Rylan starts for the door. “This won’t work.”

“Rylan.” Malachi doesn’t move, but his gaze tracks the other man. “You need to stop resisting. Last night can’t happen again.”

“Mind your own business.”

It seems like every single conversation we have these days circles back to this fucking bond. I want to rip it out with my bare hands. “It’s fine.” I continue when it seems like Malachi might argue. “Leave it, please.”

“Look at you, already acting like the heir.” Rylan’s gone before his cold words fully penetrate.

I can’t work up even a half-hearted glare in response. Not when he’s right. Not when I’m strangely grateful the unnatural peace from last night is no longer in play. This Rylan, I understand. When he’s cold, he makes sense. Even the feral, out of control version of him is safer than the shell-shocked man who shared a shower with me. It’s hard enough to keep him at a distance with the bond pulling at me when we actively hate each other. If there’s a softening at all…

To distract myself, I look at Malachi, he doesn’t seem any happier than he did a few minutes ago. I want to storm out of the room to avoid this conversation, too. Unfortunately, that’s not a permanent solution. “I’m sorry about last night.” I rush on before he can say anything. “Not about what happened with Rylan, though I’m sorry it worried you. But I’m sorry about after.”

“Mina, come here.”

I almost don’t. My reasons for choosing this chair instead of the couch remain, but it’s just the two of us now and I miss the feel of his body against mine. I want to blame that on the bond, but I’ve been drawn to this vampire since before it snapped into place. “We need to talk about it.”

“We will.” He motions with his fingers again, beckoning me. “Come here. Please.”

Please.

Have I ever heard Malachi utter that word? I don’t think so. That, more than anything, gets me up and moving around the coffee table to take his hand. He tugs me down to straddle him, but there’s nothing sexual in the move. It’s as if he wants the comfort of touching me as much as I crave touching him.

“I didn’t know I could do that,” I whisper.

“I suspected it was possible.”

I blink. “You didn’t think to say something?”

“Suspecting something and knowing it for truth are two different things, little dhampir.” His gaze coasts over my face as if memorizing my features. “I won’t say I liked the feeling, but if you hadn’t done something, I might have killed Rylan. I…wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“Malachi.” A bitter little laugh slips free. “We are such a mess.”

“It’s no surprise there’s a learning curve on this. There is on all magic.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Up until a month ago, I thought I hadn’t inherited any magic at all despite the fact most dhampir children of Bloodline vampires get some kind of magical skill. Based on my father’s Bloodline, I should be able to glamour people. Instead, I was thought a dud and sent to Malachi as a brood mare.

Apparently my seraph blood stifled or overpowered the vampire genetics. I’m still not sure which is the truth. I don’t know if I’ll ever be sure.

The whole thing makes my head hurt if I think about it too closely.

“Mina.” Malachi waits for me to look at him to continue. “We’ll figure it out. Together. I’m not prepared to hold missteps against you while you’re exploring the parameters of your powers. Do you intend to compel me again?”

“No!” I swallow hard and temper my tone. “Absolutely not.”

“That’s all that matters. Consider yourself forgiven.” He hesitates. “I’m…sorry…as well.”

His hesitance makes me smile a little. We really are an unmitigated mess. I glance at the doorway that the other two left through. “I hope Wolf’s able to find that demon he was talking about. It could be the solution we need.”

Malachi goes tense beneath me. “Are you really that eager to be rid of me?”

Chapter 5

Eager to be rid of him? Is he joking? I crave Malachi like a fever in my blood. Even now, I can’t help running my hands down his chest, tracing the lines of his muscles beneath his white shirt, so similar to the one I’m wearing right now. “You should be happy there’s a chance to negate the bond.”

“You’re so quick to forget what I said before we left my home.”

I sit back and stare. I don’t understand why he’s angry about this. “Being forcibly bonded is not something anyone wants.”

“Don’t tell me what I want, little dhampir.” He coasts his hands up my thighs, beneath the hem of the shirt, to settle on my hips, tugging me until I’m pressed tightly against him. “We will explore this option if you insist, but I won’t allow you to bargain anything you can’t afford to lose.”

Tags: Katee Robert Bloodline Vampires Erotic
Source: readsnovelonline.net