Page 50 of Claim of Blood
Chapter Twelve
Leo
Themorningsunfilteredthrough the sheer curtains, casting the unfamiliar bedroom in soft golden light. Leo lay motionless, staring at the ceiling as the past few days replayed in his mind.
From hunter to Claim.
And his family had abandoned him.
He grabbed a pillow and pressed it over his face, muffling a scream that felt torn from somewhere deep in his chest.
Their disappearance gnawed at him. The vampires had been clear—the Rothenburg clan had withdrawn completely from PDC. No sightings, no patrols, nothing. Just gone, as if they’d never existed.
The analytical part of his mind insisted this had to be a strategic move. The von Rothenburgs were meticulous planners. They wouldn’t simply abandon territory or family without purpose. Maybe they were regrouping, gathering reinforcements, planning a larger assault to retrieve him.
But the deeper, more painful question lingered: did he even want to be retrieved?
He’d never wanted the hunter’s life. Never felt the righteous zeal that drove his brother Friedrich, or the cold efficiency that made Uncle Stefan so effective. Leo had always been the reluctant Rothenburg, going through the motions, fulfilling expectations while his heart remained elsewhere.
And yet, they were family. The thought of them leaving him behind, regardless of their reasons, carved a hollow space in his chest that seemed to widen with every breath.
He tossed the pillow aside harder than necessary, watching it hit the wall with a satisfying thud. Maybe they truly had written him off as lost. Contaminated. A liability to be discarded rather than salvaged.
The word tasted bitter.
He hadn’t seen Adam since their tense conversation. No summons. No casual encounters in the halls. Just a silence that stretched between them like a chasm he wasn’t sure how to cross.
The absence left a weighted feeling in his chest that he refused to examine too closely. He told himself it was relief. But if that were true, why did the quiet feel so loud? He hadn’t gone to Adam’s room last night—though he’d found himself at the door more than once, fingers brushing the knob before retreating.
It was the principle, he told himself. He’d stayed in his suite, meals brought up while he channel-surfed and tried not to pout. Room service in a vampire mansion—somehow both absurd and luxurious.
His thoughts drifted to his writing, the half-finished manuscript still sitting on his laptop back at the compound. His readers would be expecting the next book in six months. At least his locked-room mysteries stood alone; no cliffhangers would remain unresolved. Small mercies.
He sighed into the pillow. He couldn’t hide in this room forever, no matter how comfortable the bed or how accommodating the staff. Eventually, he’d have to face Adam again. Confront this strange new reality he’d stumbled into.
With a resolve that felt brittle, Leo pushed himself up and headed for the shower.
Twenty minutes later, dressed in jeans and a simple button-down from the mysteriously well-stocked closet, he squared his shoulders and opened the door.
And nearly walked straight into Lander.
“Good morning,” Lander said, his tone carefully neutral. “I’ve been assigned as your... companion while Adam is away.”
Heat surged up Leo’s neck as his mind conjured an unhelpfully vivid memory—Lander kneeling between his thighs in the alcove, Adam’s voice a dark command: Kneel. And the way he’d spilled every secret in that haze of surrender.
“You mean my babysitter,” Leo managed, fighting to keep his composure.
Lander’s lips quirked slightly. “I prefer guide, but the semantics are yours to decide.”
Something about his candid delivery made Leo relax, just a fraction. He couldn’t fathom why Adam had chosen this vampire to shadow him, not after... everything.
“So where’s Adam?” he asked, trying for casual, as if he hadn’t spent hours actively avoiding the vampire who’d claimed him.
“Attending business matters in the city. He’ll return late this evening.” Lander gestured down the hall. “Breakfast? Or would you prefer to see more of the grounds first?”
Leo’s stomach growled in response. “Breakfast.”
They descended in companionable silence. Leo studied Lander from the corner of his eye. He moved with the same effortless grace as Adam, but it felt less overwhelming—more... approachable.
