Page 55 of Don't Bite the Botanist
“No,” Tressa cried. She tried to take his hand, and her heart cracked when he yanked it away. “Ethan, that’s not it. Idocare about you. You have no idea how much I care about you.”
He scoffed, then glanced toward the forest where Renata had disappeared. “I can’t beat her, can I?”
Tressa heard the sorrow in his voice, felt the aura of a broken soul radiating off her mate. “No,” she replied gently. “You can’t. Definitely not as a human.”
“A human,” he said, his tense shoulder muscles the only view he was offering her. “You’re implying there’s another option.”
“There is, Ethan,” she pressed, sensing a possible opening. A chance to turn it all around. He just needed time to see the truth, and she could give him that time. “I can change you,” she told him. “Make you like me. The good vampire rhetoric wasn’t bullshit. I swear, most of us aren’t killers. In fact, we specifically work to keep mortals safe.”
He let out a sad laugh. “You were actually telling the truth about something? You really are a hunter?”
Tressa bit her lip. “Um, sort of? I mostly handle the aftermath rather than the actual fighting. But yes, our cadre’s sole function is to protect humanity.”
He nodded slowly and turned around, still refusing to look at her, his attention fixed just over her shoulder. There was no emotion in his face. No indicator of how he felt about her. Nothing but cold hard resolve.
“I want you to turn me,” he said quietly, and her heart leapt into her throat despite his icy tone. “I want you to make me like you. I’ll even tell Baylin everything about my research so he can figure out why that vampire wants me dead.”
The sun emerged from behind a cloud, raining beams of bright light onto her mate’s face, and it fueled the hope growing in Tressa’s chest. If he was willing to work with them, then maybe… Maybe there was still the chance that they could be together. He would see how much she cared, and things might just work out.
But another cloud moved to block the sun again as Ethan’s eyes snapped over to lock on hers. “Then I never want to see you again.”
And all her hope shriveled up and died.
Chapter thirty
Ethan
A vampire. The woman he’d been falling hard and fast for was a fuckingvampire.
And soon, he would be one too. The rational part of his brain kept shouting at him to stop. To wait. To think it through. He was a man of science. He needed to create a hypothesis, run scenarios, and investigate every variable. A decision like this should take months if not years to properly analyze every angle. He would be giving up his entire life to become like them, and that was not a decision to be made lightly.
But then again, what kind of life did he even have anymore? He had no friends or family to mourn him if he vanished. No home to return to. Not even a job waiting for him.
As much as he felt the sting of betrayal from Tressa’s lies, the more he took the time to think, the more he could admit the truth of what he’d seen over the past week. She and the othersweren’tactually monsters. They hadn’t once hurt him. In fact, they’d laughed and joked together for days. Saiden helped him develop a strength training program that had him nearly back to normal after a week when thedoctors told him it would take months or years. Not to mention Derrick had the kind of playful teasing that kept Ethan motivated long after his body wanted to quit. And he’d even spent time in the sun with them, so clearly they weren’t entirely creatures of the night. Only an hour ago, he would have called them friends if anyone asked.
Then there was Tressa… For all her lies, he was at least willing to admit she’d never harmed him. Well, not his body anyway. His heart was a whole different story.
So as much as his brain said, “Hold the phone and think this through,” the rest of him felt certain that time wouldn’t change his decision. There were no downsides to becoming a vampire and only upsides—strength, speed, immortality.
Ok, maybe that last one wasn’t accurate. His discussions with Tressa about how vampires functioned told him they could die just as easily as humans if the wound was severe enough. Vampire blood might keep every organ functioning in tip top shape with no decay, but if someone chopped off your head or shoved a chunk of wood in your heart, no amount of fast healing could fix that.
None of it mattered, though. He’d made his decision, and he was sticking with it. Even if he did still have a list of questions longer than his PhD dissertation.
He would have to wait on those, however, because he had zero desire to speak to the woman in the car next to him. Saiden or Derrick could help him. They could teach him everything he needed to know to function out in the world.
As long as they kept Tressa out of it because she was dead to him. She’d lied, manipulated his emotions, and made him feel things for her he hadn’t even known he was capable of. In retrospect, he felt like a damn idiot. He should have seen who she was a mile away. Her strength. Her goddess-like beauty. And her eyes. From day one,he had seen something lingering in their depths, hidden behind her too-bright smile and quick wit. He had seen glimpses of the centuries of sorrow she tried to bury deep down.
Fuck, how old was she even?
No, he didn’t care. Wouldn’t ask.
Dead to me, he reminded himself. That’s all she’d ever been. Dead. And just because he planned to sign up for that life—or unlife?—as well, didn’t mean he would ever forgive her.
They pulled into the circular driveway, and Tressa put the car in park outside the front door.
Ethan stepped out and waited for her to do the same as he took in the compound with fresh eyes. The lack of large windows along with the notable presence of old-growth trees casting shadows everywhere suddenly made much more sense.
“So, how does this work?” he asked, folding his arms and leaning back against the car. They would have to go in sooner or later, but he wasn’t quite ready to return to the mansion full of vampires. He knew about Saiden and Derrick, but what about everyone else? Was there even a single living soul in the building? Or had every person he encountered secretly been looking at him like a Door Dash meal delivered straight to them, hot and ready.
