herself apart. She found herself rearranging the furniture to suit her.
 
 She found yards of gauzy fabric in a trunk in the closet and fashioned
 
 some pretty curtains with Flanna’s aid. She weeded the front
 
 flowerbeds. The gnomes had been happy to give her bulbs to plant.
 
 She was even becoming fond of the chickens. It would make it
 
 almost impossible to eat them. She’d become fond of all the animals.
 
 She’d learned to milk the cows and how to brush Sweeney’s mane.
 
 She hadn’t let Cian kill the rooster. The rooster only crowed about
 
 half the time. Meg had discovered that Cian’s cock was a much better
 
 judge of time. It pressed against her every morning as the sun rose,
 
 seeking relief.
 
 It hadn’t found any, yet.
 
 That would change soon. She wouldn’t be able to deny him much
 
 longer. She didn’t want to. She dreamed about him at night, Cian and
 
 his brother. As wonderful as Cian was, she still was heartbroken over
 
 Beck. She missed him, but she needed to move on with Cian. He
 
 didn’t know it yet, but she intended to do that tonight.
 
 They both became quiet as they trudged through the forest toward
 
 the caves. Meg felt Cian’s hand squeeze hers as he helped her over a
 
 puddle.
 
 She thought about the letters Beck had been sending. They had
 
 begun arriving the day after he left. They popped up on the vampire
 
 Bound
 
 187
 
 computer, but they had been written in his own careful hand. Beck’s
 
 writing was like everything else about him, carefully controlled and
 
 wholly masculine. There were two every day, one addressed to Cian
 
 and the other to her.
 
 Meg had refused to read the first one. Cian had read his aloud and
 
 then dictated his own response. The brothers asked about each other’s