Page 11 of Blood Bound (Blood Mafia 3)

Colt presses his palm into my chest and the only reason I don’t rip his head off is because Demi likes him. I watch Grayson carry her away from me, gritting my teeth while he disappears with my woman.

“Mateo, she’s pissed.”

I glare at my captain. “I could have reasoned with her.”

Colt shakes his head. “You don’t understand her.”

“Of course I do, we’re bonded.” I step away from his hand and straighten my shirt, though it’s not like my appearance matters much because there’s blood covering half of it.

He scoffs. “Then you should have felt her discontent. Did you even stop to feel what she was feeling?”

I look away. I hadn’t. I tried to coax her to me through the bond but I entirely disregarded her feelings. “This is not my first lover’s spat, Colt. I know how to handle my women.”

Sighing and looking up at the sky, Colt clenches his fingers into fists. “That’s the thing, Mateo. Demi isn’t like all of your other lovers. You cannot treat her the same way you would a vampire. She’s been human a lot longer than a supe and she will not react the way you expect.”

True. She’d taken the knife out.

Does that mean she wanted me to heal?

“I see you trying to rationalize everything, Mateo, but you’re way off base here. You keep treating her like a possession. She finally met you halfway when you stopped being a total douche.”

Flashing to him, I bump my chest into his. “She would have killed Iris, you doubt my decisions as your boss?”

His eyes flare with indignation. “You don’t know that.”

“She has little to no control over her reactions. She’s made little progress compared to the control she needs to exercise when it comes to dealing with Elder wolves.”

Colt shakes his head. “They threatened her. She reacted just as I would.”

I laugh. “Right, and you’re well known for your temper. I made a decision to save us from war. Demi can be mad but I have a duty to my people, and no matter how much I like her or how much the bond urges me to protect her, Blood Mafia comes first.”

“Demi is Blood Mafia.”

Grimacing, I flash to the door. Before I head inside, I glance over my shoulder. “Is she?”

The question leaves him reeling but it’s legitimate. Demi has never sworn herself to the Blood Mafia. She may be my woman and well on her way to bonding with Colt and Grayson, but that doesn’t change the facts. She has not sworn an allegiance.

I’m not fool enough to demand something like that from her. I hoped our relationship and her growing love for some of my people would make that a given, but her retaliating against me tonight blurred lines.

Anyone else under my control would be dead.

Not Demi though, never her.

She’s always the exception.

Word of what happened will reach the rest of the vampires. There’s no telling the bold actions they’ll take to try and test me. There’s always some ambitious vampire trying to take control. I scrub my hand over my face as I enter the lobby and flash to the stairwell.

I reach my floor and enter through the secret door, using my thumbprint to unlock it, and walk into the closet. Grabbing a handful of clothes, I yell and rip them off their hangers.

“Fuck!” I scream to myself, not caring how loud it is or how many vampires can hear me.

Feeling for the bond, I take a moment to absorb the emotions flickering from Demi’s side.

Rage.

Determination.

Sorrow.

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