“Aren’t you cold?” she teased him.
“Far from it.”
She smiled. Feeling the cold more easily was part of being human, and obviously Liam enjoyed it.
“Coffee?” he asked.
After a few minutes, he returned to the table and sat opposite her, placing a cup of black coffee next to her and kissing her softly on the forehead.
“You still reading about that?” he remarked.
“Yeah. Do you think many Council members died?”
Liam pursed his lips in thought. “I know Jonathon wouldn’t be old enough to have turned to dust after the Awakening, but many of the other members were. Perhaps they all died during the attack. We’ll never know.”
She took a delicate sip of coffee. The hot liquid burned her mouth slightly and she winced, quickly putting it down. “Sometimes I wonder how many of us have coped with being human. I mean, it just suddenly happened to them.”
“We won’t know, and no one will be able to track us down, I’ve ensured that. Olivia and Ava won’t find us.”
Madison was silent. She didn’t know what to think of them. Would Olivia return to Gareth and give up trying to kill her? She had a feeling Ava would be lost, no doubt it would be hard for her to adjust to a new life as a human.
“We don’t need to worry about that,” Liam said. “We have each other, and there’s nothing that can take that away.”
He leaned forward and kissed her, tasting of coffee. She smiled against his lips before he pulled away and grinned.
“I never thought this would be possible. Now we can look forward to our lives together.”
She nodded, taking his hand and tracing her fingers across the warmth of his skin. “Of course. But isn’t there anything you miss about being a vampire?”
He laughed briefly. “Not at all. It’ll always stay with me. The taste of blood, how it feels to take someone’s life. I never want to revert to it.”
“And you won’t need to. It’s behind us now.” She studied him then smiled mischievously. “Won’t you miss the sex?”
Liam chuckled. “As a vampire, sex made me feel alive. But with you, I wanted to feel the heat of your body, the sound of your breathing. I wanted to be alive.”
She smiled, at a loss of what to say. She understood how he felt and it hurt to know that he had to wait decades to feel this way again. But their love had made it possible, and forever changed the world.
“Make a promise with me.” Liam said. “We’ll never speak of our lives as vampires. It’s best to leave that behind.”
She nodded. “I promise. Not a hard one for me to break.”
“And I’ll make a promise to you.” Liam released her hand and reached behind him. He almost seemed nervous. Then he raised a beige jewelry box before her.
“A promise to love you always as my fiancée and my wife. Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” she cried and let herself fall into his arms. He opened the box and slid the yellow gold diamond solitaire ring onto her finger. She glanced at it once, pleased with his choice, but the ring wasn’t what mattered.
All that mattered was Liam, and now they could finally be together for the rest of their lives, enjoying their humanity for as long as it lasted.
First step? The wedding in Hawaii. Sans vampirism.
About the Author
Learn about the author and her books at: www.hollybrookesauthor.com.
Awakened by the Vampire Page 23
