were magically tied together. “No one hates you more than someone who was supposed to love you.”

“Jude,” Angel said, his arms holding me up but refusing to let me move away. “Please.” He pressed his lips to the only side of my face that didn’t feel like it had been hit by a mallet. “I promise, if you let me heal you, we’ll continue as we have been, getting to know each other, dating. I will show you I am the perfect mate for you.”

“I don’t want you to hate me.” I liked him way too much for that.

“Never happen.”

I sighed. That sounded nice, but I’d lived long enough to lose faith in most everyone. “Why me? You could have anyone.”

“Jude,” Angel breathed, his face tucked against my cheek, “You’re mine. The bond wouldn’t work at all if you weren’t meant to be mine. I’ve known since you first stumbled in the locker room and I caught you. I was trying to give you time, but I knew we were meant to be mates.”

“Huh? We’re not in a romance novel.”