“Plenty of creatures have blood, little warrior.”
So he’s taken Benjamin’s nickname for me. Why are they calling me that? I don’t really understand. I like it, yes, but I don’t understand it.
“It doesn’t have to be human blood?”
“No.”
“Does it taste better?”
“Sometimes.”
“What about now?” I whisper. The vampires are starting to circle the humans. Eli is talking to them, but I can’t really hear what he’s saying. Not when Matthew is this close to me. He’s the only one I haven’t kissed, I realize suddenly, and I desperately feel that urge to reach up and just touch him.
Benjamin is still holding my wrist, but now Matthew is close on my other side. They say they want me to be their mate. Do they want...
Do they want to share me together?
And how do I feel about that?
I’ve never really had the chance to be with anyone, and I certainly never thought I’d be with three someone’s all at once, but now that he’s this close, my judgment is starting to feel cloudy, and even though I realize that somewhere in front of me, the vampires are picking the humans they want to eat, I’m just looking up at Matthew.
“Matthew,” I whisper.
But I don’t have to do anything else because he brings his lips to mine, and he kisses me gently, tenderly, sweetly.
He kisses me until all of the humans have been taken away, and when I open my eyes again, it’s only the four of us still standing here.
“Well,” Eli says, looking at me. “That went well.”
“What went well?”
“Convincing you that you’re our mate.”
“Did you think it was going to be difficult to make me believe you?” I ask carefully. I suppose that maybe they were preparing for some sort of fighting, some sort of argument, but the truth is that I don’t have any argument to offer.
“It does seem like a bit of a stretch,” Benjamin says.
“Not when you grew up like I did.”
“You’ll have to tell us more about that,” Eli says. “Over supper, perhaps?”
I blush. Are they seriously asking me on a date? All three of them? On a real, proper date? There’s another thing I’ve never experienced before, and it’s strange to me that this is how it’s happening for me.
I look up at him, and I have to ask if that’s what he means, because that’s what it sounds like.
“Are you asking me out?”
“I’ve already asked you to be our mate. Would a date be so far out of the question?”
“I’d love to,” I say, looking down at myself. “Although, I’m afraid I don’t have anything to wear.”
“Leave that to me,” a high-pitched voice says from beside me. A young woman appears. She’s obviously a vampire. She’s got the same bright, brilliantly-beautiful eyes that the men do, and she wipes a bit of blood from her face. Apparently, she just enjoyed eating her human.
“Who are you?” I whisper.
“This,” Eli says. “Is Abigail.”
“I’m his little sister,” she says with a grin. “And I’m your new best friend. Come on!”