Betrayed

unexpectedly nervous. Finally I couldn't stand the intense silence any longer.
    "Hi, Heath.”
    His body jerked like someone had just jumped out from behind a door and scared the crap right outta him.
    "Shit!" The word left his mouth in a rush of air. "You're really here!”
    I frowned at him. He'd never been exactly brilliant, but even for him this sounded pretty dumb. "Of course I'm here. What did you think I was, a ghost?”
    He dropped into the chair across from me as if his legs wouldn't hold him anymore. "Yes. No. I dunno. It's just that I see you a lot and you're never really there. I thought this was just another one of those times.”
    "Heath, what are you talking about?" I narrowed my eyes and sniffed in his direction. "Are you drunk?”
    He shook his head.
    "High?”
    "No. I haven't had a drink in a month. I quit smoking then, too.”
    The words sounded simple, but I blinked and felt like I was trying to reason through mind mud. "You quit drinking?”
    "And smoking. I quit it all. That's one of the reasons I've been calling you so much. I wanted you to know that I've changed.”
    I really didn't know what to say. "Oh, well. I'm, uh, glad." I know I sounded like a moron, but the way Heath's eyes were focused on me was almost a physical thing. And there was something else. I could smell him. It wasn't a cologne smell, or a sweaty guy smell. It was a deep, seductive scent that reminded me of heat and moonlight and sexy dreams. It was coming from his pores and it made me want to scoot my chair around the table so that I could be closer to him.
    "Why didn't you return any of my calls? You didn't even text me back.”
    I blinked, trying to block the attraction I was feeling for him and think clearly. "Heath, there's no point. There can't be anything between you and me," I said reasonably.
    "You know there's already something between us.”
    I shook my head and opened my mouth to explain to him how wrong he was, but he interrupted me.
    "Your Mark! It's gone.”
    I hated his excited tone, and automatically snapped back, "You're wrong again. My Mark's not gone. It's just covered so the stupid humans around here won't freak out." I ignored the hurt look that seemed to take all the adultness out of his face and turn him back into that cute boy I used to be so crazy about. "Heath," I softened my voice. "My Mark will never go away. I'm either going to Change into a vampyre, or I'm going to die in the next three years. Those are my only two choices. I'll never be like I was. It can never be like it used to be between us." I paused, and then added gently, "I'm sorry.”
    "Zo, I get that. What I don't get is why any of that has to end things between us.”
    "Heath, things had ended between us before I was Marked, remember?" I said, exasperated.
    Instead of his usual cocky comeback he kept looking into my eyes, and utterly sober and serious, said, "That's because I was acting like a jerk. You hated that I was getting drunk and high. And you were right. I was messing up. I've stopped that. Now I'm focusing on football and my grades so that I can get into OSU." He gave me the adorable, little-boy smile that's been melting my heart since third grade. "That's where my girlfriend will be going, too. She's gonna be a vet. A vampyre vet.”
    "Heath—I—" I hesitated, working hard to swallow back the huge lump that was suddenly burning my throat and making me want to cry. "I don't know if being a vet is still what I want to do, and even if it is, that doesn't mean you and I can be together.”
    "You're seeing someone else." He didn't sound mad, he just sounded extremely sad. "I don't remember much from that night. I've tried, but whenever I think too hard about it, everything gets all jumbled up into one nightmare that doesn't make any sense and I get a really bad headache.”
    I sat very still. I knew he was talking about the Samhain Ritual he'd followed me to where Aphrodite had lost control of vampyre ghosts. Heath had almost been killed. Erik had been there, and as Neferet had said then, he had proven himself a warrior when he'd stayed by Heath's side and fought the specters, giving me time to cast my own circle and send the ghosts back to wherever it is they'd slithered away from. The last time I'd seen Heath he'd been unconscious and bleeding from multiple lacerations. Neferet had assured me that she would heal his wounds and fog his memory. Clearly, the fog had grown thin.
    "Heath, don't think about that night. It's over