Page 68 of Visions of You
"That's not what you're afraid of, is it?" he whispered.
Jaron would never deny Keegan anything, least of all his blood.
He kind of liked the idea of being the only person in the world his vampire could drink from.
He liked it a lot.
If only Keegan would let him be that person for him.
Suppressing his longing for his mate as best he could, Jaron turned back to his phone.
By the time Keegan woke, he would be prepared with all the information he could gather, and then they would have a good long talk about sacrificing people.
CHAPTER 16
A soft rustling drew Jaron's attention, and he turned to see Keegan stirring awake. The vampire blinked slowly, his eyes focusing on Jaron with a hint of surprise.
"You're still here," Keegan murmured, his voice rough with sleep.
Jaron smiled, reaching out to brush a stray lock of hair from Keegan's forehead. "Of course I am. How did you sleep?"
Keegan stretched and slowly sat up. "Better than I have in a long time," he admitted. His gaze drifted to the screen floating in the air. "What are you watching?"
"Videos on vampire customs," Jaron said easily. "Figured I should inform myself if I'm going to be with a vampire. I felt pretty dumb when Mordyn had to tell me how you guys mate."
"Mordyn… what?" Keegan's eyes widened slightly.
Hah. "You didn't see that coming?"
Keegan shook his head. "What did he tell you?"
"Just the basics." Jaron shrugged and turned the video off. "Now I know that you have to drink from me and I have to drink from you to form a blood bond." He paused, eyes focused on Keegan to take in his reaction. "I also know that my blood will boost your powers once we're bonded."
Keegan looked as if he regretted waking up for this conversation. "Everyone assumes that's a good thing," he muttered.
"It's not?" Jaron could only speak for himself, but he had always wanted greater power, pretty much from the moment the other kids had laughed at him for his inability to produce fire. "You could help Apollo," he pointed out.
A shadow fell over Keegan's features. "You don't understand."
"Then explain it to me." He gestured at his phone. "I've been watching videos for hours, but videos can only teach me so much. You've got to help me here. Iwantto understand, believe me."
Keegan sat up fully, drawing his knees to his chest. His eyes, usually sharp and calculating, held a rare vulnerability. "When I first got my powers, it was like being hit by a freight train. I couldn't control anything. It was like… like there was something alive inside me, pushing and pulling at my thoughts, making me see things I didn't want to see."
Jaron listened intently. "What do you mean?"
Keegan's gaze grew distant, as if he were looking into a memory rather than at Jaron. "It was… difficult. I didn't understand how to handle what I knew, so I tried to warn people of all sorts of things that I knew were going to happen, but I wasn't always right, and sometimes my advice caused the thing to happen in the first place." His lips curled in displeasure. "Have you ever heard of self-fulfilling prophecies? I made a lot of those."
So that was why he was so secretive now…
Still, Jaron had to protest. "But you got better. You learned."
"Yes, but a lot of my initial struggle was because I was overwhelmed. I don't like to talk about this, hell, I don't even like to think about this, but when my powers first awakened I spenta solid month not knowing what was real and what was just in my head and while I was…" He stopped and his eyes darted to Jaron, searching for something—understanding, maybe. His fingers curled in the sheets.
Jaron reached out to him, resting his hand on top of Keegan's in a silent show of support. "What happened?"
Keegan swallowed hard, his throat working visibly. "While I was trapped in my nightmares, something happened to my sister."
Jaron's throat grew tight. He had never heard Keegan speak of his family before.
