Bond Deeper Than Blood

Anything.

Even if it means partnering up with Beck to capture the pale-haired twins.

“We have a deal,” I agree. “Now get out of my house.”

Beck grins and takes a bow. “We shall speak soon.”

My eyes latch onto Laurent’s, confused by the way my pulse quickens when my gaze falls to his mouth. Beck pats his chest and they finally leave. The moment the door closes behind them, I suck in a deep breath of air.

He can help Mercy.

Holy shit. Beck can help Mercy.

I burst into tears because it feels too good to be true.

Laurent

With each step away from her, I feel less and less in control of my thirst. I’d done well the past three months learning to control my urges, but it’s all been blown to bits by an encounter with Castilla.

My stepdaughter.

Last I remember of her, she looked just as her daughter does. Small, innocent, terrified. Protecting her from the impending doom had controlled my every thought and action that fateful day. I’d urged her into the Rune trunk my mother gave to me, knowing the infused magic would give her the protection she needed.

I knew, eventually, she may even need protection from me.

Weston and Wynona turned me into everything I feared. A vampire. A blood-thirsty mongrel. Growing up with a mother who never held back in telling me the truth about supernatural beings, I wasn’t at all surprised to see the vampires and knew exactly what they were after.

Blood.

The blood of children, according to Beck, is the tastiest and most pure. One of my earliest vampire memories is the scent of Castilla as she’d sobbed inside the trunk I locked her in. I’d been given a tiny whiff of blood from a scratch or a scrape and it was maddening. For years and years I’ve thirsted for that particular taste but always come up short.

Until tonight.

She was no longer a child, but I smelled it again, though faintly veiled below a thin layer of skin. I’d craved—no, I ached to sink my teeth into her neck and suck her dry. Then, the more I inhaled and touched her, the more a different craving arose.

I wanted to bite her everywhere and then fuck her until she passed out from loss of blood.

Sick.

I’m sick.

Those bastards stole life from me and gave me this…animalistic heart where I starve for blood in its purest form. I didn’t realize how much they’d stolen from me until Beck saved me. I owe him everything. After months of his devotion and care, he healed me from the blood disease.

“Take my arm, Laurent,” Beck says, his voice calm despite the authority rumbling through it.

I want to race back upstairs and pin Castilla down. Shred her clothes and spread her legs. Shove my cock deep inside of her as I drink from the fat vein in her neck. I’m hard as stone in my pants, eager to take what’s mine.

Mine. Mine. Mine.

“Now.” Beck grips my bicep and then flashes us back to his stately castle-like home in upstate New York. “Feeling better?”

I glance around his den, my eyes landing on the cackling fire, and nod. “I can think clearly again.”

“Good. Let’s have a bite to eat and we’ll discuss what happened this evening.” He motions for me to follow him into the dining room. I make my way after the man who’s built like a teenage boy and then settle at one head of the table. “How do you feel about Castilla? No judgment. I can’t help you unless you tell me.”

Irritation washes over me. I’m not embarrassed, just confused. I don’t understand how I want her more than any living creature I’ve come in contact with thus far since turning into this monster.

“I want to drain her,” I rumble, “while I fuck her raw.”

He studies me for a long moment as two maids come in carrying silver-domed plates. They set down one in front of each of us, then remain standing nearby. Beck lifts the lid off his tray, moves the fortune cookie aside, and takes the white linen napkin. He tucks it into the top of his shirt, creating a bib of sorts. I do the same, my mouth watering for my meal.

The maids kneel in unison and then offer their wrists to us. I’m beyond starved, but Beck is proper as hell. Had he known what a loser I was before I was turned, he probably wouldn’t have welcomed me with such open arms.

I didn’t have a job.

My only income was my occasional musical gigs at bars.

I’d married a woman I didn’t love because I’d knocked her up. We fought like hell, but it was worth it in the end because she gave me a baby and I’d also gained a cool-ass kid.

I lost everything because I failed to protect them.

Beck, prior to this life, was a warrior. Though he was young, he fought in battles and dethroned authoritarians. Somehow, he made me his pet project and saved me. I’m grateful, but I still don’t understand why.