Page 2 of Blood Lust
“First things first,” Cole said. “Let’s get you examined by Edgar and see if he can come to any conclusions.”
“Fucking dark magic,” Zac said, leading me to the back of the plane.
We walked into a lavish room with a bed that took up most of the space, and the oversized comforter was more inviting than anything else.
Zac stripped me down to my cami and lace underwear and pulled back the covers. “Jump in,” he said, crawling in behind me after I laid down.
Once Zac settled in behind me, I melted into his bare-chest and rock-hard abs. I felt him kiss my neck, then my shoulders while rubbing his hand over my arm and inching his fingers between my legs. “I’ve missed you, baby.”
I gritted my teeth, which was the last response I should’ve had, knowing the supernatural bliss he and his cousins had given me with every single encounter we’d ever had. Even so, I cringed at the thought of intimacy with them.
“Yeah. I just can’t believe how tired I am.” I’d hoped my response was nice but still enough to get the point across that I wasn’t in the mood for anything but sleep.
It was silent for a second, then Zac pulled his hand away and brought me into a warm embrace from behind. “Rest up, baby. You really need that.” I felt him kiss the top of my head. “I’m here if you need anything.”
I closed my eyes and let Zac’s warm body heat radiate into mine. I closed my eyes, and within seconds, I was out like a light. We could figure shit out later. I was beat, and now I had to move into another new home and start all over again.
Chapter Two
Iwoke to the sound of the engines shutting down on the plane. My heavy eyelids felt almost impossible to open. I felt like I’d never been this exhausted in my entire life. Zac mumbled something—I guess he’d stayed with me in bed for the whole flight—and I couldn’t manage to respond.
The next thing I knew, I was in the back seat in an oversized SUV, speeding away from a private airport. I tried to keep my eyes pried open, but it was like trying to deadlift hundred-pound weights. I sighed and heard Logan to my right. My subconscious mind picked up on whatever he was saying, and I leaned into a warm embrace, melting into my Logan.
“Hey doll,” I faintly heard Cole’s voice say with concern. Knuckles ran over the back of my cheekbone. “Baby?”
I opened my eyes and saw Cole reaching into the SUV to pull me into his arms.
“Shit,” I whispered. “How long was I asleep?”
“Long enough to have slept the entire day away.” I felt him kiss my forehead. “Kidding. You’ve been out for a few hours, not counting the three solid hours after you passed out on the plane.”
I felt myself coming to, and I exhaled a breath of relief. “I really thought I was screwed when I couldn’t wake up coming off the plane. Glad to see I can actually keep my eyes open again.”
“It seems your human side has finally exhausted itself trying to keep up with the supernatural, doll face.” He squeezed me in his arms, “I’m just glad we’re here, and you can relax in the manor.”
I glanced over to see a stunning two-story white home complete with black shutters that graced the eight windows on the top and the bottom of the front of the house. Four huge white, carved pillars lined an enormous front porch that extended the length of this mansion-like home and swept off around the corners leading around the house.
“I’ve never seen such a beautiful home in my life,” I muttered, totally in awe of the stately structure.
“It certainly has a rich history,” Cole said, stepping up the red brick steps that led up to the mahogany double front doors. “It’s been in Roman’s family for as long as he can remember. In the early 1800s, they created this place as a safe haven for the slaves. They did a lot of work during that time to help with the abomination the humans were creating by thinking they could actually own each other.”
Slavery. Damn, who would have imagined vampires were down here helping slaves escape their slavemasters.
“I can’t imagine how horrible that must’ve been,” I said, knowing there were no words to express to someone who actually witnessed the atrocities I had only read about in history books.
We breezed through the doors into a beautiful atrium.
“Yeah, it’s most definitely one of the darkest times in human history that I’ve ever witnessed,” Cole said as he set me on my feet. “And humans have the nerve to callusmonsters. After the shit I’ve seen, I beg to differ.”
“I have no doubt of that,” I said before glancing around. “Wow. Everything looks like we just went through a time portal back to that century.”
“Everything but this,” Cole winked at me and flipped on a light switch.
An elaborate glass chandelier was overhead, illuminating the checkered floor in the atrium where we stood before a grand staircase that led up to an inside balcony with two hallways leading off of it.
“To the left is a small living area that leads off to a kitchen,” Cole said. “Off to the right over there,” he pointed to where luxurious sofas and high-back chairs were, “that’s another living area, and a few office-type rooms and bathrooms are past that. The entire back porch is accessible through a few sets of glass doors that line the back of the house.”
“Just another typical house, right?” I laughed and ran my hand down his forearm.
