Charm (Crave #5)

by Tracy Wolff

Even with the shower running, he’d probably hear and I don’t want him to know just how pissed off—and how scared—I really am.

When will she get that he's in her head?? There are no secrets here ma'am

“How have you never been shocked before?” Because I’m pretty sure I’d have to be touched for that to happen, I want to tell her.

What if we do that more often?” “Go to the beach?” he asks sardonically. “Visit some of my memories together. So you can see what a life filled with love is like.”

“I can’t remember what Jaxon sounds like. I’ve tried, but I just can’t.” I start to tell her that’s because she’s spent a hell of a lot more time in here with me than she ever did with him. But something tells me that won’t make us friends.

unless she’s pissed off, afraid, or plotting revenge, she tends to err on the side of kindness. It’s one of the things I like best about her.

“And I don’t think you’re nearly as bad as you want everyone to believe.” I’m fairly certain that’s the first time anyone has ever said that to me in my whole life. I don’t know what to do with it—I sure as shit don’t know what to say to

the reason I’m finding myself afraid to be near Hudson has nothing to do with him killing me. And everything to do with him devouring me, one tiny piece at a time.

“You’re nowhere near as bad as you think you are. And even if you were, it wouldn’t matter. You’re my friend.

It’s beating in my blood, sweeping through my soul, building a connection between us that I’m not sure I’m ready for but that I suddenly, desperately want.

How did this happen? How did I go from thinking about ways to destroy this guy to just plain thinking about him? And how do I make it stop?

“You knew him for two weeks. Two weeks. We’ve been together more than a year. Just you and me. Do those two weeks really stand up to everything we’ve been through?”

When you put it like that... Jaxon who??

“It’s no use having a partnership if one person makes all the decisions and the other person just has to follow along. We’re either in this together or we’re not.”

No shade to jaxon lol

“I absolutely will not be juggling anything.” A man has his pride, after all. But when Grace giggles next to me, I know I’d juggle kittens if she asked me to. I am so fucked.

Besides, she eventually took the hint and stopped hitting on Hudson—which was neither here nor there to me, of course.

Of course

“You aren’t even looking at the sky.” I start to tell her I’m looking at something even more beautiful, but the line is so fucking cheesy, I just let it die. I need to hold on to some small shred of pride, after all.

He hands me both, and I put one on my head before leaning down and plopping one on Smokey’s. She squeals and spins, and I straighten up with a laugh.

So cute. They're Like a little family

No one has ever done that for me, not even Jaxon, who constantly wants to protect me by making sure I change how I behave. Hudson just makes sure that I have the space and security to do what I want when I want to do it.

Because with Jaxon, it was so easy, but I can admit now that it was easy because it was simple. Young love and all that. But with Hudson, I can instinctively tell it’s going to be so much more. More complicated. More intense. So much more terrifying.

I want to comfort him and shatter him into a million pieces. I want him to do the same to me. And I’m afraid that he might already have.

“Why? Because you’re the man?” she asks scornfully. “Because I’m the vampire,” I answer just as scornfully. “It’s a lot harder to kill me than it is to kill you.”

Exactly girl. Now is not the time for feminism

I need this, too. I need you. How can I tell her no when she puts it like that? How can I tell her no when I feel the exact same way?

Turns out, that’s all it takes to break the floodgates of my control. My name on her lips. My name.

Hudson drinking from me is a total sensory overload, where the deepest pleasure and the sweetest pain meet and mingle inside me until there is nothing else. Until there is only Hudson and me and this one perfect moment out of time that I never want to end.

“More than you like me, apparently.” I roll my eyes at her. “At the time, maybe.” She reaches over, slips her hand into mine. And nearly makes my bloody heart explode, even before she adds, “Not anymore.”

How could I not love her? How could I not want her for an eternity?

She’s the universe’s gift to me, and if I can just have her and nothing else, then I’ll be satisfied. And I’ll still consider myself luckier than I have any right to be.

She throws herself between the dragon’s fire and me. And she takes it all.

🥺🥺🥺

So even though life has taught me over and over again that there is no going through pain—there is only getting through it—I ignore the lesson, and I choose Grace. The way I’ve always chosen her. The way I will always choose her.

Our love has always been a beacon out of the darkness for him, and I love that I can be that for him.

You will always be my light out of the darkness, but not because it’s your job to make me happy. Because you light the path I can follow to find my own happiness. And I want to always see that path, let it lead me back to you. Always.”

Because he really is my true north, really is my home, and wherever he is is where I know I’ll always want to be.

I belong to you, Grace. Heart, soul, body. I have since before we left the lair the first time. I’ll be yours until the day I die, and if there’s some kind of afterlife, I’ll be yours then, too. Nothing will ever change that, so why wouldn’t I make a promise to you?”