Page 76 of Entombed By Blood
I don’t like this, but my questioning is cut off as the front door opens once more and I whirl to face the intruders.
Draven is by my side in a flash, but it’s just the rest of the pack. They’re sweaty and breathing hard, wearing only loose, grey shorts.
“Dibs on first shower,” Silas calls, pushing to the head of the group and bolting for the stairs.
“Sharing is caring!” Finn races after him, his eyes glued to Silas’s ass.
“Fuck off! You always hog all of the water.”
Despite myself, I can’t help but smile at their antics. The two are so comfortable around one another, it’s clear that they’re more than just friends. I don’t know where that leaves me, but I like their flirting and I’m content to see how things play out.
Gideon walks in last, following Vane, the two of them clearly in deep conversation about something or other. But the instant the alpha sees Draven close to me, his expression shutters.
“Draven, you were warned.”
I frown. “What are you talking about?”
“We broke a few of his boring rules yesterday, doll.” He leans in and inhales my scent, giving the corner of my ear a soft, teasing nip. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you bite me until I feel better.”
Vane shakes his head. “It would be very easy for us to take advantage of you if we get involved with you. We agreed, no intimacy or drinking from you until you’re ready.”
I snort, because I can’t help it. After being forced to drink liquid silver, these men think something as simple as sex is going to mess up my brain? That’s almost laughably sweet.
“Let me decide what I’m ready for, and with whom,” I retort. “I just spent decades in a coffin. I have no plans to spend whatever remains of my life as a nun.”
Draven pouts. “Not even role play? Could be hot, fucking you while you’re wearing nothing but a crucifix.”
Gideon, however, is not amused. “We went to a lot of trouble to get you out in the hopes that you’d be able to help us find Samuel and out-think Cain. If your head is messed up with emotions—”
“I have no idea how that could happen, considering that I’ve gotsixthrall bonds,” I retort, dryly.
“She’s got a point,” Vane grunts, leaning against the door frame.
“Face it,” I continue, turning to stare out of the glass once more. “Cain made you my thralls, first and foremost, so that he could use you to test my loyalty. But he also benefits from keeping me off kilter. That’s why he’s putting so much effort into his mind games. He never wanted to end my punishment this early, so he was walking a fine line between keeping me sane enough to be useful, but too weak to rebel. My sire would have considered keeping me mired in the emotions of several hot-headed, immortal males a good way to serve that purpose.”
“I don’t fucking regret it,” Frost growls.
“Still, if any of you want to be released from the bond, you should say so now, before they get any stronger.” I push away from the window and move into the centre of the room, meeting each of their gazes in turn. “I’ll offer Finn and Silas the same when they return. I understand it probably wasn’t your first choice to be bonded to me. I won’t be offended if you wish to break it.”
There’s a long, tense silence where Frost just glares at me. “I will never break our bond again. I’d rather die.”
Draven shrugs. “Sorry, no takesies backsies.”
I blink at him in confusion, wondering if he’s slipped into a different language by mistake, which just makes him cackle wildly. “It means you’re mine, pretty doll.”
The thrall bond between us, already ironclad, turns steely with his claim. Of all of them, our bond is the strongest, and has been ever since I got between him and Callie in the park. We need to talk about that, at some point, but I get the impression the pack is doing everything they can to make sure I’m never left alone with the vampire, which doesn’t help matters.
“Can you manage so many?” Vane asks, cutting off Draven’s laughter as he levels an evaluating stare at me.
I chew at my lip as I consider it. Before, Frost was like a warm presence inside me. Prominent, but muted and separate from myself. Whereas breaking the bond…
“I’d rather try and fail than feel what I did the last time my thrall bond was severed,” I whisper, shivering. “It was worse than the coffin.” I’m not exaggerating. The coffin might have broken me, but the thrall bond breaking inflicted a wound on my soul that will never heal, no matter that Frost was mortal at the time.
He offers me a curt nod. “Then I’m yours for as long as you’ll have me. I know my brother feels the same.”
Gideon’s jaw noticeably clenches, and I wonder, for the hundredth time, what the stoic alpha is thinking.
“We discussed this eventuality at length. All of us agreed to create a thrall bond with you. You don’t have to worry that Cain forced us into anything.”
