Page 53 of Make Me Bleed

I… crap. That is the loveliest thing anyone has ever said about me. It’s even more meaningful because this isHank. Ever since I’ve gotten to know him, I’ve see how different he is from a vampire like Julian. He doesn’t need to manipulate me with promises he doesn’t mean. He doesn’t dress his feelings up in pretty words, either; words that are simply meaningless. He just says what he thinks, plain and solid. Like the rocks outside his den.

Like it’s his undeniable truth.

Choice? No… Fate made it for me, and I couldn’t have been blessed with a better beloved.

Right now, I want nothing more than to grab Hank by the hand and pull him away from all of this before it turns deadly. Though I have faith that it’s not really a contest, I don’t want him to finish the challenge. Not because it’ll hurt me, but my big teddy bear thinks I’m more delicate and in need of protection than I am. He doesn’t want me to be afraid of him.

As if I ever could.

Still, I understand Hank’s instincts will push him to avenge me. He has no idea what passed between Julian and me in my house, but watching the other vampire threaten me in the town square is enough to give him the mate’s right to avenge an insult to his female. But I also know that, if I ask him to walk away, he will. For me, he’ll do anything.

That’s how supe males who actually have feelings for—and a whisper of a bond with—their fated mateswork.

I open my mouth to call out to my beloved, but before I can say anything, Julian’s handsome face forms another sneer, like it’s his turn to be disgusted by Hank’s heartfelt confession.

“Please. All this talk of who Elise belongs to… the truth is that she is currently unmated. That means she’s still free to choosethe male best suited for her.” Julian taps his chest. “Would she rather a vampire… one of her own kind who can help her form a Cadre… turn her into a queen among her people… or”—and Julian’s cruel laugh rings out over the square—“a bear who lives and sleeps and shits in the woods? What can you offer Elise?”

Him. He’s all I want. I’ve never cared who my mate would be: vamp, shifter, or human. I just want what’s mine—and Hank is mine.

He has to know that, right? We only just met… but it’s fate. I’m his and he’s mine, and now that we’ve both accepted it, hemust?—

Hank jerks as though Julian landed a blow more powerful than he might’ve with his fists.

“You’re right, asshole,” Hank snaps back through his fangs, his partial shift becoming more noticeably as he looms over Julian. “Iama bear. Before my mate found me, I was happy to spend my days in my den or out on the rocks in the woods. But shedidfind me, and I might not be worthy of her, but that don’t change a thing. Elise is mine. You asked me what I can offer her? Love. I can give her my love. And I know you can’t say the same ‘cause she’s fated to be mine and that means no one caneverlove her more than me. Remember, I’m two males in one. You want to claim her? You’ve got to go through me and my bear. You ready for that, hotshot?”

Julian laughs. “You animals are all the same. You think you can issue your silly little challenges and that all other supes will abide by your rules.” He throws out his hand. “Like these idiots. You even have the wolf hanging back. But that’s the difference between a higher being like a vampire and one of you monsters.

“The Cadre has rules. But there is no Cadre here. Not yet. And that means there is no one here that’s strong enough to stop me.”

Julian is fast. I knew that, but I don’t think I understood just how quick a rogue can move—or just how vicious they could be—because he’s on me before I can protect myself, pulling me against him with his supernatural strength and speed. My back slams into his chest, giving me a fleeting moment to feel his erection digging into my ass before he fists my hair, yanking my head to the side, and biting deep into my neck.

I’ve never been bitten before. I’ve come close, but I’ve always resisted because of the blood exchange. So long as no one has my blood, I didn’t have to worry about accidentally creating a bond with a male who isn’t my beloved.

I haven’t fed from Julian. Unless he force-feeds me his blood, then holds me down and forces me to mate him, he can’t turn me intohisbeloved. But that doesn’t make the moment he swallows the first mouthful of my blood any less terrifying as Hank falls forward onto all fours, a massive grizzly standing among the tattered remains of the clothes that exploded off his back with his sudden shift.

As he roars, black dots appear in the corners of my eyes. My legs buckle. I try to push away from Julian, but he’s too strong.

Hisbiteis too strong.

I’m a vampire. I know what he’s doing. This isn’t a claiming bite. He’s not a vampire so overcome with desire for his beloved that he can’t control himself. I don’t even understand why he’s targeting me, though I sense instinctively that this bite… it’s a punishment. He’s not trying tomarkme. He’s trying todominateme.

And it’s working.

In the clarity that comes with despair, I remember overhearing a conversation from two soldiers in my former Fang City that another sign that a vampire in the throes of bloodlust was really a rogue was a newfound ability to lie easily.

There is no doubt in my mind that Julian has gone rogue. Because of that, I don’t think I can believe anything he’s said to me since I found him lying in wait inside of my house. About Peter, about the Cadre, about his motives for harassing me these last few weeks…

The black spots are darkening. Crap. I… I’m panicking. Frozen in fear, unable to do anything but think in a desperate attempt to ignore the reality of what’s happening to me, I know I need to fight back, but I can’t.

The most I can do is give in to my own instincts.

Letting my eyelids flutter closed, pretending like it’s my mate feeding on me, I reach out my hand to the bear and whisper Hank’s name.

The ground shakes. Over the thrum of my weakening pulse sounding in my ears, a powerful chuffing sound echoes, drowning out the shouts and screams coming from the assembled crowd.

Julian’s teeth are ripped from my throat. Skin tears, blood spraying as my legs drop out from under me. For the second time today, I land in a heap on the dirt, gasping as my eyes spring open, my hand flying up to cover the gaping wound in my neck.

This close, I don’t know how I ever mistook his bear for an actual grizzly. The magic of the shift makes him appear even larger, and as Hank has Julian dangling from his massive grip as he rears up on his back legs, I’m awe-struck at how small the slender rogue seems.

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