“I see.” A smirk twitched on his lips, and I sighed heavily.

“Stop! Don’t look at me like that,” I snapped, but that only made him chuckle softly. Groaning, I looked around his room, desperate to find something else to talk about.

On his bed, half covered by his blanket in a poor attempt to conceal it, was a book. But not just any book. It was a century old with worn binding and tattered pages, and I had spent a great deal of time reading it a few months ago. Entitled A Brief History of Vampyres, Jack had been convinced that Peter had written it himself. I had stolen it from Peter’s room until it mysteriously disappeared.

I moved towards his bed to grab the book, but Peter saw where I was heading and moved to intercept me. He was much quicker, but his attempt was half-hearted since I’d already seen it.

He grabbed my wrist just as my hand touched the cover, and almost the instant his skin hit mine, it started to heat up considerably. I pretended like I didn’t notice and jerked my hand away from him before he could feel my pulse quicken in his grip.

“You did take it!” I held the book up in front of his face, as if he wouldn’t know what I was talking about. “I knew you took it!”

“It’s my book! You stole it from me!” Peter tried to match my indigence but failed. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was embarrassed at getting caught.

“So?” I faltered for a minute, since he did have a point. “You weren’t reading it, and I didn’t ‘steal’ it. I borrowed it.”

“And I wanted it returned.” He reached for it but I pulled it back before he could grab it. He didn’t look amused, and he held his hand out to me, waiting for me to give it to him. “Can I have it back please?”

“I was reading it. I want to know how it ends.” I opened it, flipping the pages and trying to skim through it.

He glowered at me over the top of the book, so I couldn’t pay that much attention. It didn’t really read like a novel, either, but rather it was part diary, part how-to manual.

“Rosebud is the sled,” Peter replied flippantly, giving away the ending to Citizen Kane instead.

“Why don’t you want me to read this?” I asked and looked up at him.

“It’s not that I don’t want you to read it,” he said, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes, so I had a feeling that he wasn’t being entirely truthful.

“Then why did you take it from my room?”

“Because I…” He floundered for a minute, a very rare occurrence with him, and rubbed at his eyes. “I just didn’t want you to have it anymore.” I had never made him this distressed and irritated before, and I enjoyed it. Usually he was the one driving me nuts. “Do you remember when I took it?”

Flutter

“Yeah, it was the night you snuck into my room,” I said. He had done more than just sneak in that night.

“And I bit you.” His eyes shifted, and his heartbeat changed. He had deep emotions buried in with biting me, but I couldn’t tell what they were. “Your blood tasted of Jack, and… so I didn’t want you to have the book anymore.”

“This is your book, isn’t it?” I stopped taunting him. “I mean, you wrote this, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” he said quietly. “So you can understand why I wouldn’t want you to have it after everything that happened with Jack.”

“I do.” I held the book out to him so he would take it, but he just stared at it for a moment then looked up at me.

“Do you still want to read it?”

“Only if you wouldn’t mind.”

“I don’t think it really matters to you what I mind.” His voice was barely audible, and he turned away from me, leaning his back against his bed.

“That’s not fair, Peter! I’ve been doing everything I possibly can to make it up to you!”

“I know you have,” he sighed. “Just take the book. Read it. It’ll take your mind off how hungry you are so you can finally fuck Jack.”

My jaw dropped. That was what I was trying to do, but he didn’t need to throw it in my face like that, making it sound dirty and bad. It hurt and pissed me off, so I threw the book at his chest and stormed past him.

“Alice, wait!” Peter groaned and grabbed my arm, stopping me from escaping his room. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”

“You’ve gotta meet me half way.” I was almost pleading with him. “I have been trying and trying. And even Jack is trying. But you gotta help me out here. You’ve gotta…” I trailed off and looked away.

“Why is it so important to you that I forgive you?” Peter asked.

That really was the question at the heart of it all. Why did it matter to me so much what Peter thought of me? It wasn’t even just about getting him and Jack to repair their relationship or making amends for damaging the family. It was something more than that, something that I couldn’t quite explain.

“Why did you come back?” I whispered, unwilling to look at him. His hand burned warm on my arm, and I knew that I should shake it away, but I didn’t.

“You asked me to.”

“No, not from Finland. I mean that night that you took the book. You’d been gone for months, and then, suddenly, one night, you appeared in my room and you drank my blood.” I bit my lip, and I didn’t know why I was asking. Or why I’d even care about that night. “Did you really want my blood that badly?”

“Your blood is divine,” he admitted sadly. “But I always wanted more than that.” He exhaled huskily. “What is it about you? You were more than just a human, and even now that I’m not bonded with you…” He trailed off, but I finally lifted my eyes to meet his. “Why can’t I resist you?”

I inhaled deeply, breathing him in when I should’ve been running away. His skin scorched against mine, but I felt my own body hurrying to match his temperature. His green eyes burned so intensely I couldn’t look away. The sound of his heartbeat rippled through me.

The air was so thick with the scent and feel of him that I could almost taste it, and I wanted to taste him. I wanted him in the most visceral way.

Suddenly his lips were on mine, and I can’t say if I moved to him or if he moved to me, but I definitely didn’t resist. His kisses were rough and soft all at once. Burying my fingers in his thick, silky hair, I pulled myself as close to him as I could get. His muscles were like granite forming to my body, and he wrapped his arms around me, crushing me to him. His mouth tasted amazingly sweet, and I wanted more.