Free To Have: Vampire Assassin League #19 by Jackie Ivie Page A

be.”
    “You know...I wasn’t going to mention that, but now that you’ve pressed the issue, I’m going to have to step into it.”
    “Step into what?”
    “I’m going to step right into the shit bucket, and it’s going to start flying.”
    “It is?”
    “You called it. You are breathing, Prince Daron. And your heart is beating, and I would say for a vampire, both are those are big no-no’s.”
    “No-no’s?”
    “Vampires are dead. Okay? Maybe the operative word is undead. I don’t know. I never studied them. There is still the word dead in there. No heartbeat. No pulse. No life. No need to breathe. And they sure as hell can’t um...make love. Damn it. I’m blushing now.”
    “I would say everything you describe is accurate...before I met you. Then, everything changed. Like magic. My heart began beating along with yours. I breathe again. And I can definitely perform.”
    She was probably crimson with the way his voice lowered on the last two words. “Will this thing ever load?” she asked.
    “I didn’t believe, either. I thought it a tale. Pure fantasy.”
    Evie focused on the screen, trying her best to ignore how his words raised goose bumps all along her arms. It was impossible. He had a fantastic range of tone, and his words were haunting. “Um. Look. The picture’s almost in...and will you look at that hole? The entire ocean side looks like it’s been blown open.”
    “A vampire can reanimate. It does happen. I am proof.”
    “Uh...Your Highness—”
    “You are my mate, Evelyn. And I am yours. It’s inescapable. I didn’t breathe for over two thousand, four-hundred years. I had no heartbeat. No emotions. No passion. Yet, I have all that now because I have found my mate. You.”
    “Look. There’s...an article.” Her voice shook. So did her finger as she pointed.
    “Is there?” he asked without looking.
    “Yes. It says um...there was an explosion at the world-famous Rocking Horse club. Authorities have not ruled out terrorism. Eight hospitalized. One in critical condition. Three presumed dead. New Jersey businessman Jared Goldstein, stockbroker J. Reed, and beauty pageant contestant Evelyn War—”
    Her voice stopped. So did every other sound. For the longest moment, Evie just stared at the screen, slack-jawed. Disbelieving. And then the cocoon about her ruptured. She probably would have slipped from the chair if Daron hadn’t plucked her from the slick plastic and held her atop his lap. He crooned something to her in a foreign tongue. And he rocked slightly, making the chair creak in rhythm. She was still hyper-ventilating. Her heart hurt with each painful beat.
    And she could hear his body echoing every bit of it.
    “
Eshq-e man?”
    “I’m presumed dead.”
    “I heard.”
    “But...
dead
?”
    “It happens to every living thing, Evelyn.”
    “I was not ready to die, okay? I have things to do. Places to go. People to see. Family to hug and tell them I love them. What about them, huh? Don’t you think my family deserves to know the truth here?”
    Her heart hurt. Her head hurt. And her throat wasn’t working well enough for the speech she attempted, either.
    “There is no truth you can tell them,
eshq-e man
.”
    “But I miss them. Already.”
    Tears were starting to stain her voice. They were clogging her throat. Stinging her eyes. His arms tightened about her. Warming. Soothing.
    “Grief is no less hard the second time it is suffered.”
    “What second time?”
    “You are my mate, Evelyn. I will not let you go. You will live forever. Your family will not. They will age and they will die.”
    “Now. Wait a minute.”
    “Didn’t you listen? I have waited centuries for you. The mate-bond is too strong. I will not let you go. I cannot.”
    “So, because you up and claim me, I just have to go along? Is that what you brought me here to show me?”
    “I do not understand. I try to speak, and then show, and it still comes out wrong. I saved you, Evelyn. If I had not been