Page 1 of Taste of Danger

Chapter One

Elvine came to a sudden stop, causing Jax to shift and frantically scan their surroundings, searching for any sign of their missing mate. “Where is he? I don’t see him, sprite.”

She gracefully landed on her feet and sprinted toward a large, sturdy tree. Then she dropped to her knees in front of a pile of leaves that seemed to have been purposely gathered.

The sight caused Jax’s heart to drop into his stomach.

Elvine didn’t try to clear away the leaves. Instead, she just knelt there with her arms wrapped tightly around herself, trembling uncontrollably.

With fearful steps, Jax approached her. “Is he buried under these leaves, Elvine?”

She nodded quickly but had yet to remove the leaves. As Jax looked her over, he found himself still reeling from the revelation earlier.

The moment Arion had appeared, he’d instantly known the emaciated vampire was his mate. The pull toward him was intense and undeniable.

But then something unexpected happened. The pull had suddenly shifted sideways and enveloped Elvine as well. It was as if all three of their fates were connected, and nothing else mattered.

The realization that she was also his mate left Jax shocked and bewildered.

He had already been secretly attracted to her since he’d caught her peeping inside their windows, but it wasn’t until tonight that he felt the intense pull toward the beautiful fairy.

Now all he could feel was the magnetic pull toward both of them consuming every part of him.

Jax knelt down in the soft grass beside her and placed a comforting hand against her small back, feeling the tremors racking her body.

His eyes closed briefly as he took a deep breath, preparing himself for what they might find, while trying to calm his own racing heart. “I want you to turn around, sprite,” he said softly, rubbing her back. “Let me look first, okay?”

The situation was urgent, but Jax refused to manically knock away the leaves and traumatize her if they found Arion… He couldn’t do that to her.

She nodded quickly, her vibrant meadow-green eyes filled with gratefulness and fear as she gazed up at him.

Jax leaned in to press a tender kiss to her forehead before he helped her turn around, bracing himself for what he had to do next.

“Don’t you dare go soft on me, ma petite. I love your fiery spirit. It keeps me on my toes, brat.” He was trying to lessen the tension, though he knew it wouldn’t do any good. Still, he hated to see how badly she was shaking.

A sniff escaped her. “I’m not going soft, Mr. Nippy Nose.” Her voice quivered slightly. “I just need you to slice me some slack right now.”

Gazing at her back, he smiled softly and said, “I’ll slice you some slack, sprite.”

Jax took a deep breath to steady his trembling hands before he began brushing the thick layer of leaves aside. His heart clenched when he uncovered a thin, pale arm, the skin marred with fresh bite marks running up and down its length. With increasing urgency, he dug until Arion was fully revealed.

The vampire’s shirt was torn and stained with blood. Jax gasped in horror at the jigsaw puzzle of scars crisscrossing his torso. He traced his fingers over the multitude of old and faded scars, but others looked fresh and raw, most likely inflicted within the past hour, though they showed no signs of healing.

What kind of torture had Arion endured?

More importantly, how had he survived?

Confusion and worry filled Jax’s mind as he tried to make sense of it all. Vampires healed when they drank blood. So why hadn’t his mate’s wounds healed? What could have caused them to become permanent? Having only met Arion less than an hour ago, Jax and Elvine knew nothing about their mate.

“Is it bad?” she asked on a quivering breath. “Is Arion…?”

Ignoring the bile rising in his throat, Jax pressed his fingers against Arion’s neck, searching for a pulse and panicking when he couldn’t find one. He moved his fingers around, unsure if he was even checking on the correct side since he’d never had to look for a pulse before.

“I don’t—” A surge of relief flooded him when he finally located a weak and struggling beat. “We need to feed him.”

Elvine spun around, her eyes widening in horror as she took in the full extent of their mate’s injuries. “I’m going to kill whoever did this to him,” she snarled.

“Let’s focus on getting him fed first,” Jax said as he turned back to Arion. “Then we’ll end whoever did this to our mate.”

---