Page 20 of Eternally Bound
On her next breath, Kadence fell asleep.
Ronan slipped his hand from hers and made his way around to the other side of the bed. She may not appreciate it if she found out he’d slept beside her for the rest of the day, but he would remain above the covers and he wouldn’t touch her. He required sleep, and if he was honest with himself, he couldn’t resist the chance to lie beside her, if only for a day. He would make sure to get out of bed before she woke up so he didn’t upset her.
He stretched out on the bed and listened to her soft inhalations as he allowed her sweet scent to lure him into sleep.
***
Kadence started awake again. Uncertain of the time or where she was, she nearly fell out of the large bed when she bolted upright.
“Easy,” a groggy male voice said from beside her.
She squeaked and spun so fast she was certain she’d given herself whiplash.
“Easy,” the male coaxed again.
Had she gotten married? Was it Logan beside her? Then the scent of the male hit her and relief caused her shoulders to sag. Why she felt more relieved to find herself in bed with a vampire instead of her future husband was a question she would never delve into during her lifetime.
“What… what are you doing?” she managed to ask.
“I was sleeping.” Her pulse skyrocketed at the lazy murmur of his words and the Irish accent that slipped through more now. “I will get up.”
“No, I…”I what? No please stay and drain my blood? No stay, I like you here?They all made her sound pathetic and were the last things she should be saying. “It’s your bed.”
“It is,” he agreed. He hadn’t meant to still be in it, but for the first time in as long as he could remember, his dreams hadn’t been plagued with cravings for blood and death. It wasn’t until she’d sat up that he’d awoken again. “I’m more than happy to share it with you, but I will also leave it if you ask me to.”
Now that her eyes had adjusted to the dark, she could see him clearly as he lay a few feet away from her.Why does he have to be so irresistible for a vampire?She wondered as she gazed at him.
“You can stay on your side,” she said.
Ronan chuckled as Kadence settled against the pillow and put her feet back on the bed. She’d lain back down, but her body remained tensed to bolt.
She has to go back, he reminded himself when he found himself pleased by her willingness to lie beside him. For the life of him, he didn’t give a fuck about that right now. All he cared about was having the opportunity to be near her while he could.
She relaxed a little more and turned her head to gaze at him. “I shouldn’t trust you,” she whispered.
“I swear to you, Kadence, you are safe with me. The vampire who did this to you last night is as good as dead.”
She let out a breath that blew the hair back from her forehead. “For some reason, I find myself believing you, but we are supposed to be enemies—”
“We are not. Hunters have made us their enemies when we don’t have to be,” he cut in, more abruptly than he’d intended, but he was tired of this mistaken belief of the hunters. It had taken the lives of numerous innocent vampires over the years and cost the hunters many of their own.
“Joseph tried to kill me last night. He did kill my friend, and he has hurt my family.”
Turning on his side, he propped his head on his hand as he gazed down at her. “Joseph is a Savage and no longer one of us.”
“What do you mean by no longer one of you?”
“Not all vampires kill innocents. In fact, many don’t kill at all. But, there are some vamps who are swayed by the power killing can bring them and give into the bloodlust that resides in all vampires. Many vampires fight giving into that bloodlust every day of their existence. Some of them have to fight it more than others. At one time, Joseph worked with us and fought his destructive nature, but he recently gave up that fight and became what we call a Savage.”
“Why do some give in?” she asked.
“Vampires go wrong for many different reasons. They’re seeking more power, something inside of them snaps, they are inherently evil to begin with, they are tired of constantly having to fight themselves, or they are simply bored.”
“They’rebored!” she spat.
“Not the best reason, but who knows what finally causes them to lose control. When faced with living for an eternity, things inevitably get… monotonous. Perhaps it is curiosity in some, while others are simply trying to feel something new and exciting again. Whatever it is, once a vampire takes the first step toward becoming a Savage, it is much easier to take the following steps that will make it impossible for them to ever again be what they once were.”
“Is that why you wanted Joseph, because you try to stop these Savage vampires?”
