Page 55 of A Bond Beyond Blood
“Never gonna happen, little Fiorino.”
Chapter Seventeen
Vinny
Elias Bristol was back, and he’d done a number on my girl.Dr.Alfred Bianchi had come and gone, leaving Jacqueline with three stitches in her left temple and a mild sedative coursing through her veins.
He’d cleaned and bandaged up any open wounds, of which there were multiple, confirmed that her tail bone wasnotbroken—thankfully—just battered from, as she explained, Elias ‘tossing her across the room like a ragdoll’.The doc confirmed what I’d already surmised: Jacqueline had multiple bruised ribs.
The ribs are some of the strongest bones in the human body.The fact that Elias beat Jacqueline so badly that he damaged even one of them was enough for a death warrant—had he beenanyoneelse.
Unfortunately, as my king and one of only a handful of born vampires remaining across the continents, he was untouchable.
My hands were tied, and being helpless wasn’t something I was used to.
The only way to treat a rib injury of that nature was with rest, ice, and breathing exercises.My girl wasn’t happy about the prospect of being down for six to eight weeks, but I’d already put out a call to find a few extra hands to help out downstairs, and she’d reached out to her employees to see who could pick up the slack over the next few weeks.If worse came to worse, I’d bribe some of the guys down at the gym to help, maybe trade a few months of membership dues or something.
With Jacqueline sleeping peacefully in the primary bedroom, I found myself pacing the length of the apartment, up and down the hallway, left alone with my thoughts and consumed by questions I had no way of answering.
The Vampire King had returned.
Where had he been all this time?And why comehere?Whynow?
What was the link to Jacqueline Fiorino?
Was Elias really the vampire she’d been planning to fight all this time?
Christ.How thefuckhad I managed to get myself embroiled in something so reckless?
Training a human to go up against a vampire was one thing, but to go up against aking?Abornvampire?
She never stood a chance.
I scrubbed my hand down the back of my neck as guilt burned through my veins.She never stood a chance regardless, king or otherwise.Even that littlebuttagotsJacqueline used to date could rip her apart—and he was brand new.
I plopped down onto the couch and hung my head back, staring up at the ceiling.I’d come so close to losing her, all because I’d been selfish.I’d never told her the truth, never explained that no matter how diligently she trained or how strong she became, she’d never be able to fight a vampire and come out of that battle alive.Her foolish vendetta and my selfishness could have ripped her from my grasp forever.
