Page 62 of Fanged Secrets
I turned a corner to find my wife-turned-fiancée in the kitchen practically bouncing with excitement. The smile on her face was wider than I had ever seen, and I felt a mix of suspicion and curiosity.
“What have you been up to?” I signed, palms up and wiggling my fingers.
Dylan only grinned wider, jerking her head to suggest I follow her. I raised an eyebrow but didn’t press, letting her take me by the hand and lead me through the apartment with the eagerness of a golden retriever.
We stopped in front of a seldom-used storeroom in the corner of the apartment. Before leading me inside, Dylan halted and whirled around so quickly that I nearly walked into her.
“Wait there!” she gestured, awkwardly shooing me aside as she opened the storeroom door and pulled something from inside. She picked it up and turned, and handed me a large box wrapped in lilac paper, neatly tied up in string.
I looked at the box, then back at Dylan, my eyebrows raised in question. Behind her, Jordan and Sky popped their heads through the door, trying to suppress their excitement but failing miserably. Clearly, they had been in on whatever this was.
Dylan shot them a condemning glare before turning her attention back to me.
“Open it,” she urged, gesturing with fingers that bristled with anticipation.
I knelt down to unwrap the box, keeping one eye on the grinning trio.
“Did you get me a pasta maker?” I asked wryly. Dylan was not one to judge my eating habits considering her own diet, but Sky had been horrified at the amount of spaghetti I consumed on the regular.
When I finally lifted the lid, my breath caught in my throat.
Inside was a stack of sketchbooks, each bound in soft leather, pages a pristine, inviting white. Surrounding them were tubes of paint, jars of handmade pigments, and intricately carved paintbrushes. There were oil pastels wrapped in soft paper, charcoal sticks, everything I could ever need and more. Certainly much better than a pasta maker.
My heart swelled and I looked up at Dylan, a hard lump forming in my throat. My hands moved slowly through the gestures, overcome with emotion. “This is... it’s perfect. Thank you.”
Dylan grinned, clearly pleased with my reaction, but she wasn’t done yet. “There’s more. Come on.”
She helped me to my feet, and Jordan and Sky disappeared behind the door again, conspiratorial smiles on their faces. Dylan placed a hand on the door they just closed and paused, looking at me with an expression that was both nervous and excited.
“Go on,” Dylan said, signing gently. “Open it.”
I hesitated for a moment before turning the handle and pushing the door open. What I saw took my breath away.
The room had been completely transformed. The back wall, which had once been a solid, windowless space to prop up dusty broomsticks, had been knocked down and replaced with floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Beyond the glass, the city skyline stretched out before me, bathed in the golden glow of the setting sun.
Sky and Jordan weren’t the only ones waiting in the transformed store room. I turned wide eyes on the rest of Dylan’s accomplices, Maxine, River, and even Hunter, each of them grinning like they had just pulled off the greatest heist in history.
“How did you…” I turned in slow circles, taking it all in.
The unassuming store room had been turned into a spacious, light-filled studio. Easels and canvases lined one section, a small, slanted desk occupied the corner, and shelves filled with books and art supplies wrapped around the walls. A plush chair made up the final touch, an invitation to sit down and create. It was the kind of space I had pictured for myself since I was a child and sat down to scribble my first doodle. A room entirely my own.
I was speechless. I turned to Dylan who waited in the doorway, tears welling up in my eyes. “You did all of this for me?”
Dylan’s smile softened as she wrapped her arms around my waist. “Of course I did. I wanted you to have a space where you could create whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted.”
I blinked back my tears and leaned in to kiss her, thumping heart overflowing. “I love it. I loveyou.”
I pulled back briefly. “How the hell did you manage to do all this right under my nose?”
Dylan shrugged, a smirk playing on her lips. “Well, I had a little help. It was actually pretty easy sneaking five vampires in and out of the apartment in the dead of night. You sleep like a log.”
A manicured hand brushed my shoulder and I turned to Maxine who wrinkled her brow, coy lips forming the words with a smile. “And snore like a lawnmower.”
I opened my mouth to protest but Dylan beat me to it, flicking the petite vampire on the nose.
“It wasn’t an insult, it was an astute observation.” Maxine tossed her hair over her shoulder and strode around the small space, surveying the room with a satisfied grin. “But I must say, your brute of a fiancée did a good job with the finishing touches. I didn’t think you had it in you, Dylan.”
“Yeah, who knew you had a knack for this sort of thing?” River added with a smirk, signing the words for my benefit.
