Page 9 of Bound in Blood

She stifles a yawn.I am tired.

I direct my attention back to Giorgios. “Can you show us where we’ll be staying?” We haven’t slept in over a day, and it feels like it’s been a lifetime. It was certainly in a whole different life, at least. A life withhimvery much a part of it. I should have told him so many things. Even if he wouldn’t have wanted to hear them, I should have told him anyway.

“Imari will show you to your quarters” comes Giorgios’s reply.

“Imari?” Malachi asks.

Giorgios is saved from responding by the arrival of a woman I assume must be Imari. She walks toward us, smiling, her long black ponytail swishing back and forth like a horse’s mane.

“Imari is one of my companions,” he explains.

“Are you her sire?” I ask him.

“I am. She will take care of all of your needs when I am not here. Simply call for her, and she will hear you.”

I scrutinize her carefully. I’d say she was in her late twenties when she was turned, and it is impossible to tell how old, and therefore how powerful, she is as a vampire.

“And will you fetch Ophelia some tea, Imari?” he adds.

My girl shakes her head. “I don’t want tea.”

“This is an old Tibetan recipe, Ophelia,” Imari says, and for some reason, I’m surprised she has an American accent. “It will help with your altitude sickness and the lightheadedness. I’ll sweeten it with some honey. It’s delicious.”

Ophelia tilts her head and acquiesces with a nod. “Thank you.”

Imari smiles again. Everything about her demeanor is warm and friendly, but in contrast, she is tall and angular, with the contours of her muscular arms clearly visible in the tight shirt she wears. She’s a fighter, I have no doubt.

I’m suspicious and on edge. I’ll feel better when I can get my girl alone.

“I’ll show you to your rooms.” Imari gestures for us to follow her.

“Um, room. Singular,” I snap. That shit is not gonna fly. Not here. Not anywhere.

“Yeah, we don’t sleep separately,” Malachi adds.

Imari glances at Giorgios, and he must give some sign of agreement because she nods. “Very well. Follow me.”

I put Ophelia’s backpack over my shoulder with mine, and Malachi scoops our girl into his arms where she nestles herselfagainst his chest. Axl slings his arm around my shoulder and flashes me a what-the-fuck-have-we-gotten-ourselves-into look.

I hope we’ve done the right thing, I tell him.

Alexandros trusted him, he reminds me.And when have you ever known him to be wrong about anything?

He was wrong last night about going to find Lucian, and it got him fucking killed. A fresh jolt of pain cuts through my bones, and I grit my teeth and feel every second of it. It’s better than having nothing. But I keep my thoughts to myself once more.

Chapter

Three

MALACHI

“This room isn’t so bad, I guess,” I say. It’s got a big enough bed for all four of us. One that a quick bounce on the mattress tells me is comfortable. Ophelia strips to her panties and crawls under the covers.

She flops onto her back and yawns. “Does anyone have any idea what time it is?”

I check my watch. “It’s three a.m. here, baby. Tibet is thirteen hours ahead of us back home.”

Her eyelids flutter closed. “Three a.m.? Maybe that’s why I’m so tired.” Tears leak from the corners of her eyes, and I hurriedly pull off my clothes and crawl into bed alongside her while Axl and Xavier undress.

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