Page 49 of Make Me Bleed

It’s not that it’s a secret. Not really. Just like how Bridget hid the fact that she’s a witch from Dyea, I was careful to conceal my former Fang City—and my heritage.

The van Duren name signifies two things: just how far back my lineage goes, plus the truth that I’m a born vampire instead of a turned one. Shifters and humans don’t care about that.But other bloodsuckers? There’s the idea of superiority existing between our two types, similar to how vampires as a whole look down on wolf shifters in particular. Overall, born vampires trump the changed-over.

Would the vampires in Dyea care? They all came here for their own reasons, though there’s no doubt that they’re hiding out in the sanctuary. Would they approve of having a born vampire living among them—or would they be full of disdain?

It wasn’t worth the risk. So I kept my secrets from the rest of the town, and I asked Mayor Lou to do the same. In Dyea, we don’t need surnames anyway. I only know Conall’s because of Bridget, and that was okay… until Julian just admitted he knowsmine.

How? From Peter?

He takes a moment to respond, but before I can demand he tell me, Julian scoffs. “I’ve known from the beginning.”

My stomach goes tight. “The blood coolers,” I realize. “My name was on them.”

He nods. “And from the moment I accepted the first one, I knew you would be mine.”

What?No.

“But I’m not,” I tell him, trying to conceal my rising panic. The first delivery… whatever he’s plotting, it’s been at least three months. Vampires are patient, of course, but for Julian to decide to make his move now… it’s not because Conall confronted him.

His next words confirm that it’s because he seems to think I’ll still accept him as my mate even though I’ve already found mine.

“Such a pretty unmarked neck, Elise. It begs for my bite, don’t you think?”

I shake my head slowly. I know what he’s doing. He’s pointing out that, in spite of all of my denials, it would be fairly easy for him to make me his mate. It would be cruel, but for avampire who believes he deserves whatever he wants, it would be too, too easy.

Hank is my beloved, but he’s not my mate. Not yet.

And for a hundred different reason, I have the urge to run to him to change that…

First, though, I have to end this charade.

Shuddering out a breath, I cross my wrists in front of me, hiding how my fingers tremble. “You don’t love me, Julian. I’m sorry, but to even think about taking a male as my beloved, I need him to love me.”

It’s just that simple. Even if I never stumbled on the sleeping bear and let hunger make me do something so crazy as to take a sip, then a guzzle, I would never choose a male who has his own reasons to settle on me—and not one of them is affection for me.

There’s something about Julian… I noticed it the day that he cornered me and left me so frazzled, running out into the woods for a meal was a better option than to accept his blood. Beneath his slick, haughty exterior, there’s something cold and calculating—and I’m seeing that now as he rises to his full height.

“You think this is about love? Please. I don’t need a beloved, or particularly want one. However, what I do need is a partner. Someone to lead the vampire community with. You, Elise… from your arrival in Dyea, I could see that you’re quiet, but also level-headed compared to your witch. Your last name will make you respected, your docile nature easily controlled. You’re the kind of born vampire those in this sanctuary will follow without question until we expand and grow and build a Fang City of our own to lord over. And when I tie you to me—permanently—we will rule together.”

That’s what this is about? The flirting? The offers of blood, the idea that I trade my body for a taste of his? The harassment as he followed me around the sanctuary?

Because he wants to be a knock-off Thorn Wilkins up in Alaska?

I stagger a few steps back, even more disgusted than I was when he suggested I choose him. “You don’t want me. You just want power.”

Julian shrugs. “Same thing, isn’t it?”

This time, I don’t even tell him that this discussion isover. Hoping I can use the element of surprise on my side, I just turn on my heel, rely on my own increased speed to grab the knob, twist it open, and fly out the door before he knows that I’m even gone.

I’m quick. Not as quick as a wolf shifter, though with enough of a lead, I did manage to outrun Hank’s slightly sluggish bear. Too bad that, in comparison to Julian now, I’m the sluggish one.

I make it out the door, down the porch steps, and about ten feet away from the house before he lashes out, his hand snagging my arm.

I instantly freeze, and it’s only his strength spinning me to face him that has me moving at all.

His handsome face is twisted into a fierce grimace. “I tried to be nice. I tried to befriendly, van Duren. I thought I could give you what you want, and I can have what I need. But you keep rejecting me?—”

Rejecting him? Is that how he sees it?

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