Page 108 of Starry with a Chance of Nightshade
Astria followed it, looking puzzled. Her gaze narrowed on him, and then she touched her mouth lightly. “Shut up. No way.”
Stratton bit at his lower lip. “I understand now why you asked me if I had a father or uncle who taught at the university. My answer is the same. I don’t.”
“Didyouteach there?” she asked in a whisper.
“Nope,” he returned before holding her tighter for fear she’d bolt when he told her the truth. “Astria, it was me. I was with my cousin. Neither of us taught here. We were on campus on a case. We should have corrected you when you assumed we were professors. It all happened so fast. All of a sudden you were there, and my head stopped being what I was thinking with. Then my lips were on yours and all I could think about was basically taking you to bed and never leaving it.”
Elis barked out a laugh.
“You’ve not aged a day,” she said, staring at him with nothing short of astonishment on her face. “Are you a demon like Dave too?”
Jim and Elis laughed more.
Stratton sighed. “Uh, no.”
“What are you?” she asked. “A shifter? I’ve run into a few of those over the years. They age slower than humans. But I don’t think they age as slow as…what are you?”
Michael kept his daughter close and stopped glaring at Austin momentarily. “He’s not a shifter, Astria. Jim and I are. Jim’s a wolf-shifter. I’m a cat-shifter.”
She gasped. “Michael?”
He shrugged. “You’ll find most people in Grimm Cove are more than they appear to be.”
Cadee stayed close to her father. “I’m part cat-shifter, but I can’t shift forms or anything. I’m part witch too. So is Dad. Grandma Peggy is a witch with a specialty in the healing magiks. Grandpa Marvin is a cat-shifter.”
Astria took a second before she spoke, staying close to Stratton. “And Elis and Austin are what? Because normal people can’t fight against the things we did tonight and not end up dead.”
It was Elis who answered. “We’re technically vampire slayers, but what we do isn’t limited to just vampires.”
Astria snorted. “For real? You’re slayers?”
“So is Bram,” said Elis. “With a twist.”
“Bram?” she repeated with a huff. “As in Abraham Van Helsing? The legendary vampire hunter Stoker wrote about?”
Marcy smiled at her mate. “Honey-bear, you’re famous.”
He sighed. “I do wish you’d give me a different pet name.”
“Cuddle-bunny?” she asked.
Bram stiffened. “Honey-bear works.”
“What’s the twist?” asked Astria.
“I’m a vampire,” said Bram.
Astria tipped her head back and forth a tad. “Stoker never mentioned that.”
Dave sighed. “Hon, there was a lot that Mary Shelley left out of her story as well.”
ChapterThirty-Five
Stratton
Stratton caressed her back,taking in her scent as he rocked her gently in place. He cared about this woman more than he should. He knew it wasn’t rational, but he didn’t care. It was what it was.
She put her hands to his chest. “What are you then? You’re not a vampire, shifter, slayer, or demon. You don’t age. You can fight against monsters, robed men, and shadow things. Plus you know what the marks on my arms and torso mean. That all adds up to you being anything but human.”
