Soul Bound (25 page)

What am I doing? Why am I even here? I should have stayed away—then I could have lived out the rest of my life, only remembering Magnus gazing upon me with adoration and love. Now I’ll be forced to remember his look of scorn and derision until my dying day.

I stumble toward the exit, my eyes blurring with tears. I need to get out of here and fast. Before I dissolve in a pathetic puddle of lovelorn goo.

Unfortunately my escape attempt does not go as smoothly as I planned—mostly because I’m just not used to running around in boots with six-inch soles. So instead of slipping out the door and vanishing into the night, I find myself stumbling head over heels, crashing into a standing candelabrum before becoming one with the marble floor.

The room, predictably, erupts in laughter. And here I thought my face couldn’t get any redder.

“Are you okay?”

I look up toward the sound of a familiar female voice. My eyes widen as I find none other than Charity herself—one of Magnus’s blood donors—looming above me, a worried look on her face. Without waiting for me to answer, she helps me up and leads me over to a nearby pew. I can feel the amused stares of all the vampires and mortals as I collapse onto the bench, but I force myself to ignore them.

“Thanks,” I say, letting out a long breath. “Sorry, just lost my footing there for a moment.”

She plops down beside me and reaches into her bag, pulling out a large chocolate chip cookie. “Eat this,” she instructs. “I find a little sugar helps when you’re all weak in the knees.”

I take the cookie gratefully. After all, she should know about weak knees, being a blood donor and all. She’s probably used to living life a pint or two short. And I appreciate her kindness—it’s more than I can say about anyone else in the room. “Thanks,” I say, taking a bite of the cookie. “I appreciate it.”

“I’m Charity,” she says, holding out a hand. “I assume you’re one of the trainees?”

I nod. “I’m Sun—I mean, Rayne McDonald,” I say, shaking her hand.

Her eyes widen with interest. “Rayne McDonald?” she repeats. “So you’re—”

A shadow looms above us, cutting her off her question. “There you are, Charity. You’re wanted in the back. Rachel tells me it’s time for your draining.”

Oh God. My throat goes dry. I’d know that deep, English-accented voice anywhere. If it were a thousand years since I’d heard it, I’d still know it better than my own. My hands start shaking uncontrollably and I quickly shove them under my thighs.

Don’t look up. Whatever you do, don’t look up. Keep your eyes glued to the floor until he walks away and out of your life forever.

But, of course, there’s no way I can do that.

And so I find myself gazing upon his beautiful face, my eyes falling helplessly into his own sapphire ones, framed by thick,
black lashes.
This is just Magnus
, I try to scold my quickly melting heart.
You’ve spent hours and days locked in his embrace. It should be no big deal to look at him.

But it is. It’s like the biggest deal ever.

“I’m so sorry, Master,” Charity says, rising to her feet and lowering her gaze in deference to the vampire. “I will go do that right away. I know you must get very hungry on a night like tonight.”

Her words startle me out of my trance. “Night like tonight?” I find myself blurting out, realizing I have no idea what people actually do here at vampire-in-training school. What could Magnus be up to that would require an extra pint of blood or two?

Magnus gives me a hard look. “Bite night,” he replies stiffly, as if it’s a burden to even lower himself to speak to me. He starts turning back to Charity.

“Magnus,” the blood donor hisses in a distinct stage-whisper. “This is Rayne McDonald. Your, well…” She pauses, biting her lower lip, looking from her master to me. “You know…”

“Your future blood mate,” I finish, rising to my feet and giving him awkward smile. “At your service.”

Magnus’s face goes stark white. He looks at Charity, then at me, then back at his blood donor. I know exactly what he’s thinking.
You’re telling me I’m going to be stuck with this tacky fashion victim for all of eternity?
If it wasn’t so tragic, it’d almost be comical.

The silence that follows is suffocating. My heart feels as if
it’s been squeezed in a vice. “Maybe I should go,” I stammer. “This was a bad idea.”
On so many levels.

I turn away so he won’t see the tears spring in to my eyes. I should leave. I should bolt out of this old, decommissioned church and never look back. But as I take that first step, I feel a strong hand on my arm. I turn back to see Magnus’s sheepish face.

“Wait,” he says, his voice filled with guilt. He always was a softie—underneath that tough exterior. “I’m sorry. I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. Please forgive me.” He releases my arm and bows his head reverently. “It is lovely to meet you, Rayne McDonald,” he says. Almost as if he actually means it.

“Yeah,” I manage to reply, though it’s quite an effort getting any words past the lump in my throat. He must think I’m a total freak. “Um, great to meet you, too.” Out of habit, I stick out my hand. I can’t believe I’m actually giving my soul mate a friendly handshake. What the hell was I thinking coming here in the first place? This is torture worse than any fiery circle of Hell.

In response, he slips his hand into my own, squeezing it with tempered vampire strength. My whole body explodes at his touch, and it’s all I can do not to cry out loud.

Oh Magnus. My love…

He drops my hand like a hot potato and my first reaction is to be offended all over again. But then I catch the shadow crossing his face, the glimmer of confusion in his eyes. Ha! He feels it, too. Despite his best efforts, he feels something of the magnetic
attraction between us. Just that simple fact makes me feel a little better.

I watch, breath in my throat, as he swallows hard, then turns to Charity, who’s watching the scene with apparent amusement. “Why the hell are you still here?” he demands angrily, taking out his confusion on the only target he can.

“I’m not! I’m gone!” she assures him, dancing down the aisle and toward the back door, leaving me alone with Magnus again. My heart pounds in my chest as I search for something intelligent to say.

“So, um, Bite Night?” I try. “What’s that?” It’s all I can come up with on short notice with my body still humming from his touch.

He shakes his head before replying, as if trying to regain some semblance of control over his traitorous body. “Well,” he says, “as you know, in one month, when you complete your vampire training, the two of us will share one another’s blood, bonding as blood mates… for eternity.”

“Right,” I reply, nodding. “I know that part.” Of course unbeknownst to him, by then I’ll be far, far away. Forgetting he even exists for the good of all humanity and vampire kind. I wonder what he’ll think when he finds out I bailed. Will he be disappointed? Relieved?

“Well,” he continues, clearing his throat. “On Bite Night we practice.”

“Um, what?” My pulse picks up all over again as I give him a questioning look. “Practice what?”

His cheeks pinken into a blush, and for a moment I think he’s not going to explain. But then he shrugs and looks up, piercing me with his hot blue eyes and melting me all over again.

“Why, biting you, of course.”

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Check out all the Blood Coven Vampire titles!

Boys That Bite
Stake That
Girls That Growl
Bad Blood
Night School
Blood Ties
Soul Bound

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Blood Forever

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