Page 77 of Blood Bought

“Hours, maybe less. Which is why you need to get out of my way so I can feed.”

That time, he didn’t stick around to let me argue with him further. He zipped around me and swept Brenna off her feet, laying her back on the bed as he drank from her and rutted between her legs. The sight made me want to stab him despite the jealous groans from the other bloodwhores who weren’t chosen, so I made my way toward the door.

I needed to get out of there and find Alaris.

“Miss Adalind, wait!” Nesrin yelled, sprinting over to block my path. “I’m not allowed to let you leave. The mates and the bloodwhores are always the first targets in war,” she rushed out.

“Why?” I asked, wrinkling my nose. “That doesn’t make sense, why wouldn’t they go after the warriors or the Heirs and Alphas first?”

She blinked at me with pursed lips until it hit me.

“Oh, god. Because we’re the food supply,” I mumbled. “War 101. Starve your opponents so they’re weaker and easier targets. That’s... us, in this case.”

“Yes. And killing a mate would make the vampire weaker as well. Mates also make great prisoners of war, Miss Adalind. You must understand that.”

I wondered how she knew all of this since Earth had been at peace for so long, but something told me she’d been prepared for this eventuality just in case it really did come true. I just wished Azel or Alaris would’ve done a better job preparing me, though from the look on Alaris’ face, he’d really believed we’d had more time and I’d been avoiding Azel at all costs. “I do. I get it. I promise you, I’m just going to zip out and say goodbye to him. I’ll come right back and then you can keep me locked up here all you want.”

She flinched from my word choice, but stood her ground. “I can’t do that. If he wants to say goodbye to you, he will come here. They’ll need to select the bloodwhores they’re taking with them, anyway. Just sit tight.”

I wasn’t built like that. I couldn’t just sit tight, not when I felt like I was going to crawl out of my own skin if I didn’t see him soon. “Okay,” I lied, busying myself with preparing food, and the moment Nesrin let her guard down and stopped watching me like a hawk... I bolted out the door.

“Alaris, Kellian, Renzo, I swear to your fathers that if one of you doesn’t come get me right n—”

“Okay, Addy Cat! Yeesh,” Renzo teased, appearing in front of me and tossing me over his shoulder. “Hang on tight. Don’t have time to be gentle with you.”

Chapter Thirty-Three:

Iwas so focused ongetting to Alaris that not even Renzo’s erratic, insane, bumpy speedrunning could make me nauseous. The moment he set me down, I threw myself at Ris and didn’t apologize for interrupting whatever it was he was doing — I had a good enough idea. “Don’t,” I rushed out, wrapping my legs around his waist. “Don’t go.”

“Adalind,” he whispered, holding onto me like he wished he didn’t have to. “It’s not safe for you out here. I have to go. It is my duty.”

It wasn’t fair. I’d just gotten him, and after everything we’d gone through to get there, it was all being ripped away. “I don’t understand. They wouldn’t really tell me anything. What do the djinn want?”

“We’re still trying to figure it out. My guess would be control. They pretty much rule on their lands, so why settle for a country when you can own the world? If they could take out the Alphas and Heirs or our lands here, they could take over everything.”

None of that made me feel better at all. “So you think they’re specifically coming after you and you’re just going to run out there and make it easy on them?” I wiggled back down to my feet and clenched my fists, glancing at Kellian and Renzo for help they didn’t give. “Aren’t djinn fucking invisible?”

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