Vail grimaced as he heard Peter commanding his cousins to calm down on the other side of the door. He knew he hadn’t thought his actions through when he’d brought Victoria into his home, but he hadn’t expected the decision would cause [i]this[/i] much trouble. With the scent of her blood driving his relatives mad, they were essentially trapped in his bedroom. He didn’t have the strength to fight off the full force of the Hygrace clan by himself. The only thing standing between them and the small army of frenzied vampires was his father, who didn’t even want to protect the Crest heiress in the first place. The whole situation was a mess.

He turned away from the door when Victoria’s tormented voice caught his attention. Everything she said was true. His family would not accept, now or ever, a human as his wife. She also did tend to leave a trail of destruction in her wake whenever they were together. However, none of that changed the fact that he had already made up his mind. Even if it was difficult and even if his family didn’t approve, he knew he wanted to be with her. Besides, he had been taking the safe path all his life. It might have allowed him to survive for the past two hundred years, but what was the point of living if he never had something to live for? The fragile human lying on his bed was his reason now.

Crossing to the other side of the room, he set the assortment of supplies in his arms down on the nightstand and returned to his seat on the edge of the mattress. For a moment, he remained quiet, merely studying the details of her face in the dark before he leaned down to press a kiss to her lips. He lingered for a few seconds, capturing her tenderly as he located her cold hand beneath the sheets to hold in his. “I don’t care about any of that,” he breathed when he pulled back again. “Even if it leads to my death, I’d rather spend my last days with you.”

Though the statement was morbid, he meant it with every fiber of his being. Lady Crest had tamed his heart with far more than just her blood. He found every aspect of her personality enchanting. Even when they had gotten under each other’s skin in the beginning, he’d thought her confident spirit was refreshing compared to the demure women he’d interacted with before. He had been slipping since the day they’d met. When they had shared that passionate night at the inn, he’d fallen. There was no going back anymore.

“Don’t blame yourself for any of this either,” he added, stroking her back of her hand with his thumb. “It was my decision to bring you here, not yours. I’ll deal with the repercussions.”