Page 70 of B Negative

I shot a questioning look at Sunny.

She gave me very clear I don’t fucking know eyes.

So, I guess that was Titus’s way of moving on? I didn’t dare bring up the topic again, not even for my own clarity.

“Devon has been working closely with me on trusting myself. And a little bit of forgiving myself for being that person in the first place. That plus the fact that the people here are a completely different experience to the ones I’ve had before. They’re willing, glad to provide.

“Oh, and there’s the fact that Devon can knock me on my ass if I forget myself. That helps too.”

Titus took in my words, face not giving away a single thing.

“Look, I’m not saying it was easy, but everything you built here, thirty-three, the people, all of it had a part to play.”

Titus nodded, glancing from Sunny to me and back again. “You might not know this,” he paused, reconsidering his words. “Well, given your relationship with my mate, you probably do know this, but I’ll tell you in my own words, if that’s all right.”

I nodded like an idiot to his rhetorical question.

“For much of my time as a young ruler, I was in the throes of the disease now known as bloodlust. Back then, it didn’t have a name. It was simply what the strongest of us did to prove how strong we were. I made my kingdom reflect that macabre fact. Made the vampires under my rule fight for dominance and power amongst themselves. And made humans into little more than cattle.

“I’ve regretted those days since the first time I saw my dearly departed Odette.”

My throat tightened as the man who took her life sullied her name with his lips.

“She never truly was mine, and I don’t blame her. She knew then that we weren’t well-suited. That I had a perfectly suited mate on the horizon. But I didn’t. I was young and stupid and thought I knew everything, just like all youth tend to. Still, the moment I saw her, I wished to be the kind of ruler she would want me to be. Over the course of many years, I was able to break my habit of draining humans, and over the next decade I came up with the initial spark that was to become the inspiration for thirty-three.”

My gaze drifted to Sunny, who, surprisingly, was taking the news that her mate became the person she knew because of another woman far better than I would.

“Once I broke the habit and was successfully living on only bagged blood, I wouldn’t risk drinking from the vein again. One mistake and all my years of hard work would be erased. All the changes I’d made, gone. I couldn’t risk that.”

“I get it. You have a lot wrapped up in not hurting more humans. I can relate. But maybe, just maybe, it’s worth seeing how far you’ve come?”

Titus nodded. “Perhaps. After the mating bond has set.”

“Oh yeah, definitely. I do not recommend doing it while that’s going crazy in your head. Jeez, I almost ate Sunny while I was going through it with Julian.”

Titus stared at me. “Thank you for stopping by,” he said as he rose from his seat. “I’ll take your thoughts under advisement.” He ushered both Sunny and me out of his office and shut the door behind us without another word.

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