Sacrifice (Bloodline Vampires 1)

There’s more there, more he isn’t saying, but I don’t have the energy to drag it out of him tonight. I twist a little to look at Malachi. “Is Rylan a problem?”

He hesitates, clearly torn. “No,” he finally says. “We have a complicated history, but he’s not an enemy.”

“So confident,” Wolf murmurs. “I wonder if Rylan feels the same way. Especially now you have this delicious little dhampir riding your cock.”

“Fuck off, Wolf.”

“Tempting.”

I look at them both. “Another ex?”

Their silence confirms my guess hit right on the mark. I barely resist the urge to sink beneath the surface of the water and scream. It’s not exactly surprising Malachi has people who care about him, complicated history or no, but I don’t look forward to another conversation about sacrificing me to get his freedom. And, yes, maybe there’s a little jealousy there for these two vampires that have known him long enough to have a complicated history.

I rise on shaking legs, but brush off Malachi’s hand raised in an offer to help. “I’m very tired.”

“Mina—”

Wolf moves, blurring out of the tub. I barely get a chance to tense before he wraps me up in a large towel. He grins down at me, obviously enjoying the minor chaos he’s stirred up. “What our darling Malachi won’t say is that he wants you to stay.”

“He’s more than capable of speaking for himself.” I slant a glance in his direction. “Or ripping out throats when words don’t work.”

Wolf gives a deep, happy laugh. “I like you, Mina. Most mortals would be rocking in a corner after all that bloody fucking. You’re interesting.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re certifiably insane.”

“Guilty.” He grins and shrugs. “You learn to enjoy the ride.”

Against my better judgement, I find my lips curving. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Do.” He squeezes my shoulders, hands curiously gentle on me despite his irreverence. “Stay, love. We’ll be on our best behavior.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.”

“Guilty again.”

I hear Malachi rising out of the tub and the water draining, but I don’t look over. My instincts are to retreat and lick my proverbial wounds until the ground feels steadier beneath my feet. But I can’t deny the thought of letting these two ground me is attractive. Maybe it’s weak, but I can’t really bring myself to care. “Okay. I’ll stay.”

12

I wake up between two male bodies. I keep my eyes closed and fight not to tense, waiting for my brain to catch up with my circumstances. As sleep fades away completely, the events of the last twenty-four hours comes back to me.

Gods, things keep happening too fast. It feels like the entire world has changed its shape around me. It’s so incredibly tempting to pull the covers over my head and hide away to avoid thinking about it, but I haven’t survived this long by ignoring the reality of my circumstances. It’s better to deal with the hard truths up front than to ignore them until they’re literally ripping your throat out.

Wolf’s back is pressed against mine, and when I open my eyes, I find Malachi watching me. I lift a brow. “Creepy of you.”

“You were thinking hard over there.” He presses a finger to the spot between my brows. “Regrets?”

“No, nothing like that.” It’s even true. I don’t make a habit of regretting my choices, but this goes beyond that. My feelings for Malachi are a pulse in my blood I can’t ignore. It’s more than desire, more than lust, even more complicated than something as ridiculous as love. I don’t understand it, but I don’t have to fully understand it in order to acknowledge its existence.

I worry my bottom lip. “How are we going to get out of this?” Will there even be a we after we do? Or will he grab his freedom with both hands and ride off into the sunset, happy to no longer be chained to a cranky dhampir with rage issues. “And after—”

Malachi twines a strand of my hair around his fingers. “When you’ve lived as long as I have, you learn to recognize the important things.”

“Like freedom.”

He snorts. “Like you, Mina. I’ve never met anyone quite like you.”

“You mean you’ve never tasted anyone quite like me.” I don’t know why I’m being so stubborn about this, but what he’s saying is impossible. We’ve known each other a week little over a week at this point. There’s no way he’s feeling some kind of mystical connection to me. It’s far more likely he finds me valuable in a different way. That’s how vampires work, after all. Power and ambition above the softer emotions. Always.

“I mean what I said.” He tugs lightly on my hair. “But I respect it’ll take you longer to trust me, given your history.”

“That is remarkably patronizing of you.”

He chuckles. “I’m trying to tell you I like you.”