One side of his sexy mouth jerked up. “Interesting twist.”
“What I didn’t know,” she continued on, “Was what would happen as soon as someone found out about me. How fast the aging process would catch up with me. How long I’d have…”
Guilt seized him as he grasped the full implication of what had happened tonight. “Christ, Bev. I’m so sorry. I’ve condemned you to—”
“No!” She reached for him, gripping his biceps. “I was going to tell you, remember? It doesn’t matter how you found out. It was inevitable. And obviously I’m not shriveling up and blowing away just yet, so that must mean I have some time on my side.”
His eyes narrowed on her. His gut twisted. “I agonized over how little time we’d have together when I thought you were mortal. And then I realized you weren’t and I…” Words failed him. There was no describing how elated he’d been to know he couldn’t hurt her and that he’d never lose her. That they could spend an eternity together.
Only to have that bubble burst as quickly as it’d swelled.
“Fuck.” He moved away from her and began to pace again. “You’re dying.”
“Yes.”
“And I could easily kill you if I stayed with you.”
“No. You fought it.”
“I cut you.”
“It was an accident and we both know it.”
“But your blood…” He whirled around and faced her. “When you were immortal, it had no flavor to it. Now that you’re mortal, that’ll change. And I’ll crave it.”
She stared at him a moment as something seemed to occur to her. Something dark and mysterious and…
“No,” he was quick to say, shaking his head vehemently. Realization dawned all too quickly for him. “Don’t even travel that path, Bev. I can’t. I won’t!”
“But you could save me,” she said in a frank tone. As though she’d already made up her mind.
“Not the way you’re thinking. I won’t damn your soul for all of eternity.”
“Cane,” she said, her eyes lighting up. “It would change everything. I’d be strong again. Immortal. Without the threat looming over me that it might be taken away some day. You wouldn’t be able to hurt me. You wouldn’t want my blood.”
“You seriously want me to make you a vampire?”
“It’s our only hope.”
And damned if he didn’t know it.
Yet it was impossible. He refused to do it. He’d sworn after Amy that he’d never turn a human again. He’d tried to help the girl and had only made her existence a living hell—a worse nightmare than before he’d turned her because as a mortal, the possibility to kill herself existed every day. As an immortal…not so much. Cane still hadn’t fully forgiven himself, had worked damn hard to redeem himself.
So to curse Bev, the woman he loved… No. It was completely and wholly inconceivable.
“It’s out of the question,” he said, his tone firm, holding a note of finality. “Don’t ask again.”
“You’re being stubborn and unreasonable.”
“You have no idea what I went through when I changed. No idea what I went through with A— Just know I can’t do this, Bev. Especially not to you.”
“Fine,” she said as she crossed her arms over her chest. And winced from the pain that obviously still plagued her.
Making him cringe.
“You’ll just have to be more careful with me,” she continued on. In a tone meant to sway him, he was sure. “I’m mortal now. You won’t be able to make love to me the way you did tonight.”
“Nice tactic,” he said in a dry tone. “But the answer’s still no.”