Page 58 of A Bond Beyond Blood
“Come on, man!”There was a thump on the other side of the door, then his muffled voice, full of dejection.“I have nowhere to go.”
You gotta be fucking kidding me.I’d managed to find myself in love with a woman who’d not only caught the eye of a vampire king who’d been MIA for decades, but she also had a determined ex-boyfriend-turned-baby-vamp without a maker—or ahome, as luck would have it.While the latter should be easy enough to handle, assuming I could get it through his thick skull that Jacqueline had moved on, the former wound up on her doorstep, beat the shit out of her but left her alive, and vowed to return in two weeks.
The fuck is going on right now?
As the kid’s footsteps retreated down the stairs, I dropped my head back and sighed, looking up at the ceiling as if I’d find answers there.
“Vinny?”Jacqueline barely finished calling my name before I was at her bedside.
“Hey, gorgeous, why aren’t you sleeping?”I ran my hand over her forehead, smoothing her hair away from her face.She was clammy, but not feverish.Her blood still stank of the sedative Dr.Bianchi had supplied, so it couldn’t have worn off.
“Is someone here?”Her eyelids fluttered closed, those dark lashes fanning out across her soft cheeks, mottled with shades of purple and red as the bruises continued to bloom on her skin.
“No one important.”
She hummed as I caressed her hair, turning her head into my hand and nuzzling against my palm.
Fuck me,I was in deep.
“Vinny?”
“Yeah?”
The ghost of a smile danced on her lips, then she whispered, “Come to bed?”
I smiled, shaking my head.“Any time you ask, sweet girl.”I moved to the other side of the bed and kicked off my shoes, then pulled back the covers and crawled in beside her.As carefully as I could manage, I snuggled her into my arms and pressed my nose against her hair, pulling the delicious scent of her into my lungs.
“Who was here?”
I smirked; I should have known she wasn’t going to give up that easily.
“It was that kid, Garrett or whatever.”
She lifted her head, meeting my gaze with sleepy, half-lidded eyes, a crease tugging at her brows.“Gannon?”
I nodded.
“What did he want?”
Apparently, what every vampire wants lately: my girl.“He could tell you’d been injured.”
Her eyes widened.
“I told him you were resting and threw him off the balcony.”
“What?”She moved to push up, then winced and I gently eased her back into my arms.
“He’s fine.We always land on our feet.”Once she was settled again, I ran my fingers over her scalp and through the long strands of her dark hair.“Now go to sleep, little Fiorino.You need to rest.”
“Tell me about Eli.”
I stiffened.I’d known this would come, but was unprepared to answer all the same.
“That’s a long story, Jacqueline.I think you need to rest before we head down that rabbit hole.”
She made a frustrated sound in her throat even as she fought not to succumb to her body’s demand for sleep.“Please,” she whispered.“I need to understand.”
With a deep breath, I cradled her head to my chest and gave her the quickest explanation I could come up with.“Elias Bristol is a king,” I murmured, pressing a kiss into her hair.“Once upon a time, he abdicated his throne by pulling a disappearing act.His return means...”I breathed deeply, pulling her scent into my lungs once more.“Well, I don’t really know what it means.”And that part was digging at me.Why now?Why here?
