Page 29 of Blood Submission

“Keira is Luukas’s mate.” Nik sounded like he had a mouth full of cotton. “And her stunning sister over here that’s keeping you from getting killed is her sister, and my mate, Emma.”

“Disgusting, isn’t it?” Shea spoke up from behind him. “I was going to let you feed onher.”

“Whatever.” Keira smiled over her shoulder, but stayed where Luukas could touch her. “You loveme.”

Shea appeared on Dante’s right side to stand next to him, but he noticed she’d walked in a big circle around what he assumed was the girl he couldn’t see. Crossing her arms, she shrugged. “You’re all right. For a witch.”

“Keira, why don’t you hang out here with Luukas for a few?” Nik suggested. “We’ll take Dante out to feed and bring him back for a proper introduction when he’s not being all crazy andshit.”

By this time, Luukas had straightened up and had Keira folded in protectively against his chest. His eyes shifted over to his brother. “You don’t have to talk about me as if I’m not here. But yes, get him the fuck out of here until he can keep it under control.”

“I got this,” Aiden said. “Set him loose, poppet,” he told Emma. “I think he can control himself now. All right, commander?”

“Don’t fucking call me that,” Dante ordered.

Aiden smiled. “See? He’sfine.”

“Nik?” Emma asked.

“Go ahead,” he told her, getting into position in front of Dante with his arms outstretched. “On three.”

Dante narrowed his eyes at him, wondering what he was about.

Behind Nikulas, he saw Luukas shove the female behindhim.

“One, two…now!” Nik shouted.

Dante caught a flash of bright hair and a green shirt out of the corner of his eyes as he was tackled by Nikulas and forcibly taken out of the bedroom. He landed with an oof flat on his back with Nik on top of him. Aiden and Shea followed them out, and Aiden pulled the door shut behindthem.

“All right, let’s go,” Niksaid.

Three pairs of arms lifted him up and had him out in the hall before he could wiggle himself free between curses. “Put me the fuckdown!”

They got him into the stairwell and dropped him. Dante burst back up onto his feet with a snarl, trying to decide which one of them to end first.

“Don’t kill them,” Shea said. “It really was necessary. You were about to commit suicide in there.”

“You ain’t kidding,” Nik chimed in. “You should know, my brother isn’t quite…adjusted yet. When Emma and I found him, he was alive, but his mind was nearly completely fucking gone. Keira is the only thing that keeps him semi-sane, I think. And he’s a bit over-protective ofher.”

“Pfft. Like you don’t howl at me every time I say ‘hallo’ to Emma,” Aidensaid.

Nikulas turned incredulous eyes his way. “She was naked the last time you said ‘hallo’ to her, and you do it just to fuck withme.”

“I needed to speak with you. How was I supposed to know she would be naked?” Aiden asked innocently.

“Seriously?” Nik said, louder now. “We were in the fucking shower!”

Dante listened to their familiar banter, part amused, part wound up, and part pissed off. Without a word, he turned away and stomped down the first flight of stairs.

“Hey, where are you going?” Nikulas asked.

“To feed,” he ground out. “I just got home. Tell Luukas I’ll be back tomorrow night.”

“I’ll come with you,” Shea offered.

But he spun around and put out his hand. “No.” It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen him in action before. They all had at one time or another, but Dante wasn’t going after some random homeless degenerate this time, or some mouthy asshole that deserved everything he did tohim.

Well, she did tend to be mouthy. But he still didn’t want an audience, for numerous reasons. “I’ll be fine,” he assured her. “I’ll be back tomorrow night.”

Kicking it into vamp speed, he descended the rest of the way without giving any of them a chance to say anythingelse.

---