Page 7 of His True Beloved

“Just wanted to make sure you weren’t one of those vampires that still followed Darius.” His look grew hard. “The other covens you have visited didn’t have humans running rampant around, and here we do.” If the children running around with Suron and the tea Adaline drank with the women were any indication, I could have guessed that.

“This is a sanctuary, Sebastian,” Adaline muttered. “A sanctuary for humans that have been paired with humans.” My eyes widened. There had not been that many pairings between species, not that I would know much since Vermillion’s take over from the darkened king. We were isolated. We knew nothing.

“It’s true.” Adaline nodded. “Humans and Vampires are finding soulmates in each other. You had a small glimpse of that already, no?” Rubbing my head, I remembered Kyler and Dean. Both mated to werewolves before I arrived, but they were supernaturals, not humans.

“But humans—” Rowan shook his head, chuckling. “They are tougher than they look, Sebastian. They take the bonding and the change very well.”

“T-they change? Change to what?” Rowan gave an incredulous look. “What the hell do you think, boy? Their human DNA changes once bitten to make their bodies take on the likeness of their mate. They become one of us.”

Chapter 4

Sebastian

Holyhell.

“T-that’s amazing,” I muttered. Rowan’s grin widened, his arm sleeking around his mate. “It is. It has given us the opportunity to have this coven grow, making it one of the only covens in the world that help specifically with human transformations into their new lives.”

I let out a bark of laughter, rubbing my hands up and down my thighs. This was insane, never had I thought this would be possible. The opportunity to mate with another species here on Earth? For humans to become like us? Unreal.

There had been rumors long ago that vampires could force a chosen mate, usually done with humans. It was a practice outlawed before my parents were even born and never thought of again. Now that the goddess had something to do with the pairing, it made it more beautiful.

“And they are successful, changing their mate?” I asked. Rowan nodded, looking out the enormous windows that let the natural light filter into the room. “There is the bite of bonding and a bite of changing. The bite goes to the bone, and venom is inserted through. Humans still have the agency to choose to become like us, just like any other bonding to a supernatural,” Rowan tilted his head, eyes glaring at me as if I would ever do such a thing.

“Never,” I growled out. The thickness of my throat closed, appalled I would ever do such a thing. Rowan stood, pulling his mate up along with him.

“Excellent, I’ll show you around. Adaline? I’ll see you at dinner?” Leaning in, she gently pecked his lips, waving as she followed where the human women had walked out previously.

The manicured lawn and the perfectly cut bushes and shrubs had me taking in the scene. Children still ran. Suron was never far behind as he and another vampire helped chase them down to a large play area.

“Are there any transitions going on now?” My interest was piqued as I watched a male vampire bring in a bag full of groceries. The woman inside was obviously human. The slow kiss made me know it was something more. The hunger, the possessiveness. The way he stood in front of the doorway when he looked over his shoulder and saw me staring. Growls in his throat pushed her inside as she giggled.

“We have one. She was bitten last week.” Suron nodded to the pale blue house on the corner. “Justin, who’s been with us a long while, went on a trip to Colorado, and while he was in Boulder, he smelled the most alluring scent. He normally feeds on animals, and when he was hunting, he found his beloved had fallen on a running trail. Then he met Vanessa Clarkson. The bond was instant, even for her.” I smiled as Rowan and I stopped in front of the two-car garage. The lights were off, but the movement could be seen inside.

“The first two weeks are difficult during a transition, getting a human to warm up to the idea of drinking blood. Especially when they need to pierce their mates skin.” Chills ran through my body, thinking of how wonderful it would be. Not have to hunt, to please my mate as we ate every night with each other. Both for food and sexual hunger. It was considered so intimate and important to the foundation of vampirism.

“Still there?” Rowan chuckled as he motioned me down the sidewalk. “Now down here, we have the human houses. These areas are for children over eighteen who can live on their own and take care of themselves.”

“That’s awfully nice,” I muttered. Two human males burst out of the house, grabbing a football and tossing it to each other.

“We want the transition to be smooth, not cause tension within the humans that had no idea they would be bound by a bond. We didn’t want our mates to forget their past life, their children that they still loved. I think that was the whole reason why we turned our coven into such a transition sanctuary.” Rowan stopped at the bench that overlooked a large pond with a fountain in the middle. The water rippled until it gently lapped at the shoreline.

“Let me tell you a story.” Rowan unbuttoned his suit jacket, his arm resting on the bench. “Once upon a time, there was a vampire who was utterly lonely. Some thousand years went by, he watched the rise and falls of nations, made terrible decisions by joining the wrong crowd drinking blood from unwilling participants.” His eyes darkened. “But that all changed the day he foundher.”Rowan’s eyes trailed to his mate that was serving lemonade to the children playing by the pond.

“At first, he thought he was cursed for all his evil doings because now he wouldn’t be able to claim her. She was human, and she wouldn’t live but a sliver of his immortal life.” My heart sank as I listened.

“She wouldn’t feel it, the bond,” Rowan barked. “She was a human, so he thought all was lost. He didn’t know how to court her, woo her, or have her fall in love with the ways humans did it. All he knew was the bond of vampires.” Four of his heartbeats passed. “He couldn’t do it.”

“Couldn’t do it?” I almost choked.

“He left her there. But he soon realized, as much as he tried to get away from her, fate had an interesting way of putting them back together.” Rowan hummed. “He moved to another state; she was there. Some three years later, when he moved again, there she was. For fifteen years this went on. There was no getting away from her, and soon he realized he couldn’t fight it. He had to have her.” Rowan smiled. “What worried him the most when he realized he couldn’t live without her was could she feel the bond too?”

Adaline tickled a small girl with ringlets of dark curls. We watched as she fell back into the grass with a thump. Other children swarmed and tugged at Adaline’s dress, begging for her to tickle them next.

“But she did feel it.” His face lightened. “She felt it as soon as he wrapped her arms around her at their first hidden picnic in the forest by the pond.” Letting out a breath, my attention returned to the families in the sun.

White umbrellas sat scattered around the pond, the dark shadows covering delicate vampire skin. It didn’t deter the human children; they didn’t question while they continued to play in the sun. Everything was so open, so free. Birds even dared to get close while pieces of bread were scattered across the lawn.

Vampires liked to weave themselves into the dark, blending into the shadows, especially on Earth. Bad impressions, rumors, and fantasy had contorted us into evil demons that roamed. Being hidden was the only way, the few devils that dared leave the shadows to feed gave us all a bad name. Humans didn’t know of a good vampire unless they had readTwilight.

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