"Come on!" I said as I gave up the fight.
"You are sleeping here," he told me again.
I sighed, knowing I wasn't going to win this argument.
"Fine, but at least let me have some space!" I said.
He eyed me a bit suspiciously, and I couldn't say I didn't get why. I wasn't so sure I would have just let myself go if I was in his position. I would have feared too that I would jump out of bed the first chance I got, but I didn't go anywhere. As he slowly released me, I backed away, just so there was enough distance between us for me to build a wall. A big pillow wall. He had enough of them.
"What are you doing?" he laughed.
"Just making sure we know which side belongs to whom," I said.
He smiled, as he watched me build the wall. I had to say if I wasn't being so protective of myself, I might have found it funny too.
"Come now, little wolf. I won't bite. Unless you ask, of course."
I glanced over the pillow wall, meeting his eyes, and then shaking my head.
"I will pass on the biting," I told him, as I got myself comfortable.
"Fine, you want the wall. I will give you the wall."
"How generous. Just stay on your side!"
He continued to laugh, as I lay down. At first, I was very tense, not taking my eyes off the pillow wall, but when he got quiet, and I noticed nothing happened to the wall, I believed he would stay on his side. I sighed a little, letting all the tension out before I slowly closed my eyes. I didn't believe I would actually fall asleep, because so much had happened, and I was nervous about sharing a bed with him, but then as I closed my eyes, sleep just took over and I fell into its dark embrace.
***
When I woke up, I noticed it was dark outside. I sat up and looked around confused. The king wasn't in bed anymore. How could it still be dark outside? I wondered. Had I not slept at all, or ... or had I slept the day away? Suddenly the king came out of the bathroom only wearing a towel.
"I see you're finally awake," he said.
"It's dark outside," I said.
He looked at the windows, which were still covered by the long dark red curtains, but there was no doubt it was dark outside.
"You will get used to it," he said.
"I will get used to ... what?" I asked confused.
"To waking up in the middle of the night and sleeping in the day," he said.
"That is something vampires do. I am not a vampire."
"No," he said. "But you are my mate, and this is how hybrids live as well."
"You can walk around in the sun!" I said.
"We can, but like half-blood vampires, we prefer the night."
He walked over to his closet, just ending the conversation there, but I was not done. I got out of bed and walked over to the walk-in closet. He had already gotten some pants on when I arrived, but it was hard not to stare at the solid back with a big tattoo, where all sorts of names were written. Was that a family tree? I asked myself. I continued to study it until I saw he had noticed, that I was staring at him. He was looking into the mirror that faced us both, and I quickly looked away, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"We're mates. Stare all you want," he told me.
I didn't comment on that, instead, I focused on what I wanted to talk about.
"I like the day."