Page 93 of Blood Bound

Swallowing heavily, I brace myself to walk to her, but out of the corner of my eye, I can see Gabriel coming up behind her.

How does he always know when I need him? He shakes his head and keeps his expression neutral, however; she notices my reaction and spins around just as he reaches us and places both of his hands on her shoulders.

She cries out, but he places a hand over her mouth and sighs.

“Calm down and tell me what the fuck the council did to you,” he says through gritted teeth, clenching his jaw, and I see her tears finally fall. But she shakes her head, gets out of his grasp, and takes a step back from us, looking terrified.

“No—”

“Amara, tell me what the fuck they did so I can fix this,” he growls and I sense anger in his usual smokey scent. “I’ve heard everything, whatever they’ve done is my fault since I requested a bride with your qualities. Tell me what happened and I promise I will keep you safe.”

She narrows her purple eyes at him, her fearful gaze flickering to me and back to him. “W-why? Why would you do that for someone like me after what I did?”

Gabriel looks at me and I nod, showing that I’m okay with whatever he’s about to do.

“Because you’re under my protection and if I had known the council ripped you out of your normal life, I would never have agreed to a bride.” he sighs and offers her a smile. “Now, tell me everything so I can know where to go from here.”

Amara shakes her head incredulously and scoffs. “This is crazy. You can’t go up against the council and win; I’ve seen firsthand what they’re capable of,”

Gabriel chuckles and crosses his arms. “So have I and I am decades older than you,” he scoffs, then the smile drops from his face and he wears a somber expression. “Do they have your child?”

Amara’s bottom lip trembles as she wraps her arms around her slender body and nods her head.

“Kazimir uses her when he wants me to do something I refuse to do. She’ll be of breeding age soon and Eirisse has made it known that they will be using her for this purpose.”

My hand goes to my mouth as the gravity of what she’s just said hits me. “Breeding age? What the fuck?!”

Gabriel glances at me. “When a female Fae turns 13, she’s considered fertile. The Fae King outlawed breeding as their clans started kidnapping young women for this purpose. Now, you need to be married in order to have a child.”

“Married…” I trail off, my eyes widening. “You were married before this, Amara?”

She slowly nods. “Kazimir killed him before taking me.”

Gabriel bursts out laughing and places a hand in front of his mouth.

“Ah, fuck. You’re just adding more fuel to this fire, Amara. You should have come to me with this sooner, considering what I have planned for the entire council, not just Kazimir.”

Amara frowns, then turns her head to me. “What is he talking about? What do you have planned?”

“Destruction of the council as we speak, love,” an unfamiliar voice echoes behind us and we turn around at the same time to see Valentine walking in with three disgustingly attractive men. Two of them hold up their hands in a wave and say “hi there” while grinning.

All sandy blonde shoulder-length hair, green eyes, and smirks - you could almost mistake them for surfers if their eyes didn’t shimmer to crimson at the same time. Great, vampire twins.

There's also a man with cropped brunette hair, piercing blue eyes, and a rose tattoo on his neck; he’s as tall as Gabriel, just more muscular instead of bulky. Wow, his face looks like God chiseled it him himself; those cheekbones could cut through fucking diamonds.

“Gabriel,” he says in a lightly accented voice and nods to my Fated, who is currently wearing a wide-ass grin.

“Gustav, welcome,” he says and walks forward to shake the obvious model’s hand, then he turns to the two other men and I can tell these two are mischievous as fuck.

“Who are they?” Amara asks me, her eyes widening the same way as mine.

“No fucking idea,” I answer, just as Gabriel turns to face the two of us. He gestures to me, beckoning me over, and, for some reason, I feel completely uncomfortable with the way they’re staring at me.

“Katherine, this is Gustav Petrov, a Russian Pureblood,” he says, gesturing to Chiselled Cheekbones. “And those two over there are Aaron and Aiden Teague, English Purebloods.”

Why are they making me feel so intimidated? Did I kill some of their loved ones? Ah, can’t be because I don’t recognize their names at all. Also, why the fuck are they here?

Gabriel crosses his arms and scoffs. “We have even more reason to get rid of the council, they have a Fae girl captive and intend to use her to breed.”

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