Page 13 of The Vampire's Mate

My eyes widen. Of course, someone had to turn him. And he’d consider that person a parent after decades together. My head nods lightly. At least I had that part right in my books.

“If they thought they could use you to lure me out of hiding, they wouldn’t hesitate to take you. They wouldn’t harm you,” he adds quickly when I rear back, “they’d only use you as bait to get to me. That’s why I broke in here. I didn’t want to put you through that.”

“Thanks, I guess,” I say, my words slow and measured.

He shakes his head. “My father gave his blessing for me to leave and live on my own for a while, but I knew it wouldn’t last. I wasn’t gone a month before he set his minions on my tail. I thought I’d evaded them, coming here.”

“That’s why you asked me to never mention your name,” I say, realization dawning.

He nods. “I already moved twice because other vampires saw me and recognized me. I was trying to stop the cycle. To be able to stay here longer.”

“Will you leave now?” I ask, not liking the way my chest pinches at the thought.

“I don’t know,” he sighs. “I’m tired of running. And I like it here.”

The penetrating look he gives me with those last words has my face heating. Clearing my throat, I look anywhere but at his face as I formulate my next question.

“You said vampires recognized you? Are you famous, or something?”

“Sort of,” he says, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. “My father is king.”

My whole body flinches back with those words as surprise fills me. “Vampires have kings?”

“King. Singular. I believe you saw him on your television? I could hear his speech from my apartment.”

“That Franklin Belloy guy? He’s your dad?”

“Yes,” he says, nodding. “And I am his heir.”

“Heir?” I ask, my face tightening at the squeak in my voice.

“Someday, I will be king,” he says, not sounding overly thrilled at the prospect.

“So…what? You’re sowing your wild oats before you take the throne?” I ask.

This is all so surreal. I’m sitting on my couch, talking to a vampire. And not just any vampire. The future king of them all.

And he made me come a few days ago. With his mind.

Just thinking about it has my body tightening, and I clench my teeth as I try to force it back. Jesse has proven more than once he can smell my arousal, and I don’t want this conversation to derail itself. I want to know more. I want to know everything.

“He wants me to come back to the capital, but I’m not ready,” he says as if unaware of my internal conflict.

“The capital? Like Washington, D.C.?”

He chuckles. “That’s the United States capital. The vampire capital is in Los Angeles.”

“Really?” I ask, my earlier discomfort forgotten. “Why Los Angeles? I would’ve guessed Rome. Or maybe Paris.”

I settle back against the cushions, and Jesse’s own tension disappears as he scoots back to sit more comfortably. He was obviously waiting for me to relax, and now that it seems I have, he’s able to loosen up, as well.

“Vampires can blend in with the eccentric humans that walk the streets of L.A. It was necessary, considering we lived in secret. Before the last century, my father resided in Romania.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I blurt on a laugh. “As in Transylvania?”

He chuckles, and the sound brushes over my skin like the lightest caress of a feather. An involuntary shiver courses through me, and I stiffen my muscles to suppress it.

“Bucharest,” he clarifies, then his mouth settles into a soft smile.