Free Wait (Beloved Bloody Time) by Tracy Cooper-Posey

sneered. “How long do you think it’s going to be before Kyle gets old enough to start panicking about his mortality and asks you to turn him? What are you going to do then?”
    Tally bit her lip. “I don’t know.”
    “What happens if you turn him? You two become wedded together forever?”
    Her lips parted in surprise.
    “You didn’t think of that, either, did you?”
    Tally climbed off the bed and spun to face him. “Just who the fuck do you think you are, passing judgment on me, anyway? I was of the blood long before you were even born. You should—“
    “Do not use your age as evidence of your superiority,” Christian snapped. “Hell, Tally, I didn’t think you capable of that sort of stupid prejudice.”
    She drew in a deep breath, reining in her anger.
    “You’re pissed because I’m right about Kyle,” he added.
    Her eyes, which he had always thought of as filled with warm and caring, seemed to become all ice and chilliness. “I have been looking after myself just fine for over a century. I don’t need your council, Mr.  Hamilton.”
    The use of his last name stung. He’d had to work to earn the privilege of her using his first name and it had taken decades. “You didn’t marry all those humans because you loved them. You wanted a home. You wanted acceptance. That ’s why you told them.”
    Tally stared at him, clearly stunned. The ice had gone from her eyes. “Aren’t you doing the exact same thing?” she replied.
    “I haven’t had a permanent home in thirty years,” he pointed out.
    “And what a magnificent waste of time that was,” she said dryly.
    “Damn it to hell, Tally! I was waiting for you!”
    Tally was looking at him again with the same cornered animal expression.
    Christian sighed and pushed his hand through his hair. “I thought you would have known that,” he said. “I thought you would figure it out.”
    “From a thirty-year-old agreement to meet by the lions?” she asked. But she wasn’t angry any more.
    “Isn’t that what the date was for?” he asked. “So we could finally synchronize our lives and…” He blew out his breath. “…and be together,” he finished. “But now you’re with him, instead.” He whirled and faced the pile of discarded clothing again, and bent to pick up his shirt.
    “I didn’t like being alone,” Tally said softly.
    He looked over his shoulder. “You weren’t. You haven’t been since 1898.”
    “But you weren’t there !” she cried. “God, Christian, I tried. But after you were hauled off by the FBI, I couldn’t stand it. We had been that close to… to…” She threw out her hands. “I have a family now. You can mock it all you like, but I raised David. He looks like his father, but he’s like me in so many ways. He likes comic books and reading, and hates politics and bigots.” She gave him a weak smile. “You wouldn’t understand.”
    “No, I don’t. What happens when David gets old? Are you going to turn him, too?”
    “I told you, I was lonely!” she cried.
    “So was I!” he shouted back. “But I didn’t jump into the nearest bed to make it go away!”
    She was breathless again. Angry again. “You have to live with humans, Christian. You can’t pass through time and not let it touch you. You’ll come to hate yourself.”
    He dropped the shirt. “Then pass through time with me. We can be lonely together.”
    She clenched her hands together. “I can’t. Not right now.”
    It hurt. More than he thought it would, and he had been braced for her refusal.
    Tally must have seen something in his face, for she stepped closer, in an impulsive movement. “Kyle knows what I am and he still wants me. He loves me.” She gave him a small smile. “You just want a cuddle rug to keep the boogie man away.”
    He shook his head. Denial. The desperate man’s last defense. “Do you love him?” he demanded.
    Her answer was just as soft. “As much as I can, yes.”
    “You’re not in love with him. You’re in