“I thank the gods that he survived. But as he recovered, I noticed that I was beyond engorged. To the point I was practically sick.”
Orwin St. Charles reared forward as if he already knew where Adres was going.
“I have not drunk from him since. Nor do I have a craving or hunger.” Not for blood anyway. Adres left that part out. He faced Justice and then his many enforcers lining the wall. “I believe, Justice, that if your shifters—unmated ones in particular—are willing to donate blood to resupply the blood banks, it could be a temporary solution to end the hunger pandemic. When the humans see your wolves coming out in droves to help another species… well, I believe people all over the world will recognize it.”
“And potentially want to get involved again,” Orwin continued, then glanced at Justice. “It sounds like it could be a viable option. Justice, your thoughts.”
Adres sat, glad he didn’t have to go into great detail to present his plan. It was really quite simple. Macauley slid his hand up his thigh beneath the table, and Adres felt his cock twitch in response. He threw up one of his shields to keep anyone from smelling his arousal. What was wrong with his cherished? They were amongst distinguished company, and he was trying to flirt with him. He pushed Macauley’s hand away, but he put it right back, only this time a couple of inches higher.
“Stop that,” he mouthed, but Macauley winked and gave Adres’s inner thigh a firm squeeze.
Ahhh gods. Macauley’s fingertips were grazing his sac, and it took all of his will not to close his eyes and moan.
“I would never force any shifters to donate, but I would certainly encourage it. I don’t know how fast it would take off, but all we’d need is a few volunteers.” Justice was looking in his and Macauley’s direction.
Did he ask a question? Adres could only think about the hot palm branding his leg through his thin pants. Adres could not believe what his young wolf had reduced him to.
“You have three right here, AZ,” Bundy said in his deep voice as Anna and Rich stepped closer to Adres’s chair. “We will be the first in line. And I’m sure we can convince more.”
Justice’s smile was proud, but not more than Macauley’s. A few murmurs and hushed conversations began before one of Justice’s lead enforcers stepped forward. “We would like to volunteer as well.”
The vampires were glancing back and forth between one another as if they could not believe that they were all going to potentially have access to the blood of the Mother’s sacred shifters. No one in their right mind would have ever suggested such a thing. But Adres had to think of his people first. It was in every fiber of his being to protect them. “A human’s blood does not have a fraction of the nutrients and protein that a shifter does. So, a vampire won’t need as much consumption at once or as often. Only zero-point-four liters of a shifter’s blood could feed a cherished family of three for a month.”
The king was smiling broadly for the first time since the assassins had invaded their territory. Justice clasped his pale hand where it rested on top of the table. “I think… I think that this plan may work.”
“I agree.” Farica smiled. “I have a feeling there will be more than a few of us willing to give directly from the source.”
Macauley groaned at his sister. Of course she would go there.
“Word has spread quickly about how good a vampire’s bite can feel to us.” She quirked her arched brow and glanced around the table as if daring any of the men to call her out for indulging on it herself. “If that can be an option, we should consider how we can spread the word on doing it safely. Only a certain amount of blood taken that a quick shift can’t replace.”
“Wow.” Macauley glared at her. “Seriously?”
“What?” she said, blinking as if innocent.
“Okay, one thing at a time.” Justice put his hand up to stop their bickering before it could get started. “Let’s get things mobilized first, because we’re going to need wide distribution.”
“Agreed,” Wick said. “Adres. How do you feel about spearheading this mission? You are the Lord of Arms, but since Bell and I have mates that protect us, your duties can shift to being the lord of our people. It was your idea, and you discovered it in a very costly way. I think you should be in charge of it since this kind of collaboration has never been done before.”
“Which is why it is going to work.” Aleksei spoke for the first time. “The vampires have been hesitant to accept aid from us in the past, but with a horseman here… they will follow his lead without question.”