Nicole glared at katina before doing the same to Grant, who sat at a nearby computer and snickered.
“You two are no help. I could be dying.”
“And I could be sleeping.” katina yawned. “Is your crisis over yet?”
“No.” Nicole nudged katina with her foot. “Wake up. This is payback for wanting to eat me.”
“You used to be food,” katina pointed out, without an ounce of contrition.
Nicole threw her head back and let out a sound of frustration. She wasn’t truly upset with katina and
Grant; she was upset with herself. She was pregnant, her chest hurt, and she’d probably ruined her relationship with Riker. He’d tried to tell her he loved her, and she’d doubted him. No wonder every time he saw her, he’d turn and walk the other way. Or even worse, he’d pass her by with nothing more than a polite nod.
A polite freaking nod.
They’d kissed. They’d fed from each other. They’d had sex against a wall. And in a dungeon. He’d used his tongue on her in ways that gave her hot flashes just thinking about.
And he was politely nodding at her.
“You know,” Grant said, “Riker’s pretty miserable, too.”
“Could have fooled me,” she muttered.
“It’s true.” katina downed a test tube filled with orange liquid. “That one’s nasty.” She plunked the tube into an empty wooden holder. “I sparred with him this morning. He’s all sullen and broody, like one of those emo TV vampires that were popular a while back. So lame.”
“Well, he’s never been a load of laughs,” Grant chimed in. “But yes, he’s even less mirthful than usual.”
Mirthful? Who used that word? “He said he loved me even before I turned into a vampire, and I wasn’t sure if I should believe him or not.” katina thought about that for a second. “Yeah, you know, I’d be skeptical, too. He had a lot of reason to hate the human you.”
“I think you should have believed him,” Grant said.
Both katina and Nicole turned to him. “Why?” Nicole asked.
Grant went back to whatever he was doing on the computer. “Because males don’t say stupid things like that unless they mean it.”
“Then why was he so quick to walk away from me?”
There was a loud sigh, and then Grant pushed away from the table. “Okay, let’s say you accepted him at his word, even though you had some niggling doubt.
Then later down the road, humans do something stupid and heinous to vampires, the way they always do, and he gets angry. Starts railing about how awful humans are. How self-conscious are you going to be? Are you going to wonder if, deep down, he still thinks of you that way? Even if you don’t worry about it, he will.
He needs you to know he’s past it and that he loves you for who you are. Not what you are.”
Nicole stared at the scientist, floored that he was so in tune with relationships when he was so out of tune with pretty much everything else.
“Damn,” katina said, as she eyed him up and down. “Sometimes you actually make sense.”
“I always make sense.” Grant stood, yanking the bottom of his jacket to straighten it. “Everyone else needs to listen better.”
Nicole watched him gather up empty test tubes.
People accused Grant of not playing with a full deck, but she was starting to suspect that his deck was full— he was just playing a different game.
“Does he know about the baby?” katina asked.
“I haven’t told him.” katina tsk ed. “You need to. And if you believe what he said, you need to tell him that, too.” She leaned forward and patted Nicole on the knee. “It’ll make your chest feel better.”
So many emotions brewed close to the surface, leaving Nicole on the verge of breaking into a loud, sloppy bawl. Love for Riker. Sorrow for hurting him.
Anger that he’d taken so long to come around. And joy that he’d given her the chance to find a real home among the least likely people she could ever have imagined.
She owed him. Not because of all the horrible things her family did to him and his race. But because her family had done all those horrible things and he loved her in spite of it.
Now she just had to hope it wasn’t too late.
----------------------
Riker hadn't seen Nicole, except in passing, for four days.
It was killing him. He’d left the ball in her court, letting her decide if she could believe he’d fallen for her when she was still human.
Apparently, she didn’t believe him.
He kept playing with the little origami animals she’d made, smiling at how they reminded him of her, delicate and complex, beautiful and yet capable of cutting deep. The dragon figure had cut his thumb, but she’d slashed his heart.