Page 47 of Bound By Blood

Kaitlyn moved confidently among the guests, nodding at Marta and Elnora and Torrance, who stood in a group by themselves, along with their vampire mates.

Kaitlyn hugged Stefan and her grandmother, noting that Liliana looked even more radiant than usual, no doubt because her youngest son was home again. Kaitlyn spent a few minutes chatting with Andrei and Katiya, nodded at Ciprian, who was dancing with a pretty mortal girl.

Kaitlyn was thinking about having a glass of wine when she saw her mother hurrying toward her.

“Kaitlyn, there you are,” Elena said, smiling. “How lovely you look!”

“Thanks, Mom, so do you.” Clad in a floor-length dress made of white silk, her mother looked young enough to be Kaitlyn’s sister.

Elena frowned. “You’re still angry, aren’t you?”

“I can’t help it. He had no right …”

“He had every right, Kaitlyn. He’s your father. Did you think he’d just ignore the danger you were in? If he hadn’t brought you home, I would have.”

Before Kaitlyn could reply, her father joined them. He was a handsome man, and never more so than tonight. Wearing black slacks, a gray silk shirt, and a black jacket with a velvet collar, he could easily have been a male model.

“May I have this dance, Kaitlyn?” he asked with exaggerated formality.

“Of course.”

He swept her into his arms as Miranda began to play a waltz. It reminded Kaitlyn of past visits when she and her father had danced up here, just the two of them. The memory of those days made it difficult to stay mad at him.

“Are you ever going to forgive me?” he asked, twirling her around and around.

“I guess so,” she said with an aggrieved sigh. “But when this trouble with Nadiya is over, I’m going back to Zack.”

Drake nodded. “I see. No stopping true love, I guess, if that is what it is.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You are a young woman, just out of college, away from home for the first time. Hormones raging,” he added with a grin. “You meet a handsome man …” He shrugged. “You will probably fall in love many times before you find the right man.”

“You mean a man you approve of.”

“No, Kaitlyn. I would not tell you who to marry. I hope you will find a mate here, among your own kind. But if you choose a mortal, how could I possibly object?”

“And what if I fell in love with one of the Others?”

His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

She hadn’t meant to tell him like this, but maybe now was the time. “I mean Zack is a vampire. He was turned six hundred years ago.”

“Turned,” Drake repeated slowly. “He is not one of us.”

“I don’t care what he is. I’m in love with him.”

“I have indulged you your whole life,” Drake said quietly. “I let you go to America when I was against it. I let you stay there after you graduated because you wished it, even though I did not approve. But this …” He shook his head. “As your father, I do not approve. As the leader of our coven, I cannot allow it.”

Kaitlyn stared up at him. Too late, she knew she never should have said anything. And yet he was bound to find out sooner or later. “You can’t keep me here forever,” she said, blinking back her tears. She didn’t want to have to choose between Zack and her father, fervently hoped it would never come to that. But if it did …

She had to talk to Zack. She couldn’t call him now. She would have to wait until tomorrow, since it was still morning in Nevada. What was it like for Zack, to be drawn into darkness with the sun’s rising? Most of her people also rested during the day, although those born to Liliana had the ability to be awake in their cat form when the sun was up.

“I am sorry, Kaitlyn,” her father said as the music ended. “I believe Stefan is coming to ask for the next dance.”

“Indeed I am,” Stefan said, coming up behind them.

Drake bowed in his brother’s direction, then left the dance floor.

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