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I stared at the ceiling of our bedroo I mentally traced every raised section of the textured walls, es out of the patterns, where there really wasn&039;t any Anything to distracthow Teren was doing, if he was feeling any better That last horrid ie of him covered in blood wouldn&039;t leave me Several of the patterns on the walls reminded me of the pool of red liquid we&039;d been huddled in God, I hoped he was okay

As I shifted for the thousandth time in the too quiet room, I finally heard the door crack open It was late, several hours past the tiht, and the hallway behind hilowed at me until he walked into our dimly lit room I sucked in a sharp breath when I saw hi ht out of a Steven King novel - splotches of dried or drying blood covered him, his jeans and shirt saturated with it His face had deep red s sick and htly hunched and his face looked worn, close to exhaustion, if not already there His pale blue eyes were slightly unfocused as he looked at me, but a small smile was on his lips

"Hey," he whispered hoarsely

My eyes instantly watered at the sight of him and I flew out of that bed to throw my arms around him My forcefulness made him stumble back a step, and I choked back a sob at how frail he seeh, as he held ?" I murmured in his ear

He didn&039;t answer, only softly strokedto his blood s his eyes He tilted his head and gave ht all over hirabbed his hand and pulled hi heavily on the padded carpet, as he forced his body toany distractions, but playing it safe anyway He watched ht only sheer will power kept hiently swept his shirt over his head His chest was smeared with dried blood from where the wet shirt had stuck to his skin Some sections of the shirt were still wet, and I threw it in the corner of the recently cleaned bathroo my eyes back to his chest, I bit ers caaze to his "I&039;ed in a tired, but casual one now" He sain

My mouth dropped open as the sounds of his ain A little discomfort? I shook my head "You didn&039;t have to do that," I whispered, ers, still tainted red, brushed over arded me "Yes, I did We couldn&039;t have all walked out on dinner with your family, especially Morabbed his hand, flattening his cool fingers to my cheek "No, none of you should have had to do that" I shookhi up at hione somewhere else, or eloped I was so selfish to ask for this"

He i his head "No, Eive you this"A warm smile lit his tired face "You deserve a norive you that, we all did We crave normalcy too" His eyes stared intently intoexperience"

I sighed and then cocked an eyebrow at hie of dried blood off his chin pointedly He grinned crookedly and shook his head "Well, as nor too tired to keep standing, sat on the edge of the tub

I watched hiain Turning from him, I stepped over to the shower and turned on one of the dual heads Under the sound of the water, I again said, "You didn&039;t have to do that"

As I turned back to him, he smiled, and I knew he&039;d heard h, only slipped his stained shoes off I helped hiet in the shower It felt a little odd to help hi one, but the evening had sapped a lot of that strength, and as he sagged against the shoall, I slippedhiainst the wall, his eyes closed and his usually nearly tanned face pale The spray of water hit his chest, droplets landing on his face andto break apart and run like rivulets down his body I shook rabbed soone He exhaled contently as I worked the soap into a lather and spread the bubbles over his chest, pausing, to scrub harder in theon his body turned pink fro around us went through various spectruard look on his face and the shalloay he was breathing as I scrubbed his cheeks, I lifted a corner of -over"

He cracked an eye at that and slanced down ain "Totally worth it," he ers turn pink as the dried blood in the blackness ca could have been worth that," I ain His hands ca "

I sighed at my pinkly suds-up fiance, and laced h his wet hair and just took a ly done so that they kneould cause the up the bloody mess he&039;d left, Teren hadthe nearly toxic food to stay in his systeer than was necessary, or healthy She&039;d explained that anything but blood in their system now had a nearly acidic effect on them, and what Teren had done had literally eaten holes in his body If it weren&039;t for his super healing ability, it would have killed hiuess we had a viable excuse for hiies

I s rab soly, he plopped theain, too tired to keep theainst the wall for support, I cleaned the rest of hiers, ears and neck, anywhere where blood would pool, and be visible to someone else When he was sparkly clean, I shut the water off and helped to dry hi half asleep on his feet, we crawled into our oversized bed, naked His lukewarm from the shower body wrapped around me, and his head dropped down to rest in the crook of hed contently and buried hi hithe evening, againat what he&039;d done for ers down his back, I whispered, "Thank you"

Thinking he was already asleep, I was a little surprised to hear hied hiuys realize you&039;d have to do this?"

His body stiffened and I adjustedhis head to look at me, apprehension was clear on his face I furrowed hed a cool breath and then closed his eyes for a second, before aze "We&039;ve always known this would happen this weekend, E, since you first said you wanted it here"

Horror and guilt went straight though ht my hands to my mouth "Why didn&039;t anyone?" I couldn&039;t even finish the thought, but Teren understood

His hands ca mine "We didn&039;t want you to worry about us We knee&039;d be fineonce it was over"

I shook one soottenwith his lips When I was calmer, he muttered, "This is what you wanted, what you deserved to have Ourprobleeable"

I stared at him, speechless Then irritation flared in me, like it does soiven me a heads up! I could have been told ould happen, instead of finding you covered in blood and not knohy!" My tone got especially heated on the end as I replayed ain "You&039;re rightI&039; up to move a strand of hair behind my ear "I just didn&039;t want to you to worryand I honestly didn&039;t knoould be that bad I&039;ht after he said that, one "You did, Teren You terrified ain, his voice thick with the need to sleep, and I hugged hi froain was sure he was asleep, I playfully uys draw straws or so?"

He chuckled in my arms, still awake "No, she just wouldn&039;t have been able to tolerate it like us, so it wasn&039;t an option for her" I pulled back, surprise inthe distance between us in the dark rooed "The side affect of food is less severe for us than for her Her full vampire body doesn&039;t reactas well"

My mouth dropped open at that As well? I didn&039;t think hi blood all over the bathroom floor was exactly "well" It orse for Halina? Howin ain "She probably would have lost it at the table"

I sed the sudden lump in my throat Yesthat would have been worse

Teren was still asleep when I woke up the next ht flash on his dark hair His face didn&039;t look so pale anymore and he didn&039;t have any circles under his eyes anyue ith him at all as he slept besidethat this was the last , he&039;d be , no fussing, no snoring Looking at hiled towardsCurious, I putNo breath at all It was eerie, and too reminiscent of when he&039;d died, and I pulled ?" he hed and ran a hand through his hair A s hiled at my own joke and he peeked up at ain and sat up on my elbow "I just never noticed that you don&039;t breathe when you sleep" I shrugged "It&039;s kind of creepy"

He stirred, inhaling a deep breath, obviously just for show, and then stretched out before propping hiday" He grinned crookedly at ed hi ht had worn off, and he was cool again I tried to not think about that awfulhim in a pool of his own blood, and I instead focused on the s he could do with his mouth He scooted closer tothe length of mine under the sheets His hand reached out to pull asped as I fell back to the bed He was on top ofhim back, I playfully ?"

His hands slid over ht you&039;d have that figured out by now"

I laughed huskily and pushed him ahen his mouth drifted back to etnormal and healthy, andincredulous His hand rested onan eyebrow "Really?" His voice ot the implication - &039;what does it hed and shifted , I stole the sheet and demurely wrapped it around myself He frowned atcovers I bit ht of him, but made my body stay where it was "Yes, really We s backwards, but we&039;ll at least do the wedding night the right way

I sat down on the edge of the bed and he finally softly s hi ain thought of being this e of hi I could keep that one away He frowned too, and I tried to fix h "What&039;s wrong?" His knuckle stroked my cheek as he looked over azed at hi already "I&039;hed and pulled me to him "I&039;m sorry I worried you I&039;m finewe&039;re all fine" He pulled us down into the bed, lying on his back and wrapping h his body and made myself believe it was his

My worries left me as peace flooded me He held me for what felt like an eternity It probably would have lasted for an eternity too, except he cocked his head and then started chuckling, covering his bodybetween us I raised rinned and shook his head

Just as I was going to ask hiasped in surprise and clutched the sheet wrapped around hter as Tracey and Ashley bounded into our bedroom Teren didn&039;t even flinch, and I had to assu every spot of skin on lared at the two of theuys!"

Ashley blushed and giggled, looking away, but Tracey pouted and looked at Teren like he&039;d coloo for that Teren laughed at the look on her face and snuggled farther into the bed, slipping his arms under his head I was pretty sure he wouldn&039;t have let us get caught like that, not with those super ears of his, although, soet a littlelost in thecoh I kneas probably a touch embarrassed, and if his skin could still do it, he&039;d probably be blushing slightly

Ashley giggled and greeted hi the thick quilt over the top of hi to srabbedday, while Ashley sat down on the bed

Teren and Ashley watchedto slipirls have mastered) and then Ashley turned to Teren on the bed

"Are you feeling better?" she politely asked hiht the curiosity in her voice, she had to be wondering what could possibly make a vampire not feel well, but Tracey didn&039;t see Teren before he could answer Ashley, "Yeah, you getting cold feet or sohed - Teren&039;s feet were actually very cold - and he shook his head atmy sister, his tone just as polite as hers had been, "I feel much better, thank you"

When I was dressed, I leaned over hi him firiggling Tracey and Ashley pulledas they held uess I&039;ll see you later Don&039;t be late"

He grinned and shook his head as the girls literally pulled h the door Once in the hallway, I heard him respond with, "I wouldn&039;t dreairls finally let go of ly assured that I wouldn&039;t rush back into that gorgeous, nakedalong with the dual staircase to the kitchen

Holding hands with my two best human friends, we ca to herself as she scrarin was a wide one as she worked, and her brown eyes sparkled as she looked up atheaven here My secondup a batch of bacon, the rease,my mouth water I prayed my stomach stayed down today

Alanna looked up a second after reeted iddy and anxious and eager for today, I giggled as I sat on a stool at the center island Ashley and Tracey each sat on stools besidemerrily as they twisted the, everyone," I said chipperly, sort of feeling like a Disney princess, especially since Tracey had made me put on my fuzzy white slippers with the word bride on the front of each in big, black script She&039;d wanted to buyjacket too, but I&039;d put my foot down on that one

Mo toI eyed her ering sickness was still with her But her skin was the normal olive color it alas, her pale blue eyes showed only happiness, and her perfect, lineless face was only giving me a warm look of reassurance I was sure that if I could have asked her how she was, she would have shaken her head and told me that she&039;d never felt better

Just as I was about to ask her anyway, Tracey popped up besidePecs, does he work out a lot?"

Ashley giggled into her pal when she&039;d seen Teren&039;s chest I smacked Tracey across the arm as Alanna softly chuckled and studied the bacon she was cooking Tracey made an offended noise and looked at he&039;s deceptively defined" She shrugged and ran a hand through her long, blonde locks Her lip turned up into a wry grin "That&039;s not a bad thing"

I closedin our rooht about now There was just no way he hadn&039;t heard her Alanna prettywidely Shaking her head, she went back to cooking her bacon I shifted the conversation by asking what the plan was for today Moe of Teren&039;s body (her absolutely correct knowledge), and started ani over her plan to help Alanna prepare all of the food for the guests

My jaw dropped at that They were going to spend all day cooking for, at last count, one hundred and fifty people? Alanna chuckled and assured me that most of the food was already prepared and in the freezer, they si to spend today preparing the "finger foods" - cookies, dips, mini-sandwiches, and various for like any fun tointo the steaan to wonder how I&039;d pass the ti, and the actual cereht, well after dark, so Halina and Ien would have a chance to fully enjoy the festivities As the still stea, I started to think that maybe I should find aBesides, I couldn&039;t spend all day eating I did have a dress to fit into tonight Unfortunately, the only other things I was co up with, involved Teren&039;s afore forparty out

As I finished my food way before anyone else, and had started in onout and gettingour hair twisted into fabulously intricate up-dos I didn&039;t really want to leave the ranch, but I was buzzing like a woht espresso, and with et et paht it would be fabulously fun to not tell the boys ere leaving I didn&039;t spoil her fun, by letting her know that Teren ell aware of everything we&039;d just talked about She also thought it was great fun for roaned dramatically, but secretly loved it I wanted everyone to know that I was gettingit on the radio, or interrupting the scheduled progra - because that&039;s how I felt today, that so and wonderfuland eternal

After the seventh hug and kiss, et down to business with Alanna While hugging Alanna, I did secretly ask her if she was okay, and she did telllike that, but at least by , she knew that I&039;d been worried about her And I had, I&039;d worried about theirls scrambled into Alanna&039;s sleek sedan that she let us borrow The car was black and luxurious, with cream leather seats that were so soft, you almost felt like you es of the cushions and sighed as her head dropped back "This is the life" She rocked her head over to me "Now I seriously wish I&039;d met Teren first"

She winked at(she was hopelessly in love with Hot Ben, after all), and I shook h If she realized that the owners of all the fineries she was enjoying this weekend, no longer had heartbeats, she&039;d never coain Luxurious or not, Tracey wouldn&039;t deal with the idea of va real very well

As I drove us back into the city, I wondered if we&039;d even find a place to accommodate three of us on such short notice Then Tracey pulled out her cell phone and speed dialed her salon That clued me in that maybe it wouldn&039;t be a problem Five minutes later, we all had reservations at Bella Sole I had to smile that the name of the salona vampire&039;s fiance&039;s hair

Tracey kept us occupied for hours Tiirly shade of pink, our nails dipped and buffed and Frenchspirals and twisted into elaborately done up-dos, except Ash, who had her hair curled, but left it down Since only one side of her head would grow hair, I think she feltit The salon girls seemed a little reluctant to touch her at first, but with ot over their unease atappearance, and by the end, were treating her the same way they treated rabbed coffees (and cocoa forfor the big event Pulling up to the drive, we could see that a few guests had started to arrive, even though it was still hours away fros

The girls pulledthe entire way We sat on the edge of the bed and talked about all the things girls talk about when they get together: catty girls at work, or at school in Ashley&039;s case, the current h our favorite television shows, the most unusual sexual requests, positions and/or places I keptthat Tracey would not want to know the things abbed and changed into their dresses, I started to wonder what my bloodsucker was up to

I wasn&039;t sure how he&039;d spent his day, or hoas feeling noondered if he was also feeling the anxious butterflies that were currently swar to veto the BLT I&039;d eaten at the cafe Either that or Grande sized hot chocolate I&039;d just finished tilting back

As Ash and Tracey adjusted the clingy, blood red fabric of their dresses, I put a hand onpure will power could convincethough I closed my eyes as my stomach churned I felt a bead of sweat onthat that was the least ofa hand over my"be right back" as I ran for a bathrooan to wonder where the bathrooe house I ran into an open door that looked proroaned in frustration when I saas just another stupid bedroom Then I noticed the cracked open bathroom door and exhaled in relief I would have done the happy dance if I&039;d have had the ti downtoI was prettyI hated getting sick When my body was empty, I sat back on my heels and rested ,to be alone in my discomfort any with the boys somewhere

As if on cue, cool arms soundlessly wrapped around me I was pulled back into aposition As he stood, I sighed contently and wrapped lad to have him near He kissed my head and walked me back to the bedroom I buriedht hint of his cologne underneath it He waseffect on my queasy stomach

He laid me down on the bed and came up to lie beside me I lolled my head over to look at him as he propped up on an elboatch over me, almost protectively I smiled at the look of concern in his face "You foundout to wipe off edto a pout "Are you alright?"

A sh escaped me at how trivial my sickness was, compared hat his had been "I&039;e toat all" My arms snuck out to clutch his body and I pulled hinets that couldn&039;t bear to be apart

A s to his body and then he sank down to the pillows and heldmy neck I shivered at the cool touch and felt hiine that vein was pulsing faster than noruest rooht by Ashley&039;s roohtly s, and I have no idea where everything is" He chuckled and I pulled back to look at hih thenext to us "Why were you in the house? I figured you boys would be off in the wilderness sohed at y, anxious " He gave hed at that while he shrugged at ht maybe that would calm me down"

I raisedwhat I was feeling, but wanting to tease him some "Oh, nervous?"

He smiled and shook his head "No, excited" He bit his lip and then leaned over to kissof that cool ainstto marry, just a few hours from now My hands threaded up into his hair as he shifted his weight over ers slid up his cool t-shirt as his hands palroaned and rocked against him as his lipstiny waves of pleasure through ue found the spot in the crook of my neck that he preferred, I pulled his hips directly over ainst ht now," I whispered in his ear He growled low in his chest and pressed againstmy breath instead He was ready for more than just a love bite, and I sort of was too Breathily, I added, "You can snack on rowl again and the lips pressing heated kisses into e deep inside ht, but pushed hi?"

He blinked, his eyes full of passion and hunger, his fangs extended to drinking length, and his brows furrowed in puzzlement "You said"

I rolledly obvious vein in my neck that he&039;d been about to puncture "I don&039;t need to go down the aisle with a hickey" Or circular fang wounds

He looked down, eht" He peered back up at me with just his eyes "Then, where?"

The look of clear desire still on his face, lance to ently pushed hi-sleeved blouse His breathing stopped as he lasciviously watchedmy skin, button by slow button When the shirt was coain, heavier than before With ht down the rabbed a section of the cup and pulled it back, exposing the creamy skin on the top part of my breast, the part my bra and dress would easily cover

"Here," I whispered,him to me