Page 37 of Make Me Bleed

How can it not be fresh? I heard Peter last night.

Didn’t I?

Bridget and Conall have a point. They were worried that something happened to me. A vampire’s scent is very strong, especially to wolf shifted, so Conall was able to follow my trail all the way to Hank’s den. What if it isn’t Peter? What if it’s a witch hunter who is searching for Bridget, and my own trauma created his voice at first?

Either way, I have to tell them the truth. After all, how can Bridget’s mate save her like mine did me if he doesn’t even know what the threat could be?

So I do. And maybe I did it because I wanted Hank to know what he was signing up for, agreeing so readily to be my mate.

Hoping they won’t interrupt me, I explain how I’ve been sensing someone watching me from the trees behind my house. I hurriedly add that I know when it’s Hank, and that I appreciate the big bear wanting to keep sentry over me, but it wasn’t Hank. It was someone else entirely?—

I gulp. “He called my name last night.” I glance at Bridget. “Unless I was imagining it, it was Peter.”

The air whooshes right by Bridget, sending her copper-colored curls dancing around her face. “Peter? Here? In Alaska? You’ve gotta be shitting me.”

“It was his voice. But when I went off to confront him, I couldn’t find him. And the dark…” A lump lodges in my throat. I’m still holding onto Hank, though we’ve all moved away from the mouth of his den to have this conversation. Right now, I squeeze him, needing that connection.

And then, in a much quiet voice, I admit, “When I was three, I was trapped in a coffin my nanny decided the baby vampire deserved. For days in the dark… I hate it now. Enclosed spaces. Not being able to see or to breathe… and that sensation hit me last night before I could find Peter. That’s why I collapsed. That’s why I ran to Hank.”

He runs his thumb over my fingers. “That’s right, darlin’. ‘Cause you know you can always count on your mate.”

“You can count on us, too, Elise,” Bridget says. “If Peter’s here, Conall will find him. No unauthorized visitors allowed in Dyea, right, babe?” She tugs Conall’s sleeve. “You’ll take care of it.”

“If he’s out there,” Conell says solemnly, “he’ll wish he wasn’t.”

“We should go now. If Elise heard him last night, maybe there’s a trail to follow.”

Conall nods.

Bridget glances at me. “You coming?”

Oh. I… as much as I expected that to be the result of my telling them about Peter, I guess I just didn’t realize that she would want me to go back with them.

And why wouldn’t she? As far as Bridget knows, I’ve been avoiding Hank. I still hadn’t made up my mind about what I was going to about our bond, but as my stomach drops at the idea of walking away from him at this very moment, I had to admit if only to myself: I always knew what I was going to do.

I tighten my grip on Hank’s hand. “I think I’m going to stay a little longer.”

Bridget’s forehead furrows. Conall, on the other hand, looks from Hank to me and back.

He nods at the other male. “You’ll take care of her?”

“She’s my mate.”

To the gathered supes, that’s enough of an answer. But sometimes Bridget reacts as though she’s still a human.

Like now.

“You’ll protect her? Feed her? Keep her warm? Vampires get cold, you know. You have fur. Elise doesn’t.”

“Bridge—”

“It’s okay, Lise. I got this.” Unentangling our hands, he hooks his elbow around my neck, tucking me close to his side. “You’re her friend and I respect that. Maybe you don’t know how far I’ll go for this female. For my mate. You see, she’s not a prize. She’s not prey. She’s the one thing that makes me feel like more than just a beast. She’s worth more to me than my entire life, and I’ll lay it down for her if I have to. You know why? Because, without my mate, I don’t have one. Will I protect her? You bet your ass I will.”

He’s not done, either.

See, some shifters would take that as an insult. Suggest to a predator shifter that he can’t shield and protect his mate? They could take that very personally and react as such.

But Hank… my sweet honey bear… the male who saves me again and again… he nods solemnly this time.

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