Page 114 of Wolf Blood

"I wanted you. I still want you. I want the bond. It's just a big change." He set a hand on my thigh and squeezed lightly before letting go and grabbing the lock.

Somehow, the simple response wiped away almost every shred of uncertainty I'd possessed about the way we'd ended up bonded.

"Does it make me look more interesting?" I asked. "The bite mark?"

"Yeah, it does."

"Good. Do I get a key too?" I asked."Or am I going back to my own apartment again?"

Maybe I was still salty about that.

He grabbed the chain around his neck—which I then realized was two separate chains and two separate keys—and lifted one over my head.

Both chains were rose gold, like the necklace that still held the fangs around my throat.

"You look good with a drill," I said.

Rhone grunted.

"Did you use power tools a lot when you were growing up?" Based on what I knew, it seemed likely.

"They were the main part of my education."

"My education mainly consisted of vampires. Neve asked me to become a blood donor when I was eight. She told me it was my choice, as if I could’ve said no without it ruining my life and my shitty relationship with her."

"Did you want to say no?"

"No. She’d been talking aboutwhenI started donating blood since I was a toddler, so it was just a part of my culture. Later, I wondered if she only had me to help add to the pool of blood donors that was never quite big enough. I still do. Never had the balls to ask."

"That’s fucked up, Trouble."

"I know. I went to therapy. A lot of it." I let out a quiet breath.

"Did it help?"

"I don't know. Sometimes, it did. Sometimes, I just felt sad afterward. I think I needed it to accept what I'd been through, and then I needed to just... let go. Move on with my life. Bloom made that a lot easier. She was always on my side, and I needed that."

"She's a good friend."

"The best," I admitted. "I miss our days in our old apartment. At the investment company, too. It was sonormal. I felt free."

"What do you feel now?"

I considered it.

Above everything else?

"Tired," I said quietly. "Everything is a battle, now. I didn't realize how simple it all was, before. I wish I'd known how lucky I was. Appreciated it more. Enjoyed it more."

Rhone didn't respond right away.

"That's the reason I wanted to take a mate. When we were with the Wilder Pack, and we were feeding and fucking all the time, I felt like myself again. I hadfun. The only real fun I've had since I turned was when I reprogrammed your door and locked you out of your room, so that was a big deal."

There was a quiet moment between us. It wasn't tense, or uncomfortable. Just… calm.

"I can't live for Bloom anymore, Rhone. I'm done. She's okay now. If I'm going to keep going, I have to live forme." I gestured to my face.

To the fangs around my neck, too.