Page 38 of Stolen Hours

“No, I mean... I thought you might ask me that, not to... The other thing.” I bite my lip, looking up at him. His fangs have receded, and the more feline-looking changes to his cheekbones vanish.

“To be my wife,” he elaborates, smoothing my hair back, rubbing his hand between us to free the toy. He rubs my mound gently, stroking every over-sensitive piece carefully, with an anxious look in his eyes. “I know you think I’m bad at being good—”

“No! No, baby. I don’t think that anymore. I think you’re so good at being bad—but not bad outside of the bedroom. No. I mean, you know what I mean.” I blush and kiss him softly. “I think you’d make a damn good husband.”

Brax’s eyes light up, and he clutches the back of my neck, holding me in place while he kisses me until my toes curl.

“Wow,” I gasp when my mouth is free.

“I can do a better proposal later,” he promises.

“You’d better,” I tease.

“Or what?” Brax demands, the gleam in his eye definitely sliding towards a mischievous glint.

“Or I might have to remind you of my expectations, and you’ll have to show me you can be my good little monster,” I warn, voice filled with fake sternness.

“Little?” Brax asks, one eyebrow arched as he gives a last pump with his hips, softening (but still big) member sliding slowly from me.

“Good,bigmonster,” I amend, chuckling. “And best husband-to-be ever.”

“Ooh. Husband-to-be. Like the sound of that,” Brax purrs. “Almostas much as I love you.”

Baby Moon

Starring Jesse and Sophie fromPale Girl

“It worked the first time. Without anything extra. It was... It was a miracle. And people would say that people like us don’t deserve miracles.” Jesse’s hands tightened on the wheel, and his eyes dragged from the rearview mirror to Sophie’s face. “Sorry, babe. I’m just on edge. I can’t even... I can’t even go to a doctor in Pine Ridge for this. I mean, there are a couple of doctors who know what I am, but they’re not going to be able to do anything but say it’s not physical. Vamps don’t make babies.”

Sophie’s eyes joined Jesse’s blurry outline in the mirror as they peered at their sleeping passenger in the back seat. Her reflection was sharp and clear, and his was just a silvery blur. “There’s proof in the front seat and the back seat that they do. There are proofs in books in Minegold’s library, in Madge’s shelves at the magic shop. It can happen. It happened to us once.” Sophie’s voice was tense as they looked at the sleeping baby in the backseat, a toddler now, with pale skin and dark hair—like his parents.

“Your parents were a vampire and an ifrita.”

“And I came out a not-quite-human. If vampire plus vampire equals no baby, but vampire plus demoness equals baby, and good vampire with human soul plus not-quite-human with a human soul equals a human baby, then... Then it can happen twice.” Sophie’s hands kneaded her slim legs, powder-white hands on dark blue denim.

“I wish this were all down to math, sweetie,” Jesse sighed. “Look. Look, honey. You know, it’s not so bad growing up as an only child, not as long as someone loves you. You were an only child. I was an only child. Our parents love J.J. with all of their hearts.”

Sophie nodded. This discussion had happened a hundred times in the last four months, ever since J.J. (short for Jesse Jakob) had startednoticing his other little friends had siblings. He kept asking for one, or pointing at Sophie’s tummy, asking, “Baby? My baby?”

“But growing up alone, being the only one wh-who looks like he does, or who has parents like us,” she gulped hard, blinking away memories of bullying, taunts, and jeers that had followed her all the way to college, all the way to Jesse—the first person she’d ever met who looked just like her. Her soulmate. Her best friend. Life mate, after life mate... “I don’t want him to grow up feeling like I did, until he has to find his own Night Queen.” Sophie sniffed in hard. “And I know! I know he won’t, not in this town. But in his own head, in his own house, or his room... I want him to have someone he can talk to about being different who lives a life as close to his as possible... That chance might only come from us, Jesse.”

“I know, but you’re overlooking things that I’ve told you I’m okay with. Sperm donors. Adoption. A surrogate who can carry your eggs... There are tons of ways to build a family.”

Sophie was stubbornly silent as the car pulled up to Jakob Minegold’s large house. She was silent while she gently unbuckled the dozing J.J. from his car seat. Jesse rang the bell, and the carillon inside playedSheep May Safely Grazeto announce their arrival.