Bite, My Love (9 page)

“
From who?” Her eyes flash. You?”

Daniel
turns his head in such a way that has my heart thumping. Regret. As
if it cuts him, makes him bleed to remove his gaze from her in
shame. “I forget myself.”

When
Daniel said returning to Castle would mean his death I’d been
reluctant to believe him. The Vampires were all about family and
protecting their bloodline, but I’d underestimated the depth of his
transgressions in the eyes of his kind.

The
Vampires care that much if a Lycan is killed by one of their own?
Or is something else causing Lee’s hostility?

“
Why did you leave him on the hunting grounds?” I rub my
temples at the vision of a pack-mate coming across Daniel. ”Do you
know what would’ve happened if any Lycan but me found
him?”

Lee
flushes. Her pale face makes the burst of colour sickly. “He tried
to kill Ben.” Her alto voice rings damningly. “I gave him to your
Pack to try and make amends for the life he took. I promised you I
would atone.” She looks perplexed. “I gave you the cause of the
rift for your judgment. I must be out of my mind to have let you in
here. Ben will be cross.”

It
was
my
fault the Vampire was on Pack land. I hope Daddy
never
finds out that
part.

Lee’s in
a fluster, and opens the door muttering.

I place
my hand on hers and slam it closed.

“
Please don’t. The Pack won’t stop hunting until the Alpha
calls them home. Despite his lordship’s boasting we’re in no state
to fight.” This close her scent tickles my nose. I inhale deeper.
“Congratulations.”

Lee
blinks. Her heart-shaped face scrunches. “What?”

“
On the little one.” I direct my gaze to her stomach. “Your
scent has changed.”

Daniel
gasps. The choking sound of disbelief cuts, and he pulls his
expression into a mask of inscrutable aloofness that makes me mad
and hot all at the once. “Is it true.”

She
places a hand on her stomach. A charm bracelet rattles on her wrist
from the rapid movement, the rose charm swinging. “There’s life in
me?”

My smile
dies. “Yeah.”

Daniel
loses his battle with shock and looks like he’s been smacked in the
head with a brick.

Lee’s
frozen. Stone.

I see. She
didn’t
know. And it’s a big deal for the Vampires to
create new life through sex rather than blood. “Was I not supposed
to say anything?”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Daniel
animates first. The shock is replaced with chilling calm. His eyes
shutter and his emotions slide behind a veil of disinterest. “I
doubt Ben missed this.”

“
That explains his obsession with keeping me safe.” Lee kind
of smiles, but her slender hand rubs her brow. “I have something to
hold over his head now. What is he thinking not telling
me?”

“
He probably didn’t want you to worry,” I say.

“
This is unexpected. I have no memory of this happening in the
past. Children never crossed my mind, considering what we are.
Ben’s only just gotten over the fact I survived-” The hand on her
brow moves to her cheek and presses there in worry. Her eyes land
on Daniel, fear lurking in their depths.

Daniel’s
lips twist grimly.

Lee caresses her tummy then straightens her spine. “Ben will
be mad you’re here. Furious.” She laughs nervously. “But
I’m
the Child, and I’m
taking control.”

She takes
her hand from the door, but keeps hold of mine. Her cool skin makes
me shudder. Power hums in the space surrounding her, making it
difficult to not tug my hand away.

“
Harmony, explain what’s happening?” Her head cocks as she
studies me, nibbling her bottom lip. “Please? The last thing I
could imagine is Daniel turning up here with you in
tow.”

Lee’s
attempt to be bolshie is cute. I don’t think it’s like her to be so
demanding, but I oblige her, knowing she wants to be strong in
front of my mate.

“
I found Daniel
on our territory last night. He bit me. I bit him back and now
we’re together. Kind of. Sort of. Well, when he admits it.” I eye
him. “How rude is that?”

Lee
blinks. Dark lashes sweep down to milky cheeks, cloaking jewelled
eyes. A spark of apprehension has me concerned about bringing my
mate close to such loveliness. Her lashes lift and her worried gaze
finds the fang marks on my neck. “You know what’s he’s
done?”

I hear
what she’s asking. “Yeah. He’s promised to explain.”

Lee’s
eyes twinkle. “That’s the most succinct I’ve heard you.” She gives
an awkward hop on the spot. “Look at me keeping you standing
here.”

She
motions us to follow, and walks deeper into Castle. Her small frame
is spry as she glides down the spacious corridor, footfalls
feather-light.

This
woman is the leader of the Vampires. Since I last saw there has
been a distancing within. Her mind was elsewhere most of the time
we talked, but has been pulled back learning about the life in her
belly.

Lee
guides us into a large living area.

The
upholstery is lavish and plush, a vivid reminder of a bygone era. A
leather Chesterfield dominates the space. Its full grain leather
gleams in the orangey light pouring from the grandiose fireplace.
Beneath it is an aged, heavily woven rug. An oak cart table is
cluttered with books, empty glass bottles, and other capricious
knick-knacks. As if someone left the occasional thing until there
was no more space on its chunky surface. Flanking the three-seater
are tartan armchairs with high-winged backs, and cherry wood
beading. Old wood beams stretch ceiling to floor, and have darkened
with time. They break the room into squares. We stand with the main
furniture in the first square. In the second is a walnut chess
table with complementary stools. The last space is shadowed, but I
can see a pianoforte. The roaring fire keeps away the autumn chill,
and above the mantle is an oil painting of a feudal
lord.

He shits
astride a black stallion in front of Castle. The broad-brush
strokes do nothing to dampen the mysterious expression visible on
his majestic visage. His lips are twisted in cynicism, and his eyes
distant and brooding.

I squint
at it, trying to place the face that’s familiar and too
handsome.

Avoiding
the sofa, I jump onto the oak sideboard behind it, shoving
candelabras, and miniature busts out the way to make room for my
ass. Under my nose there’s a small vase of cut roses that smell
fresh and sweet. “That’s Ben up there, right? He looks hot. If I
didn’t know better, I’d say he was a wolf.”

“
Delightful.” Daniel reclines in his seat, one arm resting
along the top of the sofa, the other holding his ankle as he
crosses his legs. It doesn’t matter his clothes are dirty and torn
he looks masterful. “Crawl all the furniture like an animal why
don’t you?”

“
Seriously?” I glower. “I mention Ben’s hotness and you react
like this?”

He glares
at me over his shoulder, and pats the seat. Beckoning.

“
I’m not a fucking dog.”

Sighing –
witheringly – his gaze turns to the fire.

Delicate
face whimsy, Lee pays us no attention. She stands by the fireplace
staring at the painting. Smiling faintly. “I remember when this was
done. Handsome, isn’t he? The artist captured him in a way that
enchants me. My own representations are darker, more intimate.” She
blushes. “Desire clouds how I see him, so it’s thrilling to see him
through different eyes. He’s Human here. Preparing to take over
from his wasting father. He was so sad. Terrified of what the
future would bring. His fiefdoms were under attack by vicious
wolves. When men entered the forest to hunt, they disappeared, and
his vassals were discontent with his lord father’s approach to
seeking out the blood devil plaguing the village maidens.” We share
a commiserating look for those people. “The night before
commissioning this painting he was visited by an ‘evil spirit’, and
told he’d been chosen to join the Great Bloodline.”

My chin
rests in my palm as she speaks. “Huh? Evil spirit?”

Daniel’s
long fingers drum on the thick leather of the sofa with staccato
beats. “It was the night I showed myself to him.” He smirks,
pleased the one he Sired was terrified enough to perceive him as an
evil apparition.

I roll my
eyes. “There’s something wrong with you, do you know
that?”

He leers.
On a lesser man the facial gesture seems brutish, but his face
transforms into something spectacular.

Wiggling
to get comfortable, I rock too far to one side, and my hip knocks
the bust of a rearing horse. The figurine jerks a crystal picture
frame that tumbles off the edge of the sideboard, heading for the
stone floor.

Lee spins
gracefully. Her features blur she moves so fast. Darting around the
sofa, she catches the picture frame before it shatters.

My reflex
thanks choke off.

She isn’t
touching the frame. It floats above her palm.

Overcoming shock, I clear my throat. “Why use speed if you
could’ve stopped it from by the fireplace?”

“
I didn’t mean to.” Lines of frustration crease her forehead.
“I meant to use my power, but my body moved when I thought about
catching it.”

“
Telekinesis.” Daniel’s tapping pauses then commences with
greater insistency. Is the sound mirroring his shortening patience?
He could’ve caught the frame to spare me embarrassment, but he
chose not to.

It kind of makes me want to tap
my
fingers at
him
.

“
You had this power before Ben turned you?” he
asks.

“
Um, I’d used it on a teaspoon.” She sets the frame down
gently. “I didn’t know what I was doing.”

“
Learn to use your powers without the necessity of physical
movement,” says Daniel. “Your thoughts are too aligned with the
movement of your body, too literal. Until you learn to separate the
two, you’ll struggle to control it and yourself.”

As a
being of earth magic, one who relies on the unity of the mind and
body to remaining functioning, I’m alarmed. “You’re telling her to
separate her mind from her body?”

“
She is no longer built like you. Muscle memory will help her
perform basic tasks whilst her mind wanders. A useful thing, she’ll
find, especially with her preference to keeping prey alive after
feeding.”

I look between them. Stunned. “You don’t
have
to kill when you
feed?”

“
No,” Lee
replies. “We don’t, and we’re not going to anymore. We can consume
enough blood and soul to sustain us without killing. We have to
feed more often, but that’s a price we’ll pay. I believe the reason
my kind ends up so tortured is because they kill so many to live.
They may not know it, but it weighs on their
conscience.”

Daniel
barks a laugh. “Conscience?”

“
I thought you had to take everything when you fed from
full-blooded Humans?”

Daniel
looks at me like I’m mad. “Why do you think we fought between
ourselves? There are primal hungers we Vampire are slave to. These
hungers are key to our continued existence.” He lifts his baby,
third, and middle finger. “The thinking mind, feeling mind, and
survival mind. Safety. Sex. Food.” A finger drops with each primal
hunger. “Everything else is less basic. I fought for our right to
all three.”

“
I hear you.” Lee’s quiet tone reveals how steadfast she is in
her belief. “But you’re confusing bodily need with addiction. It’s
gluttony I fight, nothing more.”

Daniel
wanted to be able to kill with his feeds.

I have no
immediate damning feelings about his views. The killing of
innocence is something to avoid, but is any soul above the natural
food chain when it comes to survival?

Vampires
feed from Humans; the hunter and prey; lion and lamb. Can I
judge?

The
tension between Lee and Daniel stretches, grows claws, and starts
prowling.

“
Let’s shelve this conversation.” I look between them. “Before
one of us says something to regret.”

Lee
relaxes.

The
predatory tension vanishes.

“
What Daniel said about my powers, Ben says the same.” She
looks at him pointedly. “He also told me only five of us have
specific talents aside from the normal Vampire traits.”

The
fireplace and pillar candles extinguish, plunging the room into
darkness.

The
candlewicks flicker to life and flare dramatically. Daniel looks
bored, his fist resting at his temple, but glances at the
fireplace. Flames burst into being on the charred logs.

My mouth
drops. “Oh my Christ.”

‘
I can manipulate flame. It is a gift less useful than you
think.
It used to be a mark of power, but
now? How often do you see an open flame?’