“Shut the hell up. Just shut up!”
Emily whipped out a small spiral notebook and stubby pencil from the messenger bag she wore across her body like armor. “Exhibits rage at slightest irritation. Demonstrates extreme lack of patience. What are your physical symptoms?”
“Right now? Only one. My hands are itching to encircle your scrawny throat.”
She smirked and continued to write. “Eyes are red. Fangs exposed. Shows insufficient level of control.”
“Oh, I have plenty of control. If I didn’t, you’d be lying drained on the floor.”
Luke shifted from foot to foot, clearly uneasy. “Kellan, come on. Seriously. Lighten up.”
“What he said. Besides, doesn’t sex usually relax your kind? The room practically reeks of it.”
“Sex relaxes your kind, too. If you ever had any, you’d know.”
Emily didn’t reply, but she pushed her pencil into the pad until the tip snapped.
Pleased to see one of his arrows had finally pierced her seemingly impenetrable shield, Kellan leaned back in his chair. “You’re a girl,” he said at length.
“Let me check.” To his utter surprise, she bent over and flipped up her plaid skirt as if to verify that fact. “Yep,” she said cheerfully. “Appears so.”
Good God, he couldn’t believe he was about to ask Emily, of all people, this question. But he was desperate. “If a man was in love with you, and told you so in the midst of—”
“In flagrante delicto.” She motioned for him to continue.
“Yes. How would you respond?”
She crossed her legs and tapped her short, unpolished nails on the arm of her chair. “I assume we’re talking about Sydney.”
“How much did you pay for that fancy university education?” At Luke’s pointed glance, he rolled his eyes. “Fine. Yes. I’m talking about Sydney.”
“She’s half human. Which means she may not subscribe to your vampire belief system. The love-for-all-eternity jazz.” She shrugged. “She might just like sleeping with you.”
“It’s hardly jazz. Do you understand that we are no different than animals who bond for life? I can name scores of them. And as such, once we find the one we recognize to be our eternal mate, there can be no other. For either of us.”
“For vampires, that may well be true. I understand that the vampire is closer to its animal nature than any human. But she’s not only vampire. Not only human. And perhaps that means that she doesn’t view mating the same way you do.”
Kellan hated to consider it, but her logic made a lot of sense. “So that means her human side must be taken out of the equation,” he said simply. “She must be turned into a full vampire.”
The bathroom door opened and Sydney emerged. Somehow she appeared years older than when she’d left him. Deep grooves lined her eyes, which only emphasized her unnatural pallor. Her eyes were a red-rimmed green and stared deep into his.
Her beauty, the quiet tragedy of it, tore holes inside him. They might as well have been alone in the bedroom, because the others simply ceased to exist. He saw only her. Transfixed, he almost didn’t notice the boxes she cradled in her arms.
“No need for these.” Her voice rang with false cheer. He could tell it was false because the expression in her eyes was utterly desolate. “Sorry you wasted your money.”
Without a glance for Lucas or Emily, she marched over to the trash receptacle in the kitchen and unloaded the pregnancy tests. Then she strode to the bed and began pulling items from the drawer beside the nightstand.
“What are you doing?” He spoke before the panic that threatened to dig its tentacles into his chest had a chance to take root. “You should be resting.”
“I’m done resting. I feel better. Thank you for taking care of me.”
Stay calm. But the internal warning did nothing to lessen the growing anger that had begun to war with the fear. She thought she could just stroll out and leave him? As if he’d been some sort of caretaker rather than the man she’d just mated with?
He rose and without removing his gaze from Sydney, threw out a command. “Lucas, Emily. Leave us.”
For once Emily didn’t make some snarky comment. Nor did she wait for Lucas to make her exit. Kellan was willing to bet the two of them had been eager to escape.
He waited until he was sure his voice would be steady. “Where are you going to go?”