Page 97 of Midnight Kiss

“Emily,” I said. “Life as you knew it is over. You’re never going to be human again. You are a Guardian now, and your life is always going to be in danger. Vampires, hunters, werewolves, they’ll all come for you, if not to bond you, then to use you as a bargaining chip.”

‘Well, that’s just fantastic isn’t it?” she muttered.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. I found the book,” she said. “I?—”

“If I hadn’t slept with you, your powers wouldn’t have awakened,” I said.

“That’s one thing I don’t regret.”

I held back a rough growl in response. I wanted Emily now more than ever. “We need a plan,” I said.

“We could go back to my apartment.”

“Emily, that’s the first place they’ll look for you,” I said.

“That, or they’ll think that we’ll think it’s too obvious and then they’ll only check at my apartment way later.”

I laughed under my breath, enjoying being around her. Her scent. Her beauty. And her positivity. But my mirth died quickly. “Emily, we have to leave the city. And we have to figure out how we’re going to get the book back.”

“The book? Why? I feel better. I feel fine.”

“That’s because you’re a thrall. It will wear off, and we’ll need to figure out how to break the curse before then.”

“We know how to break the curse,” she said. “You bond me.”

My mouth thinned.

Emily’s stare burned into the side of my face. I kept my focus on the street.

I loved her, but I wouldn’t bind her. Back there, at Sanguine Nox’s headquarters, it had been different. I had been desperate enough to do what had to be done, but now, we had the time to figure it out.

And they had the book. And a connection to Emily.

My grip tightened on the wheel.

“We should stop by my apartment anyway,” Emily said, after a beat. “I need to get clothes, say goodbye to my friends.”

I railed against the thought. I didn’t want her in any danger, and it was my duty to protect her. But Emily needed her freedom, and this had been tough on her.

“Alex?”

“Yeah.”

“Can we go back to my apartment? It doesn’t have to be for long,” Emily said. “Please?”

I nodded. “We’ll do it, Emily, but we must be swift.”

33

EMILY

It was surreal to come back to the apartment, late at night, after everything that had happened.

The past couple of weeks were a blur of illness, of my connection to Alex, and then what had happened with the vampires. Vampires. I still couldn’t quite believe that they were real, but I had no choice to believe now.

Because I was a friggin’ Guardian.