Pretty When She Destroys (Pretty When She Dies #3)(67)

Behind them, Beatrice meowed with irritation, trying to sleep.

“I’m crying because I’m happy.”

Despite all the insanity in her life, Samantha was sure that she wanted to be with Jeff. No matter what supernatural weirdness was occurring within her or around them, Jeff was her stalwart supporter. He believed so entirely in her, loved her so completely, that she couldn’t imagine not having him at her side. She loved him in a way that brought her an incredible amount of peace. She wasn’t afraid of sharing her future with him, even if it did end disastrously for both of them. As long as she was with him, whatever was left of her life would be worth living.

“Oh, thank God. I know I’m doing this all wrong, but I’m a little frazzled.” Jeff pressed his lips to her hands, then slipped the ring on the wrong finger.

With a little smile, Samantha switched the ring to the proper one. “Engagement finger,” she explained, wiggling her digits. “Marriage finger is the opposite hand.”

“Oh.” Jeff grinned. “I’ve never been engaged before.”

Samantha clutched his trembling hands tightly. “I was, but it was totally not with the right guy.”

To her surprise, Jeff’s eyes were wet with unshed tears. “Samantha, I’m so glad you found me that day at the Spiderhouse. Life has been so incredible since that day. Just being around you makes me so happy. I love you so much, honey.”

Wiping away his tears, then her own, Samantha pressed a tender kiss to his lips. “I love you. You make me happy.”

“I’m doing this because I love you. Yeah, the whole end of the world thing speeded it up a little, but I would have done it anyway.”

Samantha snuggled into him as they fell back on the mattress together. Beatrice hissed and haughtily hopped down off the bed.

“I would have said yes anyway.” Samantha held up her hand so the lamplight could catch the sparkle of the diamond.

“It’s curse free, by the way. Aimee checked it.”

“Then it’s perfect,” Samantha said, grinning. “Like you.”

Combing his fingers through her blonde hair, Jeff grinned. “No, you’re perfect. And a little scary. When I was high on Cian’s blood, I could see your new nature. It was...intense.”

“Did I look supercool? Because Amaliya totally looked supercool.”

“You were beautiful. It was like you had ghostly wings and a halo around your head. Like a goddess.”

Samantha liked that description. It made her feel even more confident in her new abilities.

“So even though Cian was being a total dick when he force-fed me his blood, I’m kinda glad he did.” Jeff’s lips lightly brushed over hers.

“It was mean.” Samantha had been pissed off when Jeff had told her what had happened. Cian had quickly received an earful, though she could tell he wasn’t really listening to her at all. He’d been worried about Amaliya, who had looked somewhat pale and a little sickly after all was said and done. They’d left soon after to go hunt.

“Yeah, but I think I may ask him to do it again in the future. It was reassuring to actually be able to see the magic going on around me. Seeing the ward and your powers made it more tangible.” Jeff exhaled. “I just don’t like the whole blood thing.”

“It’s pretty gross,” Samantha agreed.

“Well...” Jeff rubbed his face. “It’s more than that. Don’t tell anyone this, but Cass nearly killed me when she hit puberty. One of the side effects of being a dhamphir is bloodlust. We didn’t know that though. We were young, foolish, and thirteen. I had the biggest crush on Cass. She was so beautiful and I was a hormonal teen. One day, I grabbed her and kissed her.”

Samantha immediately knew what had happened next. “She bit you.”

“Actually, she shoved me off her, tackled me, beat me up a little bit, then bit me.”

“I can see why you didn’t want this story getting out,” Samantha said, patting his arm.

“My dad found us and saved my life. It was not a good moment for any of us. Cass and I have never even talked about it. We just pretend it never happened.”

“It must have been really hard for you to let Amaliya feed off you when we were trapped in that farmhouse.”

“Well, it was hard for me to ask her to save you because of what had happened with Cass. Yet, it saved your life.”

“And changed me into a phasmagus.”

“I didn’t see that coming!”

“None of us did.” Samantha laid her head on his chest, listening to his heart beating.

“If I decide to become an infused human, I’ll have to let Cian drink from me and then drink his blood to allow his blood to imbue me for much longer than a few hours.”

“You don’t have to, Jeff.”

“No, but I may need to.”

Jeff’s warm embrace, the rise and fall of his chest, and his heartbeat were quite soothing. “Let’s not think about it for now.”

“Right. We’re engaged. We should celebrate it.” Jeff grinned at her. “Have any ideas?”

With a wicked smile, Samantha lifted her head and kissed him.





Part Four

Interlude