Haruka drops his hand from his forehead and exhales. He supposes it’s good that at least one of them is calm.

“Speaking of Yuna…” Nino furrows his brow. “What was she talking about last night?

“She told me that after five years of attempting to bond with Kenta she was unsuccessful. She was tersely suggesting that I might befall a similar fate.”

“Well… that certainly doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“Indeed.” Haruka closes his eyes again, taking slow, concentrated breaths. This is unfathomable.

“Why are you scared of this?” Nino asks softly. “What are you afraid of, exactly? Do you think… that I’ll do the same thing Yuna did to you?”

“I—No, I don’t.” He pulls his body upright to sit beside Nino. “My bond with Yuna… It was a very strict and rigid thing. I constantly sacrificed my desires in every way, and being beholden to her… Bonding means the loss of autonomy, Nino. My body is no longer exclusively my own. It unsettles me to be so vulnerable and bound this way again. Can you understand?”

“I understand,” Nino says, his expression thoughtful as he folds his arms. “But… can I offer a different perspective?”

“Of course.”

“What if nothing changes?” Nino blinks, waiting. Haruka’s brows draw together in confusion. In his estimation, everything has changed.

“What do you mean?”

“I enjoy spending time with you—you enjoy spending time with me. That’s why we’re here, yes?”

“Yes,” Haruka says.

“I love you.” Nino smiles. “You love me…”

“I do.”

“The way I see it, now we just get to be together all the time.” Nino shrugs. “We were starting to make plans for me to move here anyway. We made that decision. You say that you’re afraid of being beholden, but to me, we’re free now. We’re not limited anymore. We can research and help each other. We can be closer and nourish each other without worrying. You don’t need to restrict your aura—you can just be yourself.”

Be myself? Haruka stares forward, letting the words sink in. It is a paradigm shift in his mind. Being bonded is a means of being free? How? When he’d been bonded before, all he did was sacrifice the things he wanted. This is his station in life—constant sacrifice. He tries to wrap his consciousness around Nino’s point of view. It is difficult.

“I’ve never forced you to do anything, Haru, and you’ve never imposed anything on me. That’s not our relationship. Why would we suddenly start doing that to each other now?”

Haruka sighs. “I… I don’t know.”

“I’m excited,” Nino says, folding his hands in his lap. “Now I can help you with your realm, if you want me to. And I can feed you whenever you want. I can finally tell you how beautiful I think you are, hopefully without you thinking I’m just trying to get in your pants—although I would… really like to do that again, but that’s not my point.”

Haruka closes his eyes and breathes a laugh. He rubs his palm down his face.

“My point is, I’m happy… about this,” Nino continues. “And I’m curious to explore what’s happened between us. It feels like the energy of our natures has fused together, like maybe we share our innate auras. Two bodies, one essence. We should figure this out. We might be like the Wonder Twins or something.”

“The what?” Haruka frowns.

Nino shakes his head, incredulous. “How is it that you know ancient languages and can recite Greek philosophy, but you have a ridiculous blind spot for pop culture?”

“This is untrue.” Haruka raises his chin. “I know music, particularly from the modal, bebop and free jazz movements.”

“Yeah?” Nino’s eyes narrow in challenge. “What about outside of that? Jimmy Hendrix, Freddy Mercury, Prince and David Bowie?”

“Yes.” Haruka turns his nose up, indignant.

“Bruno Mars? Gaga?”

“What… language are you speaking?”

“What about TV shows, anime and movies?” Nino presses. “Star Trek, Doctor Who… Cowboy Bebop—Amelie, Kill Bill, Spirited Away?”

Folding his arms, Haruka sits back. “You are making these things up.”

“Jesus, Haru,” Nino laughs. “I am not.”

“I do not watch television or movies because the motion of it bothers my eyes. We have talked about this. The light of the smartphone you bought me as well. I’m glad that you are here and I no longer need to use it.”

Haughty, Haruka shifts his gaze away from Nino. At his mate’s silence, he looks back toward him. He’s smiling. In a surprise move, he smoothly leans into Haruka and sneaks a quick kiss upside his nose, making Haruka wince.

“I’m glad that I’m here too,” Nino says. “I love you, Haru.”

Haruka smiles, feeling an undeniable flash of warmth in his chest. “I love you. Please do not insist that I watch strange things.”

Nino shrugs. “It’s your loss.”

There is a knock at the bedroom door. Haruka calls out and Asao peeks his head inside. He frowns. “I’m not going to ask why your bedroom looks the way it does. Whatever the reason, I hope we don’t make this a habit?”

Nino looks away in a stifled laugh. Haruka straightens from the headboard. “I apologize, Asao. No, it will not be a habit. At least, I don’t think it will.”

Asao shakes his head before he calls out, “Nino.”

Nino lifts his chin in the manservant’s direction. Asao’s face softens, warm and kind. “Welcome to the family.”

“Thank you, Asao.” Nino beams.

Asao steps into the room. “We have a lot to talk about. Arrangements, formal announcements, combining finances. We need to think about hiring more staff for the house as well.”

“Agreed,” Haruka says. They have much work ahead of them. His mind is bending around his new circumstance. Little by little, it doesn’t seem nearly as daunting as it had an hour earlier.

Asao continues, “Also, you haven’t seen the paper this morning, but apparently Ladislao is gone. Poof. Vanished without a trace.”

Haruka draws back, his chest tight. Nino’s face also wears a look of panic. Is the Vanishing truly happening again? And what about the purebred he’d briefly sensed in the woods? Is he part of this, somehow? The confounding mystery of the Vanishing is that purebred vampires should not be capable of simply disappearing. The innate strength of their auras always makes them discernable to someone, somewhere—especially if they are mated.

“Anyway, I’m not trying to spook you,” Asao says, moving back out the door. “I just thought you should know. Let’s try not to let this news dampen our exciting morning. I’ll start breakfast.”

Haruka’s brain is already scanning and flipping through all the historical accounts, research and data he’s read and studied about the Great Vanishing. Nino’s voice breaks his concentration.

“Alright…” he breathes. “Am I allowed to panic now?”

Late April