“What? No! Maybe. I don’t know!” Ethan’s heart sped up at the question. He hadn’t expected Marcus to ask him that. “I’m just afraid you’ll get bored in a year or two. Definitely when I start getting wrinkles.”
“I will love you no matter how you look.”
“Do…do you want me to be a vampire like you?”
For the first time, Marcus lowered his eyes. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve heard of it affecting people differently, and I am a little scared of losing the man I’ve fallen in love with.”
“Like with your mom?”
Marcus shook his head. “I don’t think you’d be changed like my mom, but some people take the new power to a dark place. I don’t want that happening to you. But I was also speaking to Winter.”
“What does your brother say?”
“Winter says if I want to protect you from the violence that could fill our lives soon, I must change you. Vampires heal faster—we can take more of a beating than humans and keep going. If something were to happen, and I couldn’t get to you fast enough…”
“I’d have a better chance of surviving if I was a vamp,” Ethan finished.
“Yes, but I don’t want durability to be your only reason for changing.” Marcus cupped the side of Ethan’s face with one hand and stared into his eyes. “Eternity is a long time. What if you get bored with me?”
Ethan leaned his head into Marcus’s hand and smiled. “I don’t believe that’s going to happen, but we don’t have to decide this tonight, right? We’ve got time?”
“Yes.”
“Then we keep talking about it until we both feel comfortable with a decision.”
Marcus leaned in and kissed him deeply. “Very wise,” he murmured against Ethan’s lips.
Before Ethan could reply, the doorbell chimed through the house. “Good timing. Let’s get me some pizza. I need to keep my strength up if I have to keep feeding you.”
Marcus chuckled and stepped back so Ethan could hop down to his feet. “It’s your own fault you’re so delicious.”
Ethan laughed and led the way down to the first floor.
Marcus lounged on the sofa while Ethan sat on the floor with a pizza box in front of him. His poor man had inhaled half the pizza on his own after the long day they’d put in with the move. He was finally slowing down, but Marcus didn’t know if a full stomach or fatigue was the culprit. It wasn’t yet midnight and he’d be up for several more hours putting his house to rights, but he first needed to tuck Ethan into bed. At least he’d had the common sense to put sheets on the bed before tackling the closet.
Tossing a bit of uneaten crust into the box, Ethan groaned and dropped his head against Marcus’s thigh.
“Are you sure you’re not hungry?” Ethan asked. Marcus just smiled at him and Ethan rolled his eyes. “That’s right. I forgot. Vampire.” Ethan giggled and shook his head. “And you seem so normal most of the time.”
“Don’t we all.”
“Speaking of normal, I forgot to tell you that Ozzie showed up today, knocking at the kitchen window. He hung out for a while and freaked out some of the movers. I gave him some cheese and he left. Do ravens eat cheese?”
Marcus smiled. He reached out and threaded his fingers through Ethan’s hair over and over again in a gentle caress that had Ethan sighing against him. He loved this, the freedom to reach out and touch Ethan whenever he wanted and to know that his touch was welcome, encouraged even. He’d waited a lifetime for this simple joy, but then Ethan was worth waiting several lifetimes for. “I think Ozzie eats whatever he wants. Mostly bugs and lizards, but I’m sure he appreciates it. It was a long flight north. But you don’t have to worry about feeding him.”
Ethan twisted around to look at him over the edge of the sofa cushion. “You don’t feed him?”
Marcus shook his head, placing his hand back on his leg. “No. He’s happy to fend for himself. I asked Bel about it, and he said that he and Ozzie don’t have that kind of relationship.”
Confusion clouded Ethan’s face for a moment and he opened his mouth to speak, but the words appeared to be stuck. “You say that like…can Bel actually talk to animals? Can you?”
Something in Marcus relaxed a little as he could actually answer Ethan’s question with the truth. No more hiding or lies or distractions. It was all out in the open. “Bel can, yes. I can’t.”
Ethan dropped back against the sofa, his body still twisted sideways a bit so Marcus could see his smile. “That’s pretty cool,” Ethan murmured before a comfortable silence settled between them again.
Ethan looked over at Marcus, eyes narrowing. “You’ve been really quiet tonight. What’s on your mind?”