VET Vampire Romance 01 - Covet

done. She would find out and he preferred that she knew such things about him sooner rather than later. He wanted her to base her decision to be with him on all the facts, with her eyes open to what he was and his past.
    “Are you a good fighter?” Her gaze met his, inquisitive but soft and full of acceptance. Her steady heart told him that she wasn’t afraid of his answer or whatever he might tell her. She already knew what he was.
    He nodded. “Better than the man who gave me this, anyway.”
    “What happened to him?”
    He didn’t hesitate. “I killed him.”
    “Was he human or vampire?”
    She was certainly awake now, her golden irises bright with curiosity. He stroked her cheek, swept strands of her dark hair from her face, revealing it to him so he could drink his fill of it.
    “Vampire hunter,” he said and then added, “I have killed my share of hunters, and vampires... and humans. There were times when I was younger when it was more difficult to control my hunger. It is something all vampires go through during their first two centuries.”
    She smiled. “You say that as though it’s a mere handful of years. It’s twice the age within my grasp.”
    His face fell and so did hers when he touched her cheek again, staring into her eyes. “Would you want to live that long, Lilah?”
    She dropped her gaze to his chest and traced patterns on his pectorals, sending shivers of need spiralling down through him to his groin. She didn’t even seem to notice that she was torturing him with her touch, teasing him towards the brink of despair and losing control. He wanted her again, hungered to feel her under his fingers and be inside her once more. She was making it difficult for him to remain talking and he knew that it was important to her.
    “Perhaps. Would I have to become a vampire to live for centuries?” That question came out sounding like one she had considered many times but had never had the courage to seek the answer to it.
    “Not necessarily. Regular intake of blood from a vampire you are bonded with could grant you a very long life... but it would only slow your aging. By the time you reached two centuries, you would likely be very old and grey and tired of life.” Javier didn’t want that for her. He wanted her to remain as she was now, beautiful and youthful, and his. He hesitated, toying with a strand of her hair, and watched his fingers, not brave enough to look her in the eye when he found the courage to say what he needed to. “If you wanted to live as long as I have and remain as you are, you would have to become a vampire. Would you ever consent to becoming a vampire, Lilah?”
    Her fingers stilled against his chest and her heart skipped a beat, giving her away. Whatever she said, he knew the answer that she held deep in her soul. She was afraid of becoming a vampire.
    “I thought vampires didn’t like to turn people and taint their bloodline?”
    Javier smiled again. “Some think that way. Mainly the aristocrats. Keeping their families pure has become a sort of mission to them.”
    “You’re an elite, aren’t you?”
    He nodded against the deep blue pillow and she looked up at him, right into his eyes. There was a spark of warmth in hers, something akin to affection, and an urge to ask her what she was thinking gripped him again but he let it fall away instead and answered her question.
    “Yes, I am elite. That means my family has human blood in it. I wasn’t turned, but my father turned my mother, and they had me, my younger brother and my sister. They still live in Spain. My sister recently married the man she turned.”
    “Is that where you went?”
    Javier nodded again. “I missed you when I was there. Watching my sister marry and seeing my parents again... I kept thinking about you.”
    Her eyes widened and he wasn’t sure what to say. Had he given himself away? He should have been more guarded with what he had said but the words had flowed out of him so naturally that he hadn’t thought to censor them. If she knew that he wanted that for them, he wanted the fairytale of turning her and then marrying her before his family, then he was glad in a way. It would give her time to consider it without the pressure of him asking outright.
    “Did you miss me?” he whispered, trying to give her something to respond to so she didn’t feel as though she had to say anything about him turning her.
    “Not at all.” She looked deadly serious, so much so that his heart