Page 56 of A Bond Beyond Blood

Elias could have ended her life with ease—

Leaning forward, I rested my elbows on my knees, frowning as I considered that fact.

Because hedidn’t.

I tilted my head.He didn’t kill her when he easily could have.He beat the shit out of her, yes, but he’d claimed she’d asked for that fight.Knowing Jacqueline, I don’t doubt that for a second.My girl loves to throw down, and if she’d been waiting to face him...

Shaking my head, I ran my hands down my face.

He could have destroyed her, but he chose to spare her instead.

Why?

It obviously had something to do with the fact that his blood supposedly ran through Jacqueline’s veins, which would explain the hint of vampire I’d always picked up in her scent.And there was also the small detail of his ability to read her mind, a skill I’d never heard of within the vampire community.But, as a born vampire, aroyal, maybe he had abilities the rest of us schmucks didn’t possess—or know about.

A thought that was quite unsettling.

My nostrils flared as I picked up a scent, registering the young vampire in the parking lot a split second before his foot hit the bottom step on the exterior stairwell.This fucking kid.The last thing I needed to deal with right now was some baby vamp ex-boyfriend who couldn’t take a fucking hint.

I rose to my feet with a growl, then yanked Jacqueline’s front door open just as the kid raised his hand to knock.

“Jackie—you,” he snarled.“Where is she?What did you do to her?”He lunged for me but I took a step back, chuckling when he couldn’t get past the threshold.Unlike his easy entrance into the butcher shop below, Jacqueline’s apartment wasn’t public property and, therefore, a vampire would need explicit invitation to enter.

She’d revoked his right to enter the butcher shop; I highly doubted she’d ever let this punk inside herhomeagain.

I crossed my arms over my chest.“I thought she told you to kick rocks, kid.”

He sniffed.“I’m not a kid.I’m not even that much younger than you.”

I snorted.“Maybe so.But I’ve got three-quarters of a century on you.”

His eyes narrowed and he looked like he might be about to argue, but then his nostrils flared as he picked up on her scent again and his gaze darted past me, frantically searching for his ex-girlfriend once more.“I can smell her blood,” he said, accusation dripping from each word.“There’s a lot of it.”His wide eyes flicked to the wooden planks below his feet as if he could see through the balcony and down into the shop, where Eli had tossed her around.“She’s hurt.”

“No shit?”I winked.“You’ll make a great detective someday, little buddy.”

His lips pressed into a hard line, but he didn’t bare his teeth at me this time.“What did you do to her?Where is she?”

“She’s resting.”

“If you’ve hurt her, I’ll—”

“You’llwhat?”I asked, stepping over the threshold.“Fight me?”I tilted my head.“I’d love to see you try.”

Nostrils flaring, he puffed up his chest—adorable—and bent to the side to look past me again as he yelled, “Jackie—”

I was on him before he could finish calling her name, one hand around his throat and the other clapped over his mouth.Pressing the kid against the balcony railing, I leaned into him, holding his gaze as I said, “Lower your fucking voice or I’ll relieve you of your vocal cords.Capisce?”He nodded, or tried to anyway, and I loosened my grip but didn’t let go completely.“I already told you...she’sresting.And if you ever insinuate that I’ve laid a hand on her again, I’ll shatter both of yours.”

The kid winced.

“You’ll heal.In time.”I shrugged.“But the wait will be excruciating, each minuscule sliver of bone fusing itself back together, piece by painful piece" I shivered at the image.

His mouth opened but no sound came out, so I released his throat and gripped his biceps instead, lifting him an inch off the ground.

“Jacqueline has been injured, but she’s fine.”I grinned wickedly to drive home my next point.“My girl’s inverycapable hands.”

But he’d stopped listening.Panic twisted the kid’s features as he glanced behind him at the parking lot below.

I frowned as his fear rolled off of him in waves.

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