Page 24 of Bite of Midnight
The break room hums quietly around me, microwave beeping, vending machine buzzing, Brooke stirring sugar into her coffee like it owes her money. She glances up, eyes narrowing at my distracted face.
“You’ve been a million miles away all week,” she says. “Spill it. Have you seen Damien since the party?”
I hesitate, my fingers tightening around my cup. “No.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “What? Why not? He was clearly very into you.”
I shrug, staring at the swirl of coffee instead of her face. “I just don’t think we’re… compatible.”
Brooke lets out a disbelieving snort. “A man like that? Youmakeit compatible.”
I roll my eyes, but she’s not done.
“I mean, come on, Calla. You’ve dated boring guys, jerk guys, noncommittal guys. And now an actual, mysterious dream of a man wants you, and you’re backing out because what, he’s too much?”
“It’s not that,” I say softly.
“Then what?”
I can’t exactly sayhe’s a vampire and I don’t know if I’m ready to give up daylight,so I just shake my head. “It’s complicated.”
Brooke leans across the table, her expression softening. “Then uncomplicate it. If it’s meant to be, you figure it out. You bend. You compromise. You make it work. That’s what real love is, meeting in the middle.”
I huff out a breath, unsure if I want to laugh or cry. “You make it sound simple.”
“Maybe it is,” she says, sipping her coffee. “You can’t spend your whole life running from something that scares you. Especially if it makes your eyes light up every time someone says his name.”
My chest tightens. “You noticed that?”
Brooke grins. “Honey, everyone noticed that.”
I glance down at my phone on the table. Damien’s number stares back at me, sitting quietly in my contacts list like a promise I haven’t been brave enough to use.
“Maybe,” I say softly, “I just need to think a little longer.”
Brooke shrugs, pushing back her chair. “Fine. Think. But don’t overthink yourself out of something that could be everything.”
When she leaves, the room feels too quiet again. I stare at my phone until my reflection blurs in the screen.
Then, before I can stop myself, I whisper under my breath, “Damien Hale, what are you doing to me?”
Chapter 8
DAMIEN
I’m going out of my fucking mind.
Knowing I’ve met my mate,hadher, tasted her, felt her heart beat against mine, and not having her here now? It’s torture. Every second without her is a slow kind of madness I can’t reason my way out of.
She’s out there somewhere, breathing, moving through her bright little world while I’m pacing the shadows like a caged animal.
I want to go to her place and drag her back here, kicking and screaming if I have to. I want to feel her in my arms again, safe where she belongs.
And I would. God help me, I would, if I didn’t know it would scare her enough to make her run and never look back.
I can’t risk that. Not with her. So I wait.
I’ve texted her, small things, careful things.
