Page 40 of Dearest Alpha Brothers 1: Vampire Prince

“We raised him.” Zane’s voice was firm, though his wolf clearly disagreed. “Luca trusts us to protect him, not… not…”

“Not jump his bones the moment he finally comes out of isolation?” Archer supplied helpfully, earning glares from both brothers. “What? I’m just saying what we’re all thinking. Pack bond, remember?”

Silence fell over the garden as they processed the impossible situation. Through their bond, each brother could feel the others’ struggle—the maddening pull toward Luca warring with centuries of protective instinct.

“So we agree?” Zane finally said, his alpha authority threading through the words. “Whatever this is, whatever our wolves want… Luca is off-limits.”

“Agreed,” Ryker nodded, though his wolf howled in protest.

“Fine.” Archer sighed dramatically. “But someone needs to tell our wolves that, because mine is currently plotting ways to ‘accidentally’ run into the prince in the library.”

“Archer…”

“I know, I know. Hands off the prince.” He stood up, straightening his suit. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have amarketing meeting to rescue from Tina’s latest glitter explosion idea. Try not to feel too… hungry while I’m gone.”

As Archer sauntered away, Zane and Ryker shared a look. Their pack bond carried equal measures of determination and doubt.

This was going to be harder than they thought.

Chapter 10

Islammed my bedroom door and slid down against it, my face burning hotter than a vampire in direct sunlight. Which, technically, wasn’t even a thing in this real vampire life, but my brain was too busy short-circuiting to care about accurate supernatural metaphors right now.

“Oh God,” I groaned, burying my face in my hands. “I bit Ryker. I actually bitRyker.”

My fangs tingled at the memory, and my traitorous body remembered exactly how it felt to sink them into his throat. The rush of power, the intoxicating taste that was nothing like the polite blood bags with their cute little straws. Ryker’s blood had tasted like lightning and winter storms, like raw power wrapped in smooth darkness.

Just like Zane’s blood had tasted like midnight and starlight that first morning in the garden. Two completely different flavors, but both had sent that same electric pleasure rushing through my veins, turning my bones to honey and my brain to mush.

“This is getting ridiculous,” I muttered to my reflection in the window. “First I use Zane as a juice box, now Ryker? What’s next, a brother-blood taste testing event?”

You haven’t tried Archer yet, my inner vampire pointed out helpfully.I bet he tastes like?—

“NO!” I smacked my cheeks. “Bad vampire prince. No thinking about how perfect your adopted brothers’ throats felt under your fangs. Or how their hands tightened when you bit them or the way they bothgrowled—STOP IT!”

But my mind helpfully supplied a highlight reel anyway. Zane’s hands cradling my head in the garden, Ryker’s grip on my waist by the koi pond. At this rate, I was going to run out of brothers to accidentally bite.

A soft knock at the door made me jump.

“Prince Luca?” Benedict’s voice was gentle. “I’ve brought your lunch, and the tablets you left in the garden.”

Leftwas a polite way of saying ‘abandoned in my mad dash to escape after using my adopted brother as a snack.’ But Benedict was too proper to phrase it that way.

“Coming!” I scrambled to my feet, trying to compose myself into something resembling a proper vampire prince rather than a flustered mess who kept treating his brothers like a supernatural juice bar.

Benedict stood in the hallway with a silver tray, his expression carefully neutral. But I caught the slight twitch of his lips that suggested he knew exactly why I’d fled the garden.

“Your tablets, Prince,” he said, presenting the devices I’d completely forgotten in my escape. “And a selection of blood types for lunch.”

I could have hugged him. “Benedict, you’re an angel.”

“Not at all, Prince. Though I did add your lavender straws.” He set the tray on my desk. “If I may, Prince Luca, such… incidents are quite normal for young vampires coming into their power. You are, after all, only twenty-one years old.”

I blinked at him. “Normal? There’s nothing normal about accidentally snacking on your adopted brothers!”

“Actually, Prince…” Benedict’s eyes sparkled with carefully contained amusement. “The library has several volumes on vampire maturation. Including one specifically about power manifestation and feeding urges.”

“Oh God,” I groaned, collapsing into my chair. “You mean there are actual books about this? Please tell me there isn’t a manual on proper neck-biting protocol.”

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