Page 51 of Bitten By Bloodmoon
“Let me go, Sylara. You know I won’t hurt her,” Kael says, annoyed by she’s holding onto him. Riven has already released one of his arms, determining he isn’t a real threat.
“I know no such thing,” she snarks back.
He rolls his eyes, but then turns to me, “Lumi! Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
I grin. It’s been so long since I’ve smiled, genuinely smiled.
The three protective males are still standing in front of me, guarding me like there’s an entire troop of vampires standing in front of me instead of my best friend.
I shove Nyx and run toward Kael, not caring why he’s here, just that he is. I sling my arms around his neck, throwing my entire body into the hug.
He grabs me, lifting me off the ground with his arm wrapped tightly around my body, with a promise that he’ll never let me go again if I don’t want him to. He’d fight everyone here to get me out of here if I just gave him the word.
Tears begin to fall, and I don’t care. I don’t care that everyone is watching me fall apart. I have my best friend back. The only link to home. The part of me that no one really knows.
“Really, you can let go of my arm,” he growls.
I lift my head from his shoulder to see that Sylara is still gripping his other arm.
“Not going to happen,” she hisses.
“Let go of him, Sylara,” I say, despite knowing she won’t listen to me; she’ll only listen to Nyx. To my surprise, as soon as I speak the command, she releases him.
I pull Kael tighter into a hug that feels like it lasts for hours, and yet still isn’t enough as I sob into his chest. No one speaks.But I know they are all still in the room. No one leaves. No one trusts me alone with him.
“What happened? How are you here?” I ask, through a hiccup, as I keep my arms wrapped around his waist. He has his wrapped around my shoulders.
“First, you—are you okay? Has anyone touched you?” He glares over my shoulder at Nyx.
It takes me a second to realize what he’s insinuating.
“I’m fine. No one has touched me,” I say as reassuringly as I can.
“You’re just being held against your will, right?”
Well, yes. And no. It’s complicated.I choose not to answer him. Because I’m not even sure how to answer it myself.
“How are you here? Did Ambrose let you go? Did he send you?” I’m not sure how I want him to answer.Do I want Ambrose to care about me? To want to ensure my safety? Or do I want to imagine that he’s been holding Kael captive, and he somehow escaped?
Kael seems to notice my turmoil in my eyes, confusion ringing out in his own. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. Ambrose doesn’t know where I went. As soon as I realized you might be in danger, I came.”
“You can’t stay,” Nyx says firmly, and in an instant, I hate him again. I remember why I wanted to kill him.Why the hell did I agree to a deal with the asshole?
I turn, my hand slinking down to hold Kael’s as I do. I watch Nyx’s eyes follow down to our linked hands, and I recall Nyx’s earlier words to me, thinking that Kael and I were lovers.Good, let him think that. Let him hate me. But he doesn’t get to order me around.
“He stays,” I growl back. “If you want me to honor my deal, he stays.”
Nyx shakes his head. “You can’t amend the deal, not at this point.”
“Like hell I can’t.”
“You can’t actually. We inked it in blood and all of that.”
“You what?” The room erupts.
“What do you mean you made a blood deal with her?” Riven asks.
“Are you mad?” Brax asks.
