Jae lifts up from me and I loosen my hold on his body. I wanted this. I was ready for it. I know he was, too (somewhere inside, maybe deep down), because if he wasn’t, it wouldn’t have happened. But I’m preparing myself for a freak-out, because that’s his MO.

He’s staring down at my tie but not really looking at it. I slide my hands to his elbows and wait, watching him. He takes a deep breath. “Did I just…”

“Did we?” I correct. “Yes.”

There’s a long pause before he sits up a little straighter. Now I’m holding his wrists. He finally looks up at me. His eyes aren’t alighted anymore, but they’re still warm and celestial. Also, confused. “Are we bonded?”

“Yes.”

“I… I thought you needed to have sex to bond?”

I’ve actually given this situation a lot of thought, so I’m not very surprised by it. “Well, yes. That’s a requirement—along with other things between us that are more important. Plus, we had sex and fed from each other for months, Jae. You hadn’t fully awakened, but… It’s like we took advantage of the thirty-day free trial, and now it’s time to pay up?”

“Did you just compare our relationship to a marketing strategy?”

I look away to poorly conceal my amusement. “I did.” The moment he first woke up in Haruka and Nino’s house, I felt it. The pull toward him was way too strong, and he was so open and trustful, his energy was practically reaching out for me. I think if I had fed from him that day—bam. It would have happened. But maybe not? I don’t know. I wasn’t ready.

Jae looks off and toward the lake. It’s silent and moving with an invisible current. Peacefully reflecting the moon and the night sky.

“Are you upset about this?” He turns, looking at me. “You didn’t want this before.”

I slide my hands down into his, clasping our palms. “Do I seem upset? We share a connection now. Can you sense me?”

His face is calm as he looks me over, examining. After a moment, he nods. “I can. A little.”

“So?”

“You seem relieved and… horny?”

“Correct. I think your sense of me will grow stronger as you open yourself more. As you embrace and experiment with your energy?”

He nods in agreement, inhaling a deep breath but stifling a smile. Obviously, I can read him, too. And since I know what I’m doing, I can read him better. He’s delighted. Thrilled. But he doesn’t want to show it. He’s worried about reacting too strongly and letting himself get excited. To protect himself and me, in case I get turned off by it—like I did when he first awakened.

Jae’s energy radiates and speaks to me like an open book. He doesn’t seem to realize this, because he’s still trying to hide his real feelings from me. But that’s okay. We’ll get there. The hardest part is done.

“I came out here,” I say, “because vamps are starting to leave. We’re wrapping things up.”

“That’s odd. I would assume that vampires would party all night?”

“Vampires day-walk and have jobs. Shall we go inside and get ready to go back to the house?”

“Okay…” Jae pauses a moment, squeezing my hands. “Will they know? About this?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Because our energies have changed. When we arrived, we had two distinct energies presenting from our individual bodies. But now we share the same one.”

Jae reaches up, scratching the back of his head. “This is awkward.”

“Slightly.”

“Will they think we were having sex out here?”

I shrug. “Probably.”

“Ah, bloody hell—”

“That doesn’t matter!” I reach and wrap him in my arms again, grinning helplessly. “Who cares what anyone thinks? I love you and I have you, and you have me. We’re bonded, Jae.”

I want him to let himself be as excited as I know he is—as excited as I am. But he just holds me tight with his palms flat against my spine. I can feel the warmth and delight radiating from within him, but he doesn’t say a word.

A little later, when we open the door to the back room of the villa, we’re met with wide eyes across the board. Cellina is sitting on the couch with her bare feet in Giovanni’s lap as he rubs them. Haruka is sitting in an armchair, and Nino is jacketless and pacing around behind him until he sees us and stops dead. Cellina sits up straighter on the couch as we walk inside.

“Oh wow! Congratulations!”

“Thank you,” I say, holding on to Jae’s hand. Giovanni cocks his head to the side.

“So you two were fucking in the garden? Who bonds at someone else’s bonding ceremony?”

Cellina frowns, moving her feet from his grasp. “You are so out of control today.”

“Actually, I only fed from his hand,” I clarify.

“How they bonded is absolutely none of your business.” Haruka is staring at Giovanni with that cold look he sometimes has—when the red of his eyes reads more foreboding than unaffected or playful. I rarely see this expression on him, but when I do, it shifts his entire demeanor, and I suddenly remember how old his blood is and what he could do with it if he chose to.

But Giovanni stares right back, then smirks. “You’re calling me names inside your head right now, aren’t you?”

“He is.” Nino walks over to meet us, his amber eyes lit up even more by his sincere smile. “Congratulations. Does this mean you’re coming back to Japan?” He’s looking at Jae, but Jae starts and looks at me, then back to Nino.

“I don’t know? We—we’d have to decide and talk.”

Nino nods. “Alright, so you’ll talk, decide, then come back to Japan?”

“My love, perhaps we should give them some space?” Haruka stands from the armchair and walks toward us. Nino runs his fingers into his hair and sighs.

“Sorry. I’m really happy for you, though. For both of you. This is great.”

As Haruka walks up, he rests his palms against Nino’s shoulders, leans and places a quick kiss at the back of his neck. Privately, I know that Nino is struggling personally—both with some kind of shift in the dynamic between him and his brother and with this kid situation. He’s happy about the latter, but it’s setting off some unexpected triggers inside of him and he’s seeing someone to help manage it. His temperament has been wound a little tight lately.

“We were waiting for you,” Haruka states. “We’re ready to return to Sergio’s estate for the evening. Are you both ready as well?”

Jae and I both agree, and we keep a firm hold on each other’s hands as we leave the villa, and even during the car ride back to the estate.

I’ve been to the Bianchi estate before. It’s a sprawling property, like a small village unto itself, full of brownstone cottages and houses interspersed between beautiful gardens. This estate is much different. It belongs to Giovanni’s friend Sergio, who is another kind of business tycoon, but not quite as famous as Nino’s brother.