Queen (Bloodline Vampires 3)

“Ear plugs?”

I’m already shaking my head at Rylan’s suggestion. “A few years ago, one of his subordinates tried it. His magic might not work well over electronics or long distances, but normal means of muffling sound doesn’t seem to have an effect.” Logically, they should, but magic likes to play by its own rules.

“It was worth a suggestion.” Rylan gives my shoulders a squeeze. “We’ll figure it out.”

“We keep saying that, but no brilliant ideas have come.” I’m not being fair and I know it, but I can’t stop. I shrug out from under Rylan’s arm. “I’m going to wash the blood off.” I hold up a hand when all three of them tense. “Alone. I need to think.”

It’s only when I step beneath the water nearly hot enough to scald that my brain starts working properly. I close my eyes and let the worries and mental knots unwind. The men are here. That’s already a huge victory, and one that shouldn’t have been possible if my father had his way. He’ll have paraded them before the compound the way he always did in the past with his conquests. Losing them is a blow. Being the one to steal them away is a power play that will help establish me as a leader if I manage to kill him.

What they’re asking for feels impossible, but they don’t have the same history with him that I do. No matter how hard I fight it, my father remains larger than life in my mind. The same isn’t true for my men. I need to stop letting my fear control me and listen.

But the time I finish my shower, I feel halfway human again. I smile a little at the irony. I might feel halfway human, but I’m not human at all. There has to be some way I can use that. If the seraphim were so feared as a whole, there has to be a reason why. Surely it’s not just because when they have sex with vampires, they can bond with them. There must be more.

There has to be.

The men aren’t in the bedroom, which is just as well. We ruined another bed. I stare at the bloodstains and grimace. Someday, when this is all over and we’ve settled somewhere, we’re going to have to invest in plastic sheets on the bed we have sex in and have a strict no-biting rule in the bed we sleep in. I shake my head and pull on a dress from the closet. Like the fridge, it was fully stocked when I arrived. Once dressed, I follow the faint tug of the bond downstairs to the kitchen.

They all look up as I descend the stairs, their expressions varying degrees of wary. Malachi is the one that approaches me. He’s always the one who takes that first step, and I’ll love him forever because of it.

I clear my throat. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped. I’m scared, but that’s no excuse. You’re trying to help.”

Malachi takes my hand and tugs me down the last stair and into his arms. “It’s nothing. A few sharp words are hardly enough to require forgiveness.”

“Still.”

He chuckles. “You’re forgiven, little dhampir.” After one last squeeze, he sets me back. “Shall we feed you?”

Instantly, my mouth waters at the thought of more blood, but he turns to the fridge and that feeling sours. I shake my head. “No. I’m good. I’m not hungry.” In fact, I feel the opposite of hungry. I want to fling myself away from the fridge and what it contains.

Malachi frowns. “When did you last eat?”

I start to say this morning, but that’s not true. No matter how good it felt to drink Wolf’s blood—and Malachi’s last night—it doesn’t change the fact that it’s not eating. I touch my stomach. “I’m not hungry,” I repeat. When all three of their attention sharpens on me, I sigh. “I ate… Um.” I can’t remember. I haven’t eaten since the demon deal, I don’t think. Maybe the morning after? I vaguely remember being sick. “A day or two.”

“Malachi.” Rylan says into the silence after my answer. “This isn’t outside the realm of possibility. We discussed this. We don’t eat. The…baby…is half ours.”

“Mina is not a vampire.” Malachi speaks softly but he might as well have yelled. “She is not going to be harmed by this pregnancy.”

Irritation flares. “For the last goddamned time, I am standing right here.” I march past him. “I feel fine, so we’re going to chalk this up to some combination of pregnancy, magic, and my strange bloodlines. We have bigger things to focus on. If, at the end of this, we’re all left standing, then you can worry and pester me about the pregnancy. First, we need to deal with my father.”

Rylan looks like he wants to argue, and I can’t see Malachi from my current position but I can feel his displeasure like a flame at my back. Wolf, of course, seems as relaxed as ever. He grins, flashing fangs. “I take it your shower helped.”