Page 34 of Blood Moon
The room froze, and if it weren’t for Braden holding onto me, I would’ve collapsed.
19
We all stood frozen as we watched Cole converse with Val.
“Then I suspect you’ll get your ass hereyesterday. If we can’t tear out of here and kill anything and everything to get answers as to where she is, then—”
The door flew open to reveal a stone-faced Val, glaring at each of us.
“I’m here,” she said coldly. “What did you all find out about the murdered shifters?” She rubbed her temples. “Why the hell don’t you have one of Enzo’s bastards as a hostage?”
“I think we should be the ones who are asking questions,” Braden growled while Zane walked over toward Val as if he were waiting for the okay to kill her with his new super-shifter powers. “What makes you think this is Enzo and not demons?”
“Because the fucking vampbit me,” she snapped, and that’s when I saw the black veins that were creeping up her neck like they were slowly being drawn on by an ink pen.
Cole walked over and traced the veins that replicated the bite that turned Braden to stone in what felt like a lifetime ago.
“This is definitely one of Enzo’s assholes,” he said. “Elle’s blood is the only thing that can save you.”
I ran up to Val and offered my wrist. She smiled and pushed it away. “I don’t deserve to live after—”
“No, you don’t,” Logan snapped. “But playing the martyr in this situation is more infuriating than anything else. Goddammit, Val! I can’t believe you lost the most powerful supernatural in existence to mother-fucking Enzo,” he barked.
“Let her die,” Zac snarled. “We trusted your ass. You promised that enchantress bitch would help you keep her safe, and now this?”
“Everyone shut up,” Zane ordered the pissed-off vamps before I could. “Let her heal. We need her, and you all know it.”
“For what?” Braden asked while Val took my offered wrist and began to drink.
Thank God I had this wolf-mating thing running in my veins right now, or the sensations I was starting to get from a vamp drinking from me would have overruled everything, and Val and I would have been giving all the guys a girl-on-girl show.
I noticed all the vamps sigh softly as they watched Val and me as Val did nothing more than drink my blood.
“I thought Val and I might start to—”
“Your blood is stronger, and the bond is returning. You’re only offering her your blood. You won’t feel anything sexual unless you want to,” Cole said in his matter-of-fact tone.
Val let out a breath, and then I was in her arms. “Thank you, God. Thank you so much,” she said, and I could hear tears in her voice. “The pain of my insides practically melting was torture that I was willing to accept after those vamps killed the enchantress, took Aria, and almost killed me.” She sniffed and pulled away.
“Don’t think your death won’t come sooner than later.” Logan eyed her with his piercing blue eyes. “We need to know if you were smart enough to allow one of Enzo’s fuckers to follow you to us?”
Val nodded. “Yes, of course,” she answered. “There are two not far behind me. They stayed far enough off my trail, thinking I wasn’t a vamp who could sense them.”
“Yeah, your days of being a badass vamp who can sense danger a mile away were long gone after you were killed the first time by Enzo’s little armies,” Zac answered. “I always wondered why you took Elle to her mom and why your instincts failed you down there. You should’ve seen that shit a mile away, sensed it like you always did. Then suddenly, you’re just an average vamp and useless.”
“Stop with the insults. I know you all are pissed,” I said with an unreasonably level head, “but we all need to focus.”
“You know how I got my power, asshole, and why it was working well before Elle came into your lives,” Val said, ignoring me.
Great, another fucking plot twist.
“Fucking and feeding with me.” Braden eyed her dangerously. “Shit, I should’ve known that from the first death sign we were given.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Fuck.”
“Again,” I stepped in, “getting nowhere by talking about shit that’s in the past. Unless it’s information that is used to help us find Aria, then shut the hell up about Val failing us.”
“They’re in the house.” Val looked up after a thud hit the second-story master bedroom. “How the hell can anyone not sense them?” She looked at Zane, “Can you only sense shit when you’re the wolf?”
“Enzo’s upgraded his little soldiers,” Cole said, all eyes looking up and following movement upstairs. “He’s got a block on them. Though he didn’t teach them stealth.”
