Page 26 of Sophie’s Ruin (Crimson and Shadows #2)

I imagined the look on my face mirrored hers—a mix of disappointment and relief—when she simply nodded and turned to the door. Pulling myself together, I grabbed the handle and walked out of the room. Sophie hesitantly followed, stepping into her new life as a vampire.

I pried my lashes apart for a moment, but all that greeted me was pain, so I let my eyes drift closed again as I went back to her…

Our swords clashed with a loud clink, and Sophie grinned, her smile beautiful and savage.

I still regretted turning her; I always would, carrying that guilt with me for the rest of my eternal nights, but I couldn’t deny that the creature before me was stunning.

She had been breathtaking as a human, but as a vampire, she was truly magnificent.

Once she had gotten used to her new body and had learned to control her heightened senses, it seemed as though she had been born for this.

Not the blood-drinking part—she still recoiled from that, and I hoped she always would, but everything else that came with being a vampire.

It was important for her to be in control of her life, and now she was, more so than ever.

Sophie jumped back with feline grace and then attacked again, delivering a blow I easily deflected. As a new vampire, she was not a match for me yet, but I knew it was only a matter of time—time we didn’t truly have, with the threat of the Dark Witches looming over us.

Sophie came at me again, and this time, I didn’t simply block the attack.

I retaliated, swiping with my sword. With a startled gasp, she danced out of the way and thrust her blade out, aiming at my midsection.

I moved back with vampire speed to avoid being stabbed before I caught the hand holding the sword and squeezed.

Her weapon clattered to the floor as I hauled her to my chest, wrapping my arm around her waist. Our faces were inches apart, and we both froze, breathing shallowly.

My gaze dropped to her mouth for a second before I forced it back up.

I knew I needed to put distance between us, but I found I couldn’t move.

“The dreams,” Sophie rasped, looking into my eyes. “They haven’t stopped.”

She was bringing this up now? When our bodies were near flush with each other?

My mind flashed back to my own dreams, where I had been swimming between her thighs.

She was right—the dreams, they hadn’t stopped.

If anything, they had been growing in their intensity, driving me mad with desire—desire I knew she could smell on me now, her nostrils flaring.

Even if my scent didn’t betray me, I knew my eyes did.

Her eyes were turning darker, too, and it excited me as much as it terrified me.

I had caught her looking at me like that on more than one occasion during the past two weeks, but I still wasn’t convinced her desire for me wasn’t just a byproduct of me turning her.

My blood had made her into a vampire. Perhaps it had also made her believe that she felt things for me…

things she couldn’t possibly feel, I tried to tell myself.

Still, every night in the past two weeks, I had woken with a sense of dread, fearing that tonight would be the night when she no longer looked at me like she wanted me.

But the way she was looking at me now told me that tonight was not the night.

But tomorrow could be. She needed more time to acclimate to her new life, to figure out what she truly wanted.

I told myself I was only looking out for her, but the truth was, I was terrified of opening myself up to her because I knew that once I gave her my heart, there would be no going back.

My eyes flew open, and I groaned as pain rushed in, merciless and overwhelming. I didn’t want pain, I only wanted her…

I stood before her bedroom door, cursing myself for how foolish I had been for the past two weeks.

I should have told her. I should have acted on my feelings, but I hadn’t, and now it was too late.

Celeste had just told us that the attack was imminent.

Dark Witches were coming. What was I doing here?

I wanted to tell her, but what was the point?

We might die tonight, so did she really need to know?

A rough exhale left me as I rested my forehead on the door.

She yanked it open a second later, peering at me from inside her bedroom.

“Sophie,” I breathed, as our gazes locked.

A myriad of unspoken things hung in the air between us.

I’m not worthy of you, I wanted to tell her. But if you’ll have me…please have me, I wanted to beg, as the desperate need I felt for her nearly drove me to my knees.

“I want you,” she uttered, and my heart stopped.

A second passed. Another. Then a beat sounded—my heart had restarted, but it was no longer in my chest. It was inside Sophie, beating within her.

I didn’t realize that I had moved until my mouth crashed into hers.

No more holding back. No more wondering if she truly wanted me.

She had just told me that she did. The raw need in her eyes had confirmed it for me, also.

Her scent, lush and smoky with potent desire, enveloped me as I kissed her…

her scent…her scent was here, in this place where my physical body was…

“Sophie?” I rasped as I forced myself to open my eyes. “Am I dreaming?”