Free A Shade of Vampire 28: A Touch of Truth by Bella Forrest Page B

him—people who respected and appreciated him. He was no longer on his own.
    “I should go fetch your dragon friends,” Bastien said.
    I didn’t want to be parted in these last few minutes we had before I left, so I went with him. Unfortunately, the dragons weren’t hard to find. They’d been hanging out in one of the lounge rooms on the ground floor, and we found ourselves heading back to the clearing where we’d left my father all too soon.
    “I’ll give you a moment to say goodbye,” my father said to me, his tone softening a little as we returned. He cast another furtive glance at the werewolf before turning around and approaching Neros with Azaiah and Regan. So much had happened, and my parents had been away so much, I hadn’t even had a chance to properly talk to them about Bastien yet, to explain how I felt about him. No doubt now, I will have plenty of time for that , I thought grimly.
    Bastien placed his hands on either side of my neck, his fingers reaching into my hair as he bestowed on me another kiss. A long, deep, mournful kiss.
    Bastien’s assurance that “we’d be all right” felt too vague. Neither of us could say when we’d see each other again. I was grasping for something more concrete.
    “One and a half weeks, you said,” I reminded him, “that’s when you should be finished on your tour?”
    “I hope so,” he replied.
    “Then I will try to return, then, even if it’s just for a few hours. And hopefully, in the coming weeks, some things will change,” I went on, though I struggled to understand how they would. “And I’ll be able to stay longer with you again. Then you could come to stay in The Shade with me, if you can get some time off.”
    He smiled at me warmly, brushing his fingers against my cheek. Then his arms wound around me and he lifted me off my feet in an embrace. “I would love that,” he whispered.
    “Okay,” I said, as he set me back down. I drew in a breath to steady myself. All I wanted was to lose myself in another one of his kisses, keep myself wrapped in his arms a moment longer… but it would only make it harder to pull away.
    We took a step away from each other, our bodies parting. I did my best to put on a strong, optimistic face. And so did he.
    “Goodbye, Victoria,” he said. “I love you.”
    “Goodbye… I love you too.”
    I unglued my gaze from him and turned around to make my way toward my father and the dragon. I didn’t look back at Bastien until I’d climbed aboard Neros, my father sitting behind me.
    Bastien remained rooted to the spot, looking up at me. The breeze caught locks of his curly black hair, making them trail across his handsome face. Even from this distance, his eyes were striking.
    I pulled another smile and blew him a kiss. And then, as the dragons took to the air, I watched him grow smaller and smaller on the ground, until a line of trees hid him from my view.
    I swallowed.
    Okay. This is okay. Bastien and I will just have a long-distance relationship for the time being . Many couples do that and pull through… I comforted myself that we would probably even grow stronger apart, and that the next time we met would be even more special.
    “Okay, Vicky?” my father asked behind me, breaking through my thoughts.
    “Yeah.”
    I felt him kiss the back of my head.
    We fell into silence as we gazed down at The Woodlands slipping away beneath us. When we reached the shore and launched out over the endless blue, my father cleared his throat and asked, “Do you love him?”
    I suspected that he’d wanted to ask that the moment he had gotten me alone.
    “Yes,” I replied, barely hesitating. I love that wolf…
    I didn’t turn to see my father’s reaction, though I felt him tense slightly behind me.
    There was another pause before he spoke again, echoing Bastien’s assurance: “Then you’ll be all right.”
    My father couldn’t have known how much his words meant to me.

Bastien
    “ G oodbye , Victoria,” I found