Page 39 of The Midnight Order
She turns into me, her eyes growing hopeful. “You think I can still fix the house up, I mean, while I’m beingtested, of course?”
I’ve lived a long time, and I know she’s trying to bait me into giving her an inch so that she can take a mile, but I can’t help but give it to her.
“I don’t see why not. I’ll speak to Jasper on your behalf.”
“On my behalf,” she says playfully. “Sorry, I love the way you all speak. It’s like you’re from another time.”
I open my mouth to tell her we are from another time, but realization travels over her features, and she smiles apologetically.
“Will I ever get used to the fact that you’re over two hundred years old?”
“Probably not.”
She shivers and pulls the covers up further. “It’s so cold in this damn house.”
“The manor is very drafty. Repairs are needed here, too. Maybe while you’re at it, you can talk Jasper into fixing this place up,” I joke.
“I know you’re kidding, but don’t get me too intrigued because I will. Then we’ll both be in trouble because I’ve always wanted to fix and flip houses.”
“I don’t think you could flip this house. It’s rather heavy.”
My joke doesn’t land. Silver glares at me as if I’ve grown five heads.
“I didn’t know vampires had a sense of humor.” A slight smirk spreads on her face.
Unthinkingly, I lift my index finger and run it beneath her chin, tipping her face upward.
Her next expelled breath is as soft as a butterfly’s wings, and a twinge starts in my stomach and travels lower.
“You didn’t know we existed, though. So, in all fairness, I don’t think you know much about us at all.” My thumb passes over her chin as her pupils constrict and then blow wide.
“I’d like to,” she breathes, her answer barely louder than a whisper.
“You’d like to what?”
“Know you.” She clears her throat, shifting away from my touch. “Get to know you, I mean.”
“Would you?”
She’s intriguing, and I’d like to damn her for it.
Typically, any of them that test well and could be the key don’t call to me, meaning they go no further than my lab before their minds are wiped and they are sent on their way.
Silver, however, I knew was going to be an issue the moment I saw her in the coffee shop.
Her scent, her presence, is so fucking alluring, so beguiling. Even I, the most closed-off member of the order, have issues keeping my mind clear when I’m near her.
And I don’t like it.
“You’re tellingme she’s done, but that you want to keep her away from Asher? You know he’s next. This won’t be another Valentina situation all over again, is it? Because I can’t take it, Corvin.” Jasper scrubs his hand down his face, looking at me in disbelief.
History is repeating itself, and it either means she’s the one or that we’re damned to be cursed forever.
Either prospect doesn’t bode well for me, the male in love with one of his order members.
Silver, while intriguing, is a problem for me.
She stands to take away the one thing I’ve relied on for centuries.
