“You can look again,” Eddie said.

Several pairs of eyes landed on him and Thomas. Then, deliberately, he took Thomas’s hand into his, earning a smile from his lover.

Thomas sighed. “I’m sorry about what happened. I had no control over what I was doing.

Kasper . . .” Thomas pointed to where his maker’s ash covered the floor.

Samson nodded. “You did the right thing in the end by giving Eddie your password.”

“It took me a few minutes to figure it out. First I thought you’d gone completely crazy.

You’ve never called me a computer genius or an IT wannabe before. It made no sense,” Eddie explained.

“That was the point,” Thomas confirmed. “I knew you’d try to figure it out because what I said to you was gibberish. I know how your mind works.”

Eddie nodded, then motioned to the heap of ash on the floor. “What about him? Who was he?”

Thomas sighed. “Kasper, my maker.”

“But Kasper was already dead! Rose shot him months ago!” Eddie protested.

Thomas shook his head. “That’s what we all thought. But the vampire who died that night wasn’t Kasper, he was his twin, Keegan. Nobody knew he had a twin, not even I. He fooled us all.”

Surprised grunts echoed in the room.

“Is it over now?” Samson asked.

Thomas gave his boss a long look. “I don’t know Samson. I honestly don’t know. The dark power is still inside me. It’ll always be there.”

“You were able to defeat it tonight. You defied Kasper by giving Eddie your password. And then you attacked Kasper. There must have been a reason why you were able to fight against it,”

Samson suggested.

Eddie looked intently at Thomas, who turned to him and locked eyes with him. “There was a reason. When you confessed your love for me I felt stronger, and I was able to fight against the influence that Kasper had over me. I was able to fight the dark power inside me because your love filled my heart.”

Eddie pressed his hand over Thomas’s heart. “Then you’ll never again have to worry about the dark power inside you controlling you. Because my love will always be there.” He leaned in.

“Uh, guys, before you kiss again,” Gabriel interrupted, “can you please restore our logins so we can get this place back in shape and cleaned up?”

Thomas smirked. “I think that can be arranged.”

43

Thomas wrapped the towel around his lower half out of habit and stepped out of his ensuite bathroom. His bedroom was bathed in the soft light given off by a single bedside lamp. His eyes roamed over the bed and drank in the sight before him.

“I know now that I’ve always dreamed of this: to wait in your bed for you,” Eddie said and lifted the thin duvet off his body, pushing it aside. “Naked.” He put his palm around his erection and stroked it suggestively. “And hard.”

Thomas let his eyes wander over Eddie’s nude form, his defined, hairless chest, the hard planes of his abdominal muscles, the thatch of dark blond hair that surrounded his cock, and down to the strong thighs that would soon wrap around his hips when Thomas plunged into him.

Thomas felt the urge to pinch himself to make sure this wasn’t a dream. But he knew it was a dream—a dream that had finally come true. Eddie lay in his bed, naked, and hungry for sex. No, not just sex, he corrected himself, hungry to make love. But before he touched Eddie, he had to do one thing.

His heart beating into his throat, Thomas approached the bed, but instead of joining Eddie on it, he dropped down to one knee and brought his hand in front of his body, revealing the small, velvet-covered box he held in it.

Eddie instantly reared up and moved to the edge of the bed, dropping his feet onto the floor, his eyes wide with the realization of what Thomas intended to do.

“Thomas—”

“Please, let me do this my way,” Thomas urged, locking eyes with him.

Silently, Eddie nodded.

“I loved you from the moment I first saw you. My heart broke in that same instant, because I was convinced that you could never return my feelings. But I’m a sucker for torture, so I took you in nevertheless. I mentored other vampires before, but they never lived with me. But you—I wanted you close. Even though every day was filled with pain, the bittersweet joy I experienced when you were with me made up for that.”

Eddie stroked his fingers over Thomas’s lips. “I’m so sorry. I was so blind. Everybody saw it, everybody but me.”

Thomas took Eddie’s hand and kissed his fingertips. “Nobody was ever meant to see what I felt for you. I was determined to keep those feelings locked away. But you can’t lock up love. It always finds a way. Eddie, I know all this has happened in a whirlwind for you, but for me, this has been a long time coming. Just having you in my bed was never going to be enough for me.”