Page 80 of Eternally Yours

“I won’t be gentle.”

“You’re a means to an end, Nicholas. Don’t mistake my ambition for anything else but that.”

As a trio of human females performed some ritual with ropes and candles and all sorts of other bullshit I didn’t care to indulge, I chose to zone out instead. The similarities to the siring ritual reminded me too much of the night Cat helped me sire Loren, and I couldn’t bear the memory. Reliving that night was torture.

Words were chanted as the trio removed our clothing. Piece by piece I was stripped down to my white linen breeches while Ellie stood stark naked before me, her long black hair covering her exposed breasts. She could’ve worn undergarments, at least for the feeding portion of our union, but Ellie wasn’t shy about showing off her body.

Or she reveled in making my skin crawl.

One of the young females handed me a small, sharp dagger. As the male, it was expected of me to make the first offering of blood. As I went to slice my wrist, the ceremony host grabbed my hand. “It must come from the neck.”

Fucking. Perfect. The last person I let drink from my neck had been Loren. I’d made love to her as we both fed from each other, sealing our sacred bond. Looking down at Ellie, my limbs went friged, my blood glacial. Was I indeed going to go through with this, with the woman standing before me? And for what? For a dream I didn’t believe in? To unite the two most ruthless vampire families on the planet?

This was a mistake.

Ellie’s eyes widened, perhaps seeing doubt in my gaze, sensing I was about to fuck this union to hell.

“Nic, please,” she implored in a soft voice. “For the survival of our species.”

I looked down at my hand and at the dagger gripped in my trembling fingers. As much as I hated the idea of waging a war against the humans, I couldn’t deny my own nature. We’d been hiding for a millennium, persecuted by the Order and forced to stay underground for fear of being hunted to extinction.

What did I have to lose? I’d already lost the love of my life. I had nothing left to live for except my family. Swallowing hard, I buried the last remnant of doubt lingering in my head and raised the dagger, but before I could bring it to my neck, an unseen force pushed down on my chest, pressing down like a boulder. My breath caught as my lungs tightened. Feeling lightheaded, a staggered backward a few steps.

“What’s the matter?” Ellie asked.

“Something… feels off.” Steadying myself, I looked out into the sea of masked vampires, their gazes fixed on me. For some reason, I found myself searching for the woman in red. The heat in my chest, the rush of adrenaline in my blood. It didn’t make sense. Could it be possible? But Loren was dead, our bond severed by death.

Yet, I could feel her heart beating with mine. Could sense her breath as if it was my own. “Where is she?” I whispered to myself as I kept searching the crowd.

“Who?” Ellie asked, her voice trembling. “Nic, we can’t keep the families waiting. They’re going to think something is wrong.”

Her voice sounded far, her words seeming to disappear like vapor. All of my senses were focused on one thing. Finding the woman in red.

Could it be? Am I going insane?

“Nic, you need to make the cut.”

I turned to Ellie. “Huh?”

“Offer me your blood, Nicholas.”

Everything inside my head spun. The indistinct chatter in the room sounded muffled. Ellie’s lips moved in slow motion. A pull I couldn’t describe tugged at my core. Hands shaking, I dropped the dagger, the metallic clank bouncing through the room.

“You imbecile,” Ellie cried. “If you won’t offer me yours, then I will offer you mine.” In a swift move, Ellie snatched the dagger from the ground and nicked her neck right below her jawline. Blood spilled out, dripping down her neck in rivers of blood. “Feed from me,” she ordered.

The scent of her blood was potent, the iron tang impossible to ignore. I tried holding back, but my body’s instincts were that, instincts. Nostrils flaring, I fell victim to my basal needs, unable to avoid thirsting for the taste of blood. Inching closer, my head still in a fog, my fangs descended, but as I was about to sink my teeth into Ellie’s neck, a flash of red in the crowd caught my eye, halting me in place.

“Stop!” a woman shouted, the sound of her familiar voice splintering my bones. My gaze found her in seconds. Like a waking dream, Loren stood amidst the onlookers, dressed in a crimson gown and eyes wide with a mixture of fear and relief. For a moment, I wondered if I was hallucinating. Was my heart that broken that it was conjuring a mirage to ease its pain?

Guests stepped aside to let her through, and when she came closer to the stage, I lost all my breath.

It was her. It really was her. I couldn’t believe it.

Entranced, my feet moved on their own, and I stepped off the altar, needing to get closer to her. “Loren?”

Her lips lifted in the most beautiful smile, and the simple gesture sent my cold, dead heart into a frenzy again. A pleasant buzz shot through our bloodbond, and I was touched by the warmth of her love. It consumed me, filling me to the brim.

I reached out and cupped the side of her face. The moment I felt her skin, I was struck with an overwhelming need to wrap my arms around her. To hold her close and never let her go. I pulled her against me and pressed my face into her hair, inhaling her cinnamon and vanilla scent. “You’re alive… I can’t believe it.”

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