Page 81 of A Vampire's Pain
“And?”
“And she still wants me,” I said.
He slowly nodded.
“I guess that’s the beauty of a mate, huh?”
“You will find yours,” I said.
“I don’t want one,” he growled. “You know this.”
I nodded. Yeah, Ace had never said he wanted a mate. He was too damaged, he thought. Too damaged to love or care for anyone, but I knew that wasn’t true, or he wouldn’t be here.
“Maybe one day you will.”
“No!”
His eyes seemed to glow a little, the darkness finally getting a little color, but it quickly disappeared again.
“Now let it go,” he said and stood up, taking his plate with him.
I watched as he cleaned everything up, and when he was about to leave, I grabbed his arm.
“Ace, wait.”
He quickly pulled his arm to him and moved closer to me, backing me up against the counter.
“Don’t touch me,” he said. “You can’t do that anymore.”
“Let’s talk.”
He shook his head.
“We talked,” he said. “Let’s not do it again. We know who walks away disappointed.”
“I don’t want to lose my friend. You are my friend.”
“You still don’t get it,” he said.
“Then explain it to me.”
We were standing unbelievably close, but I didn’t push him away and he didn’t move away from me. If Valeri came in now, I would have a hard time explaining this, but I wouldn’t allow anything to happen. I only wanted Valeri now. She was everything to me.
“All these years I looked after you. You were the messed up one, even though I was the one who had been tortured,” he said.
“Ace—”
“I watched you fuck all those women, and I was fine with that,” he said. “Because they didn’t see you. Not truly. You didn’t come to them when you felt like you were drowning. You came to me.”
I looked down, unable to hold his intense stare because everything he was saying was true.
“I pulled you up from the dark hole every time,” he said.
“You did …”
“And now you chooseher,” he said.
“Valeri is my mate,” I said and looked at him again. “I want her so much. You would understand—”
