Ren chuckles, and I shake myself back to reality. “No strokes,” I tell them, pulling my foot from Ren’s hold. “Just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
Donatello gives me a soft smile. “Is it that hard to believe? Do you think I’m that heartless?”
My heart squeezes in my chest. I lean closer to him, touching a palm to his heart. It beats steady against my hand, and I lock our gazes for a moment, willing him to read inside my head. “No, Don. I don’t think that. But I’ve never had people treat me the way you guys do.” My hand runs down his chest to rest next to his thigh. “And I understand Ren and Apollo wanting to protect me since I’m their mate... But you? I don’t get what you see in it.”
Donatello studies my face for another moment, his expression growing more serious. He takes my hand in his and presses it to his chest again. “You make my heart beat.”
I blink twice. “Yeah?”
“Oh,” Ren voices from the other side of the couch. “I’ve never heard of a vampire with a beating heart.”
My brows rise. I keep looking at Donatello. “What does that mean?”
Donatello’s hand is marble against mine. Cold and hard, holding me in place while his eyes burn. They burn with this red swirl, lips parted, pale face glowing in the light. “I’m not sure,” Donatello murmurs. “That night, in the casino, you stumbled, and I helped you up, and the mere act of touching you made my dead heart jerk to life in my chest. And I know it’s because of you. It’s you, because every time I spend too long away, it stops. And I don’t know what it means, but it made me want to stay, and it made me want to protect you and now...” He licks his lips. “Now, I don’t think I can stay away.”
My heart melts. It just melts, and I melt along, becoming a pool of longing and mush on the couch. I want to look badass most of the time, but now I can’t help the heartfelt tears stinging my eyes. To keep some of my dignity, I drag my gaze away and shoot to my feet.
“Well, that was...” Awkward? Intense? A low point in my career? Yes, to all of the above. I shake my head and stretch my arms over my head in a fake yawn. “I think my brain isn’t working. Apollo was right. I should get some rest.” Or Donatello might be the end of me.
I make my way to the bedroom — only one bed again, but a pretty large one at that. If the other dragons are as muscular as Apollo, I totally see the reason for king-sized mattresses. The floorboards behind me creak, and I whirl around to find Donatello two steps from me.
He stares, and, for a moment, I wait for him to confront me. Instead, he smiles. “Mind if I join you? I’m in desperate need of a blood bag and rest.”
“I thought vampires didn’t need to sleep,” I mutter back.
“We don’t unless we burn in the sun the way I did today.” And he smiles before making his way to the kitchen. I can’t believe he’s making jokes about me almost killing him. Talk about dark humor.
My eyes meet Ren’s once Donatello’s out of the way. He lowers himself on the couch, smiling at me. I shake my head and wave at him. “Come on. Pretty sure this bed is big enough for us.”
He shoots to his feet so fast I’m sure he was waiting for the invitation. A huge smile illuminates his face, and his dark hair swishes back and forth as he approaches me. “I was hoping you would say that,” he says with a laugh.
I shake my head, but in truth, my heart is all warm and fuzzy, even with all the shit going down, even with all these people hunting me. I’ll never go back to my old life. Things will never be the same.
And that doesn’t sound so bad. Not when I have them with me.
CHAPTER24
CASSANDRA
Sleep barely grazes me when I wake up again. The fire still burns in the living room, and I don’t think Apollo has come back yet. How long has passed? Thirty minutes? An hour? Is he in danger? A soft, slapping sound catches my attention. It comes from my right, where Donatello was when we came to bed. The mattress is big enough for the three of us to stretch without touching. With Apollo, it should still be comfortable. But this slapping sound?
A groan, deep and masculine, hits my ears. My eyes quickly adapt to the dark, and I look around me. The room is dimmed but still pretty clear to see with my new powers. The sheets next to me move up and down, and the sound becomes clearer by the second.
My face burns with understanding. “Don?” I call out, my throat closing.
He stops. He becomes so perfectly still, I almost think he isn’t there anymore. “Merda,” he hisses under his breath. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know I’d wake you up. Should have waited longer.”
On my other side, Ren’s breaths are deep and steady. He’s out cold. I turn to Donatello. “What are you doing?”
He clucks his tongue. “You know very well what I’m doing.” His voice is much darker than before, gritty with need. “I’ve been trying to keep away,bella, but your scent is intoxicating.”
I swallow hard, the knot low in my belly growing tighter. “I was never the prude one here. I’m pretty sure I was hitting on you. You could have told me or something.”
“You sounded tired, and I think I embarrassed myself with that talk earlier. I didn’t want to — ” he says everything in a breath, almost too fast for me to follow.
And maybe I am tired. Tired of keeping a distance when I don’t need to.
Reaching out, I touch his face, then snuggle myself closer to him. “Fuck that,” I murmur against his lips, then crane my neck. I kiss him, and he sighs against me, a mix of relief and bone-deep need. The taste of him shoots straight to my clit, and Donatello swipes his tongue over mine, setting fire to my skin.