Page 12 of Blood Lust
“I’ve already talked to Edgar,” Cole said distantly. “We need a shaman, and we need the wolves.”
“Fuck that noise. Why can’t Edgar try to fix this shit?” Zac stepped over to me. “That asshole’s seen more blood and dark magic than we have in our entire existence.”
“That was Edgar’s advice,” Cole snapped back. “You really think I want Jon and his Shaman herehelpingus? We’re going to have to get over our egos for Elle’s sake. We can’t drink her blood if you hadn’t noticed that already.”
“What?” I sat up. “Why not?”
“The witch reversed everything,” Logan said. “Dumb bitch threw it all out there in the letter she left us, but we misunderstood it. She said, “Your Life Blood is dead to you, and you will crave another.”We thought it meant she killed you somehow. She was actually referring to your blood itself.Thatis what’s dead to us.” Logan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fuck me.” He looked at Cole, “We need to see if we can drink another’s blood.”
“If you can’t you’ll all die. The bond wouldn’t let any of you drink blood from anything other than me—your Life Blood.”
“We’re going to have to try something,” Zac said. “Logan and I are going to hit up the closest immortal nest down here.
“The damn witch isn’t hunting us, she’s fucking with us so we hunt her down for help. She knows we’ll be forced to give her what she wants, our children. All she has to do is wait,” Braden said flatly. “I guess that means we can check her off the list of people who are hunting for us. Elle’s blood smells as average as the next guy’s, so she’s not going to be sniffed out by Enzo’s collectors should the douchebag start hunting for her. Now, we just need to try to figure out how to fix Elle and make sure we stay fed and strong.”
“How are you going to do that?” I asked, feeling jealousy seeping into my bones. “I can’t imagine you—”
“We’ll seduce them—without sex—into donating some blood. We’ll take it from blood bags if we have to,” Logan answered. “We’re going to fix this, and trust me, even if we have to feed or take another’s neck, there’s going to be nothing sexual about it.” His sapphire blue eyes were somber. “I don’t know if any of you assholes can feel it, but I have a feeling we’re screwed in the feeding department unless we can get another Life Blood to volunteer.”
“Let’s just take this one goddamn vein at a time,” Zac said. “We’ll be back. Don’t call Jon and the wolves down here yet. Those fuckers are our last resort.”
“This is so messed up,” I said.
“No shit.” Logan winked at me. “We’re gonna handle it.”
“Get the hell out of here and get answers. Elle will need to feed again, and I’ll most likely have to watch her feed on one of you so I can tell her when she needs to stop.”
“That’s going to suck for you, cuz,” Zac said. He gave me a flirty smile, but I could feel that he was pissed off on the inside.
“Get your ass out of here,” Cole demanded. He ran a hand through his dark copper hair, “How are your cravings?”
“Still held hostage by your command,” I answered.
“How did you bring me back?” Braden asked Cole.
Cole folded his arms, “Remember when you were attacked by that collector in Oregon around the time Elle had first moved into the lodge?”
“The vamp that almost killed him?” I asked, remembering Braden’s body in that horrific desiccated state that I put him into. Now, it was understandable as to why Cole wanted to see if there were any traces of venom out of the leather bag. He needed to know if I’d just drained the life out of his cousin or if I’d poisoned him.
“Yes.” Cole nodded. “I drew your blood for Braden. Do you remember me taking extra vials of blood from you?”
“Yes,” I said.
“It was because I thought it would be wise to have it stored in case something else happened to us, and that way, we didn’t need to keep drawing your blood. Having the extra blood was just back up, we were all still unsure of whether or not we’d hurt you if we fed on you.” Cole smiled at me, “But you were more certain and confident than all of usbadassimmortals. You have always been stronger and more confident than us, and I need you to stay that way. Don’t let this fucking witch get to your head with what she did. You knew in your heart back then you could trust us, I need you to feel that now more than ever.”
I nodded. “You think the wolves—Jen—” I said my former best friends name with disgust. “You think that pack will help us if we need it?”
Cole swallowed hard and looked at Braden then back to me. “Like I said, you have to trust us more than ever. Blood is our life force, and it’s yours now too.” He folded his arms and sighed. “Even if the mutts are where we get the blood from.”
“Wait a minute.” I went to stand but remembered I was in cuffs to hold back my crazed vampire side. “We—you guys—you think we’re going to need their blood?”
Braden closed his eyes and looked at Cole, waiting for the vampire to explain himself to me.
“Since drinking life-blood, our bodies and how blood is received in us is different now. Unless we have another Life Blood sitting around, we have no other choice than to go to the wolves for blood.”
“Why?”
“Their blood has the power of their own created immortal magic. We would only take the blood of their strongest wolves. It’s the only blood that can satiate us. Logan had an immortal wolf shifter for a while before she kicked his ass to the curb for screwing another chick behind her back.” Cole rolled his eyes, “Before you, Logan was a player, so much so that he was half the damn reason we were making more enemies than allies with the immortal nests. Behind our damn backs, the horny asshole hooked up with the daughter of an alpha wolf. When we went to kick his ass for fucking around with the wolves, the dude had so much strength he got the drop on all of us before we could even take a swing at him.”
