Page 74 of Eternally Yours

Last thing I wanted to think about was mating with another woman. Loren was dead. My world had no meaning without her.

“Son,” he said, his voice soft and coated with the warmth I’d always longed for. “As your father… your sire, we are bloodbonded. I feel your suffering as my own. And it tears me up to see you this way. But you must think of your family. Are we not also deserving of your love?”

Were they? I hated everything my family stood for—their arcane ways and rigid rules—but in the end, theywerethe only family I had. Five hundred years ago, my father had saved me from the clutches of death and given me a new life. My mother had taught me restraint and the value of an eternal bond. And Catherine. She was more than my friend. She was my anchor, the person who had seen me through hell and back again.

My father was right. I couldn’t let them down.

Holding back my anger and sorrow, I nodded, accepting my fate. “I will honor my word, Father. I will unite the families.”

But I refused to lie to myself. I wasn’t doing this just for them. There would be no rest until every single member of the Order was dead.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Loren

The click-clack of boots caught my attention. Sitting up, I brushed the straw off my face and blinked to adjust my sight to the shining light coming from the hallway. Someone was coming.

Who could it be this time?

Probably another meal—one I wouldn't eat—but when I heard a familiar female voice calling my name in a soft whisper, my heart drummed with a mix of excitement and fear.

Her shadow blocked out the light in the metal door’s small barred window, and I winced remembering her last visit. She’d been so cruel to me, but I’d taken her lashings without a fight. I deserved her hate and then some for what I’d done.

“Loren,” Catherine called out again. “Are you in here?”

That was odd. Considering she’d visited me before, where else would I be? Then again, I’d lost track of time, and it could’ve been a while ago when she last came. It sure felt like a lifetime had passed.

Still, I didn’t understand the reason for her visit now. At first, I thought the vampires would eventually kill me, but as time passed and no one came, I figured they were leaving me there until I died of self-starvation—or loneliness. And I wanted to die. I prayedto a God I wasn’t even sure existed that my life would just end. But starving myself wasn’t doing the trick.

And without Nic, life wasn’t worth living anymore. Especially an immortal one.

The keypad beeped as a code was typed in and the heavy door swung open. I lowered my gaze, grief and guilt slamming through me. I couldn’t tolerate looking at her again and seeing her loathing for me. It’d only make me relive that terrible day all over again. I couldn’t bear it.

To my surprise, she lowered to her knees and her hand came under my chin to lift my face, her touch gentle, a stark contrast to her last visit. When our eyes met, her gaze softened with sympathy, or perhaps pity.

A fragile smile lifted her lips. “Oh, Loren… What have they done to you?” she muttered as she examined my face.

Parting my lips to speak, my voice cracked. I hadn’t spoken since I’d been thrown in there. My throat was dry and scratchy from ignoring my meals. I wanted to tell her that what they’d done hadn’t been anything I didn’t deserve, but I had no words, I only stared at her and licked my cracked lips.

“You poor thing…” she said with a sigh. “Come, get up. I’m getting you out of here.”

She lifted me up from under an arm and helped me walk out of the cell, my bare feet half-dragging on the floor. I didn’t question where she was taking me, but as we passed several more cells, I noticed men lying unconscious on the ground and wondered what happened.

Cat must’ve caught me staring at the bodies. “Don’t worry about them, they’ll wake up in a few hours. With terrible headaches, but who gives a shit. Assholes deserve their nuts kicked in for keeping you in that shit-hole.”

As we walked, I grew dizzy, the hunger I’d been ignoring roaring to life.

“Come on, Loren. Just a little longer,” she said, continuing to haul us through the labyrinth of cells, but as we took a few more steps, my knees gave way and we both tumbled to the ground. Cat cursed.

My mind went blank as we hit the stone, my body too numb to walk. I welcomed the reprieve from the onslaught of my pain, but Cat didn’t let me rest. She yanked me back up, my limbs protesting.

“Guess I’m gonna have to carry you on my back.” She grunted as she swung my body over her shoulder. “Nic is so gonna owe me for this.”

Nic?

A barrage of emotions clashed inside my chest. Was she talking about my Nic? Could it be possible he was still alive? But I remembered the things she’d said the last time she’d visited me. That I’d torn his neck to shreds and decapitated him. That I’d ripped off his limbs. That he’d been unrecognizable.

How could he still be alive?

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