Page 23 of It's in His Bite

Tessa’s dad tilted his head back and laughed as he pulled the gift from the nondescript box, pulling my attention toward him.I didn’t want to look. He and Tessa’s mom were perched beside my own parents… and Landon. I didn’t want to see his face, didn’t want to see him smile and laugh like everyone else this morning. Like nothing had changed in his world over the last several days.

Well, I guess it hadn’t. It wasn’t like he’d claimed me.

“I will get you back, Mark,” Tessa’s dad said. “I swear to God, I will get you back.”

“Looking forward to it,” Mark said, holding up his spiked eggnog in salute. “Better hope you draw my name next year.”

Tessa’s dad turned the sweater around so the rest of the room could see it, and then everyone else was laughing, too, at the cartoon-style drawing someone knitted into the front of the sweater. It was of a traditional Dracula, blood dripping down one side of his mouth as he held a bill of some kind. Underneath, it said “Bah Humbug”.

It was easily the ugliest sweater I’d ever seen. It had Mark written all over it. Any other year, I would laugh with the rest of the room. This year, it slid past me, unable to lessen the pall that hung over me.

“That’s everything, then!” Mom said, smiling brightly. “Who’s ready for some lunch?”

“There’s actually one more,” Landon said.

I didn’t want to look at him, didn’t want to see who was getting something from him when I could have nothing at all. It was petulant and immature and at that moment I didn’t even care. I dropped my gaze and started picking up some of the forgotten wrapping paper at my feet, reaching behind Rhiannon for one of the trash bags stashed around the room for easier clean up.

“Harlowe.” His voice was rich and smooth and washed over me like the last two days hadn’t even happened. “I have a gift for you.”

Everything stopped. The laughter, the chatter, the indescribablehummingthat was so many preternaturals all sharing something joyous together. I could feel my parents’ gazes, my father’s hefty concern. Rhiannon and Tessa both froze beside me, shocked and wary. The attention of the room was overbearing.

It took every ounce of willpower to look up at him. I couldn’t bear to see his face right now, much less feel the heat of his body. Tessa squeezed my hand in silent support. It was enough that I focused on the vampire standing in front of me. He held a small package wrapped in blue and green tartan, long and rectangular and almost flat. His eyes flashed to red for a heartbeat, but his hand didn’t falter. The gift didn’t so much a shake where it was held in suspension between us.

My throat dried out, and I swallowed around the sudden lump crowding my mouth.

“Oh.”

I inwardly cringed.

Really? That was the best I could do?

My own hand shook as I took the small gift. Nerves settled in my stomach like a stone around a bird’s neck keeping it from flying away.

What could he have possibly gotten me?

Rejecting a Fated didn’t have any formal ceremony. They were too rare for something like that to even become standard practice. There was nothing he could have gotten me. We barely talked, barely interacted before the snowstorm. He hadn’t had my name for the secret santa exchange. Without thinking, I palmed the thick history book Dylan had given me.

“This is yours,” he said in that same steady voice. It sent a shiver down my spine despite my best intentions.

Everything moved in slow motion, every heartbeat ringing in my ears and drowning out my own breathing, as I slowly tookthe package, untied the ribbon and eased the plaid wrapping paper from the nondescript box.

“Oh, was she who you drew this year, Landon?” Miles asked, entirely oblivious to the strange dynamic of the room like always.

“I was,” my brother offered.

Confusion filled the room, so thick a knife could cut through it. Or maybe it was just Miles still not understanding I wasn’t interested. Tessa leaned closer, trying to see over my shoulder. Rhiannon thrummed on my other side, both of them still convinced something between Landon and me would be possible.

The box opened easily, the top unfolding to reveal red tissue paper. And, nestled in the very center, was a thin jewelry box. The shape was familiar in a passing way, the same way the etched symbol was. It was something I’d seen other people hold, something I’d seen in my mom’s jewelry collection.

It was something I never expected to be given. Certainly not after Landon had left me panting on the kitchen counter as everyone arrived at the cabin.

Rhiannon grabbed my wrist right over the nearly-healed bite Landon gave me when I’d offered my vein. I couldn’t help the flash of grimace.

“Oh crap, sorry!” she said, dropping her hand to my leg.

I traced the symbol on the jewelry box, trying to remember how to breathe, how to exist in my body. It moved enough of the paper that Tessa could see clearly what it was.

She squealed. “Oh shit, is that a…”