Page 27 of Blood Lust
“Pretty much. I mean, your dad is an immortal, and even though those genes are dominant in you, the best parts—though I didn’t know the fucker even had a good bone in his body—you drew from him. So the bastard came in handy somehow. Other than that, I worry about how you’re doing feeding and shit like that.”
“I kind of just get out of my head about it, I guess. I don’t think, I just react.” I reached for his hand and stared down at the strength oozing from it. “Even though I almost killed the four men I love, it was so fucking amazing feeding on you guys.”
“Feeding on Nakia earlier, how’d that make you feel?”
“That’s where I guess I just got the hell out of my head with it all. Could’ve been the bond giving me confidence, but I have no idea. Drinking blood isn’t what I imagined it to be like. I imagined I would crave the taste of blood, but it’s not like that. You all taste like a delicious treat, and the wolves taste like a minty, refreshing beverage.”
Braden coughed out a laugh. “Sorry,” he covered his smile. “Those are your instincts or new genetics taking over. If you were running on human genes, you’d have been grossed out even drinking from us. The witch pulled the inner vampire, so to speak, out of you and surfaced that. It’s not who you are, but somehow that bitch enhanced it, and it overruled your human side.” He touched his lips to mine, “Baby, we’re all here for you. Vampires are not naturally drawn to the wolves, now you have to drink from them. I was highly impressed you let Nakia drink from you, but also, not surprised you didn’t fuck him right then and there for us all to see.”
“How so?”
“It will take time, I guess, but like I said, vampires don’t really have anything to do with the shifters. We sorta classify ourselves higher than them on the food chain. If you’ll think back, you could have ended Nakia then and there—and you still could. That wolf has had a taste of you drinking his blood and will want nothing more than to complete that bond by fucking you. This is where the vamps charm and take down their enemies. We seduce them, make our enemies beg to be fucked by us where their endorphins are so fucking strong they don’t care what we do with them—that’s when we can easily kill them. My cousins and I don’t utilize that particular ability, as you know, but it’s ingrained in all of us. Most know to stay away from letting a vamp take their blood—except humans, of course—because getting too close to us is pretty much a kiss of death for them.”
“God,” I ran the back of my hand over my forehead. “This is just crazy.”
“Are you at least hungry enough to put some food in your stomach? Vampires don’t just survive on blood, we eat and sleep too, babe.”
My stomach growled from the smell of the BBQ that had been wafting into the house since Cole had fired it up. “Tell me he’s got steaks going?”
Braden clasped my hand in his, “Baby, he’s going to be at that BBQ before and after we eat. Cooking is his therapy, and knowing just went down, he may be out there for the rest of the damn night if we let him.”
I laughed and followed Braden out to where long wooden outdoor tables were set up with more people at them and large wolves off in the distance scrapping with each other. I took a seat between Braden and Zac across from Logan who sat between Nakia and Bren.
Logan seemed to be getting along with the wolf shifters somewhat, but I could sense his annoyance with how they ate like—well, fucking dogs. They piled steaks on top of each other, talking loudly with their mouths full while nudging each other. They were in high spirits and obviously having a fantastic time eating Cole’s cooking—I mean, Cole’s food was legit—so who wouldn’t eat it like that? My vampires, obviously.
I instantly started to see the difference between my vampires and the wolves. The vampires joked and nodded toward the two wolves who were inhaling their meals and conducting themselves like a bunch of rowdy teenagers. Zac took a bite of steak, closed his mouth while chewing, and studied the two playful wolves across from him.
“You know, I always figured it would have to take us getting through things of an apocalyptic nature to be able to sit and eat with a couple of fucking wolves and not just snap their necks and end them,” Zac finally said.
“Don’t you think the situation you were in is of apocalyptic proportions?” Nakia said with a mouth full of food, sending his razor-sharp teeth into the cob of corn he was eating.
“Sorry it all came to this, but you know as well as we do that it’s just as strange for us to sit across from vampires eating like we’re at a five-star restaurant while we’re trying to enjoy our food,” Bren said.
“That’s because we have manners, dumbass,” Logan said, leaning his forearms on the table. He nodded toward me and looked back at the wolves, “you guys might be more comfortable just shifting and eating out of dog bowls on the fucking ground.”
“Fuck that.” Braden grinned, “I’m sure they’d be cool with it right now.”
And here came my—protect the wolves from my vamps being assholes attitude—shit!Full from eating half my steak, two rolls, an entire loaded baked potato, and half my iced tea, I stood up.
“I’m taking a walk. You all need to figure out how the hell you’re going to get along. I’m not going to listen to you all bitch at each other.”
The silence grew over the table as I realized this new alpha bullshit I had in me took over. “Goddammit,” I said. “I’m sorry. Just get along. Where’s Jen—Jon? I want to ask them about Marsha and what happened to her.”
Logan pointed his fork over his shoulder toward a group of shifters on the far end of the lawn. “They took off in their wolf form. Your friend Jen isn’t going to be okay around you.” He glanced up at me. “Don’t forget, we’re here for you, and your friend Jen is just a fucking bitch.”
“Logan. Really?” I said.
“Really,” he answered. “And Jon is acting fucking weird, which is why I think Zane’s out there dealing with his shifted ass right now.”
“God.” I sat back down. “Is this going to get any easier?”
“Sorry, but I don’t think so,” Bren answered nicely. “Zane has his hands full from leaving the alpha of a pack he took over alive. He has sympathy for Jon. We all do, but there’s usually a solid reason alpha get their asses killed when a new one steps up.”
“Got it,” I answered.
They were all right. The next two damn months consisted of Jen hardly speaking to me or shifting to where I couldn’t talk to her. I was starting to get this wholedrinking from the wolvesthing down, but like Braden mentioned, being a vampire, it was more in my instinct to let them feed and not get turned on by it while they got hornier than fuck. I kept my feeding to one wolf. I knew we needed this bond to take place, but I was slowed up by concern with Jen.
Jon always mysteriously running the hell off, and oddly enough, not having much to say to me. It was weird, but just like everyone told me it was going to take time for me to start accepting the merge pulling at us, it was going to take Jen and Jon time to finally start talking to me. If I hadn’t loved their family so much for being there for me while my mom was passed the fuck out drunk all the time, I would have written their asses off. But I cared, damn it. I wanted to know what happened to Marsha.
