Page 41 of Life Blood
“Who said I needed your permission to kick Zac’s ass?” Braden said with a laugh as I got out of the car and shouldered my backpack.
I was shocked when Cole slung his arm over my shoulder. His personality seemed to be opening up to me faster and faster. Instead of being rigid, he was more warm and friendly, and honestly, it was nice. It’s more of the behavior I expected from Zac, but that vamp seemed to run off the rails as soon as I got here.
“If someone didn’t keep your ass kicking in check, we’d never have allies,” Cole said.
I leaned into him, allowing the security pouring off of him to absorb into me. This was nice. I found a way to use their energy and not let it overwhelm me. Though, I could already tell I had to be careful. Once it started, I wasn’t sure if I could stop my reaction to the sensations my body was currently having with Cole.
Lustful thoughts hit me first. It was like my body needed his next to mine. I felt my hand clasped tightly on his brawny side, and it was taking a lot of willpower not to run my hand under his untucked shirt and feel the warmth of his skin.
“Hey, aren’t vampires supposed to be cold—like corpses or something?”
They all laughed, and Cole twisted away to face me.Damn it.I didn’t want to let the comfort of leaning into him go.
“First of all,” Cole grinned and What. The. Hell. His green eyes couldn’t have been more bright, defining his strong jaw, high cheekbones and even giving credit to the dimple in the center of his chin. Good God, he was gorgeous. I was going to have to get my human brain wrapped around the perfection of these four men, or I was going to really make an ass out of myself.
“I guess none of these idiots have given you the basics about immortal vampires. No, we aren’t cold, we don’t sleep in coffins, and we aren’t affected by holy water and crucifixes, we aren’t creatures of the night. Some vampires exist because they were created by another vampire…they were once human and were bled dry and given our venom to transition into becoming a vampire.” Cole answered, eyes probing into mine.
“Okay. I kind of got the quick rundown, but go on,” I pressed.
He nodded. “Then there are the original blood-born vampires—that’s us. We all sustain ourselves from drinking blood, if we didn’t, we would grow weak and desiccate. We as blood-borns can heal people from the puncture wounds from our bite, and we can even compel them to forget the act ever took place. The once-human vampires can only drink blood…they have no supernatural abilities.”
“So have any you fed on people in Edgewater?” I asked with trepidation. I knew it was a stupid question, of course, they must have.
“No,” Logan was watching me intently. “We won’t feed on human blood. Not since before we were merged anyway. It seems supernatural blood curbs that appetite much better.”
“Supernatural blood? What?”
“Supernatural, as in, vampires,” Braden said shooting a sharp gaze at Logan. “We use their blood to keep our energy and strength up. It’s a necessary part of our diet, but we also have regular diets like the average human does.”
My mouth dropped open trying to process that.
“How about we change the subject,”Logan smiled at me. “Do you want anyone to help you with homework? We’re pretty advanced in the knowledge department.”
“I’m sure you are, but I’ll manage,” I said.
We walked into the house to a mob of vampires who had been doing God knows what while we spent the day at school.
“Hey!” Val called out, smiling as she approached me, “What do you think about a bonfire night at the beach?”
“I don’t know. I’ve got a lot of homework.”
“Listen,” Val said, “I get that we got off on the wrong foot.” She looked at the vampires flanking my sides. “Let’s just say these guys and me were pretty close until you came into the picture. It’s not easy losing close friends to another female.”
“I get it.” I tried to brush her off. From Braden’s rigid posture, I had to wonder if she was being fake or not.
“So you want to have a bonfire?” Logan said with a laugh. “You think that’s going to help Elle how, exactly?”
Val planted both hands on her slender waist, “I think it’s a perfect way to let her see that we’re not much different than her human friends, you know, the ones she had to abandon for you four.”
“Friends?” I choked out a laugh. “My only friend just took a jet plane out of here. So, in some strange messed up way, I’m kind of glad I have these guys.”
Val’s smile twisted up in an amused way, “Oh, honey, I’m sure you are.” She went to reach for my hand, but Braden’s caught her wrist. “What the hell, Braden?”
“If you so much as fuck with her mind in any way, I’ll rip your goddamn head off and burn your corpse myself.”
She recoiled and looked at Cole, “Get your cousin under control. I’m serious. I actually feel sorry for Elle,” she stared at me, “She’s stuck with four guys who are doing all they can to resist her? That can be too much for one human girl.”
“What are you talking about?”
