Chloe grins. “I was right, you can feel her.”
“I can,” Raphael agrees, his eyes drifting to the front windows of the house.
“How far away is she?” Kian asks. “Can you tell?”
“That’s not the right question,” Raphael grunts, rising to his feet. “The question is… how close?”
Twenty-Six
Asher
“Close?” I ask, mystified at the possibility. “Do you mean on this continent?”
“No,” Raphael answers calmly. “I mean this city.”
“That’d be… that’s impossible,” Andrei mutters.
I clench my teeth as the others murmur in agreement.
“As impossible as having two soulmarked in the same city?” I ask. “As impossible as Nikolaos trying to turn another’s fated for himself?”
“I’d love nothing more than to agree with them, Asher.” Raphael grunts and rolls his shoulders, trying to right himself back to normal. “But you’re right, impossibilities flew out the window the moment we set foot in this fucking city.”
“Nothing’s been right,” Matthias says in agreement. “Covens trying to steal a fated, hunters drinking the blood of the soulmarked. Whole damn city is practically owned by the Order, and fucking witches could be coming back.”
“We need to check with Dav.” I look to Raphael. “Dammit, I wish we had more time with him. I doubt he’s missed much of what’s been going on in this city.”
A loud roar of rage splits through the house just as we start settling down from the excitement caused by Raphael.
I feel rage and hunger pulsing from the room upstairs.
The hits are going to keep on coming.
“Sleeping beauty is awake.” Caden nods to Maddox. “Let us go welcome our newest… Shit. Do we really have to call him a brother?”
After an elbow from Maddox, Caden shrugs. “Maybe.”
“What?” I growl. “And is he fucking secure enough for you two to be fucking about right now?”
“We just wanted to know if we could tie him up, throw him in a shipping container, and drop him off in the ocean somewhere,” Caden says.
Chloe eyes them darkly. “Surely you’re joking.”
Moving to Chloe, I stop her from trying to leave the room, and motion for Caden to get going.
“He’s not ready for visitors yet, kitten,” I murmur to Chloe. “He is in his frenzied phase and nothing good will come from you seeing him this way.”
“But… he was my friend,” she says, and tries to move around me. “I should be there to—”
My voice comes out in a harsh growl, “No. You do not remember your frenzy. Trust me, he is not ready, and neither are you.”
Pushing down hard on our bond, I snap my fingers at Maddox. “Take extra bodies from the cupboard up with you. Push as much blood through his system as possible. Let’s see if we can accelerate the process. I need answers now.”
Nodding his head, Maddox walks into the kitchen, heading for the large cupboard we’ve set up. Opening the cupboard door, he silently pulls three glamoured humans out from the dark storage. They already have three upstairs, but this will hopefully help with the frenzy.
I can only hope he doesn’t take an extraordinarily long time like Chloe did.
Chloe watches as the small group follows Maddox upstairs.
Wincing only slightly, she turns to me. “Is this truly the only way?”
“To feed, my love?” I ask.
“Yes,” she says quietly.
“To feed here and now. But blood banks can be a good source of food for us from time to time,” I say and pull her to the oversized chair that’s facing the window.
Tugging her down to sit beside me, I wrap my arms around her.
Trying to soothe her through the bond, I can feel her distaste at the very thought of feeding from a live human. It’s an odd feeling to me. In my days, we had no choice in the matter. Nor did we have this… regard for human life. I’m not a modern man, nor are most of my coven. We were born in harder times, when survival was paramount. Even as humans, most of us struggled to survive.
Those instincts don’t die easily, if ever.
“Then why aren’t you using blood banks? Surely it would be safer that way,” she asks.
“I can answer that question,” Andrei says as he plops himself down on a couch beside us. “There are a few good reasons, but I think for most of us it’s all about the thrill. What fun is it for a lion in a zoo to have his food brought to him daily? To live as a king in a tiny cage?”
“But he has his food.” Chloe leans forward, her voice becoming animated. “He has safety and security. He never has to wonder when his next meal is.”
“Sure, and it’s all dependent on his benevolent overlords.” I chuckle. “It’s more complicated than that though. There’s a significant lack of blood banks in this city. Even if we wanted to utilize them, which we do not, there are only a few available. And none that could sustain us for the long term. If we were running New Elysium that wouldn’t be the case.”