by Ginna Moran
The woman strolls closer, tossing her brown hair over her shoulder to expose her breasts. Jameson blocks her from getting close, and she surprises the hell out of him by trying to jump into his arms. With his reaction, I’d think she had some infectious disease to vampires. She falls a little too close to me and tries to reach around me to grab onto Bronx.
He growls at her. “I’ve been claimed. Do not do that again.”
“Vampires can’t be...” She narrows her eyes at me. “You’re the donor the staff talks about.”
I don’t respond.
She grabs my shoulders, making all four of my guys growl. “The traitor.”
No one gets the chance to react as she yanks me to her, kicking my feet out from under me. Bronx rips the woman away from me and tosses her on the bed. My guys surround me, helping me to stand. They look ready to murder the woman for touching me.
Mikkalo yells out and swings behind him, knocking a man, the same guy who interrupted me and Bronx, away from him. The scent of Mikkalo’s blood wafts through the air. I rush to get between him and the guy.
I don’t see the woman launch from the bed, gripping a dagger in her hand, until it’s too late.
She jumps on top of me.
Chapter 10
Rebel Infestation
“I DON’T FUCKING THINK SO!”
Jameson rips the woman away from me. She screeches and swings her arm, stabbing him in the thigh. Swearing, Jameson disarms the woman and drops her. Everett flips her onto her stomach and restrains her.
“Corona!” Bronx yells, his voice bellowing so loud that I’m sure people across the region can hear him.
Everett scoops me off the floor and relocates me to the bathroom. Mikkalo joins us, closing the door and leaning his muscular frame against it. Kneeling in front of me, Everett inspects me inch-by-inch, waving his hand over my body without touching me.
“Do you hurt anywhere?” he asks, playing with the hem of my long T-shirt.
“No, I’m just a little shaken.” I comb my fingers through his blond hair, pulling him to me by his head.
He hugs me from his spot, resting his cheek to my stomach. “Are you sure?”
I smirk. “Would you feel better if I showed you?”
“I know I would. This stab wound hurts like hell,” Mikkalo says from his place in front of the door.
I can’t stop the pout from puckering my mouth. “Oh, Mikkalo. Let me take a look.”
“After you.” He graces me with a flirty smile, which helps lighten the invisible weight pressing down on me.
“You make sure that door’s in place. I’m not having any more rude interruptions.” I suck my bottom lip between my teeth.
Mikkalo holds the handle even though it’s locked. “No one would dare.”
I give into them and slowly tug my shirt up, exposing myself. My skin prickles under the weight of their gazes, and I slowly twirl around. “Do I look okay?”
Everett gently glides his fingers over the small of my back. “Does this hurt?”
Now that he mentions it, a dull pain radiates from the spot he touches. The longer I stand here, the more my adrenaline wears off.
“A little,” I say, answering honestly since he takes on his health keeper tone. “What’s wrong?”
Everett bites his arm and holds it out to me. “She must’ve nicked you. It’s already coagulating, but drink some of my blood in case.”
A roar sounds from the bedroom, startling me. Everett shifts my shirt down, and Mikkalo flings the door open. A blood spot blossoms on the back of his shirt where the man attacked and stabbed him.
“Did you hear that, Corona? This rebel hurt our girl,” Jameson says, thrusting his hand out at the woman, now wrapped in a blanket.
Corona’s eyes dart to me, causing my stomach to twist. I can’t even bear to look at him. It not only pisses me off but also just being near him makes me nauseated.
“I’ll handle the both of them,” Corona says, yanking the man toward him first.
“You assured me the rebels were no longer here,” Bronx snaps, still standing butt-ass naked. “How can I trust you if you can’t handle a simple task? You know the risk the Blood Rebels pose to our region. The Barons use them.”
Everything happens so fast that I don’t get a chance to act. Corona sinks his teeth into the man’s neck hard enough to squirt his blood across the floor. The sight sends my stomach rolling. My body heaves in despair, and Everett spins me toward the toilet.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jameson asks. He’s all sorts of growly, sounding like he’s on the brink of starting a fight. I kind of hope he does. I want Corona to pay.
I get my shit together, wiping my mouth on my arm. I swivel toward the door to catch sight of Jameson kneeling next to the man, whom I’m nearly certain Corona just gave his final donation to.
“You monster!” the woman screams, scrambling to get the man’s discarded knife from the floor. “You killed him!”
Corona snarls at the woman. She cries out and covers her face with her arms to shield herself. But it does nothing to protect her. Locking his hands to her head, he yanks her up and bends her neck. He extends his fangs longer than I’m used to, going in for the kill bite.
Something inside me snaps, and I rush forward. Mikkalo tries to block me, but I shove him, sending him into Jameson. Corona drops the woman to the ground and growls at me in warning, and then he snaps his teeth. I don’t stop though. His crazy ass doesn’t scare me. How dare he think he can just end someone’s life like this. I don’t care who she is or what she tried to do to me. I refuse to let this asshole murder another person, but especially on my behalf.
Bronx snatches me by the wrist and drags me toward him. He locks his arms around me, stopping me from attacking. Everett gets in Corona’s face and snarls when he flashes his fangs at me. Tension builds in the room, my guys ready to act on Bronx’s order.
I buck in Bronx’s arms. I’m so furious that I can barely see straight. “I want his heart. This weak alliance isn’t worth it. Keeping him alive has no benefit. You have to!”
“Leave now, Corona!” Bronx yells, squeezing me even tighter. “Take the rebel with you but do not harm her. Do you understand? We need her alive.”
I scratch my nails into Bronx’s arms. “Bronx, no. He needs to die.” I kick my legs, struggling against his strong hold. “Jameson! Jamie! Please. Do it for me.”
“Fuck,” Jameson mutters.
Bronx growls. “Don’t act on rash demands, brother. And Corona, I said leave. Your presence isn’t helping.”
Corona offers a stiff nod and grabs the woman. Jameson follows Corona out, and Everett disappears after them, probably assuring Jameson doesn’t act on my demand. I can’t stop glaring at the door. If I can break free, I can do it myself.
“All right, Gwen. You have five seconds to calm the hell down,” Bronx says into my ear. “You’re not going after him. I will handle it.”
“Not the way I need you to. Now let me go! You can’t let him get away with that. He killed that man like he killed Kyler.” I thrash and drop to the floor, unsure if I broke Bronx’s hold or if he dropped me.
“I’m sorry, Gwen. You have to trust me. He will be dealt with accordingly,” Bronx says, bending down on a knee to gather me off the floor. “I swear. But right now, please, you have to chill the fuck out. Your eyes are flashing like crazy. I’ve never felt you so strong before.”
I shove him away and try to get up. Kicking out his leg, Bronx knocks my feet out from under me. I land on my back and full-on hiss at him, the edges of my vision shadowing. My mind begs for me to take a breath and do as Bronx asks, but my body refuses. My dhampir mutation awakens in full force.
“Shit. She’s out of control,” Bronx says. “I need your help, Mik.”
I point at Mikkalo. “Don’t you dare help him.”
I catapult to my feet and jerk my elbow back to stop Bronx from restraining me again. The force of my hit knocks the wind out of him,
and he grunts. Spinning, I kick out and clock Bronx in the side. He snatches my leg and yanks me off my feet again. Instead of dropping me, he dangles me upside down. The action doesn’t last long because my shirt falls over my head. Bronx tosses me to the bed, flips me onto my stomach, and straddles me.
He leans into me, sinking his weight against my body. Instead of pissing me off even more, the gesture somehow manages to calm my wild ass down. I feel his naked body pressing into my ass, my shirt hiked up a bit. And damn it if it doesn’t turn me on. Bronx too.
“I need you to listen to me, dandelion,” Bronx says, his words a whisper in my ear. “I have a plan for Corona, and it’s killing me that you can’t trust me to handle him.”
I squeeze my eyes shut at his words. “I—I do trust you. But I don’t know how much longer I can wait. I hate him. Loathe him. A part of me feels like it’s dying even looking at him.”
He groans in my ear. “I’ll keep him away until the gathering. We just need to use him to show the city leaders that a prominent member of our region is on our side. After that, I will personally restrain him so that you can get your revenge.”
“I don’t want revenge. I want justice,” I whisper. “What he did—”
“Was fucked up. I know. I don’t take the murder of humans, even Blood Rebels, lightly. Neither did Zaire. His belief in the proper care of the population was one of the reasons he was invited onto Donor Life Corp’s board. I don’t know how much you know about the Donor Life Corp territory history, but it wasn’t that long ago that the founder lost sight of our purpose to maintain civility the best we can, not only between our regions but also between the vampire and human population.” Bronx eases off me to lie on his side. He doesn’t let me get far and hooks his arms to my waist and positions me so that I face him. “He started a war that ended with the destruction of five regions over the course of a few months.”
I furrow my brows. I had no idea about any of this. “Five regions? What the hell? Why?”
He flicks his gaze to Mikkalo, who still stands quietly guarding the door. “I don’t know all the details, because Zaire wasn’t allowed to share them, but what I do know is it involved the Divine Coven of Ombre Noire, a city now a part of the Vaduva Region, and Blood Rebels.”
“Divine?” I ask. “That name sounds familiar.”
“The former leader was the founder of Donor Life Corp. He massacred a huge Blood Rebel colony using outcasts. You might know the place as The Orchards or Red Canyon Crest Grove.” Mikkalo draws my attention to him.
I widen my eyes. “Shit. I do. But Laredo said it was a huge shadow dweller colony unincorporated with Donor Life Corp. He said that no one gets in or out.” I close my eyes, remembering the short conversation we had brought up because Grayson heard it was a human paradise. Laredo said that was exactly what vampires wanted humans to think, so they’d attempt to go there. I should’ve known Laredo lied.
Bronx reaches out and touches my face. “I know there are a lot of things you still don’t know, but I will do my best to inform you. Some other time.”
I glare at him, and he risks leaning in to kiss me. Snuggling in his embrace, I rest my head on his arm and just share the same breathing space as my nerves fully settle. Mikkalo sits on my other side and rests his hand on my hip, just wanting to be close.
Bronx sits up when he’s certain I’m not going to try to go after Corona. I watch him slip back into his clothes and head into a wardrobe. The last room we were in only had a closet with nothing for me. I expect Bronx to come out with more too big guy clothes, but he hands me a cotton nightie with a lace trim and matching panties.
“I’ll pick up more clothes for you in the evening. For now, you should try to get some sleep,” Bronx says, combing his fingers through his hair.
“In another room.” I nearly get sick again as I peer around and spot the dead man still on the floor in a pool of blood.
Mikkalo swipes the blanket off the bed to drape over the body. “Where Everett can give you another look.”
“I’m fine,” I say, trying to imagine anything else that isn’t gore. “Just a little nauseated. I’ll feel better when we get out of here, and I can get some solid food and a little more blood in my stomach.”
Bronx helps me up. “Let Everett help, Gwen. He can feed you as well.”
I sigh. “Okay.”
“Good. I’ll send him your guys’ way and meet up with you after I make sure everything is taken care of.”
“You’ll assure the woman is safe?” I ask.
Bronx tightens his jaw and nods. “You can help me interrogate her later, along with the rest of the staff. We can’t take any more chances. We have enough to deal with.”
“What will you do with them after?” I can’t stop the blip of fear tightening my chest.
“That’ll be something we can all decide.”
***
“I think it might be worth the risk,” Grayson says, leaning his elbows on his knees. “If we can get to the community, we won’t have to deal with shadow dwellers all the time.”
“Yeah, Nathaniel said that vampires are caged. They bow down to us. There’s also a huge compound full of women. They let the fiercest fighters live with them. A higher chance of finding a permanent supply of pussy.”
Grabbing my silver stake from my jacket, I chuck it at Porter. It whacks him in the forehead. “Not for you, if you keep talking like that.”
Porter jumps to his feet and rushes to me to retaliate. I jerk my leg up to try to kick him in the groin, but he grabs my foot and hoists me off the couch. I slam my back into the floor and roll a few times to stop him from tackling me and twisting my arm until I call mercy. Last time, I passed out from pain because I refused to let him think he could ever best me.
“Don’t let him get you, little sis,” Grayson calls. “Show him who’s powerful enough to save even his dumb ass one day.”
I catapult to my feet with a laugh. “Not if it raises his chances of a supposed endless supply of vagina. The last things we need are Porter’s offspring running around.”
“Aw come on, Auntie Gwen. You’re going to need our spawn to back you up when we’re all old as fuck,” Silas says. “Your daughter will need a bunch of cousins too. The bigger our family, the better. Right, Grayson?” Silas appears in the doorway, offering me his cheesiest smile.
“My daughter? Yeah, right. You guys are a bunch of cock blocks.” I pick up a pillow from the couch and swing it at Porter, stopping him from closing the space. “Hmm, of course if we did make it to this supposed paradise, you’d all be too busy with your endless supply of vagina that I wouldn’t even have to sneak around to get my endless supply of dick. I hear the elders take their procreation seriously. Only the best, hottest, fiercest of all the dick welcome to try to impress a woman.”
My brothers groan.
“I did not just hear you say that.” Declan comes into the living room from the kitchen. “One dhampir Gallagher is enough.”
“Get used to the idea, bro,” Ashton says, following behind him. “Why do you think Mom and Dad had so many of us? I’m pretty fucking sure we’ll be expected to do the same.”
“I still don’t want to hear my precious, innocent little sister talk about how she’s thinking about fucking what sounds like an entire army of dicks. I don’t care what the elders want. No way.” Declan looks at me. “Seriously, Gwen. Expanding the dhampir population is not your responsibility. How about you concentrate on finding someone who will treat you like the gift to humanity you are and not a tool to start the next generation.”
I laugh again. “Jeez, Declan. I’m only kidding. I don’t want an army. Maybe just a few. A woman has needs too, you know.”
“Gwen! Shut the fuck up.” This comes from Silas.
“Seriously, Gwen,” Grayson says, crossing his arms. “I don’t want Laredo to hear you talk like this and get any ideas. I know you two have grown closer over the last few months.”
I stick my tongue out at
Declan. “Maybe you should get on Porter’s case. He started it with his ridiculous, most definitely never-going-to-happen fantasy. Sorry if I have my own too.”
Declan grabs Porter and puts him in a headlock. “You fuckhead.”
“Plus,” I add. “Maybe I want Laredo to hear. No risk of procreating there.”
Grayson’s face twists in disgust, and he closes the space to me and shoves me. I stumble back, catching myself on the wall. “Don’t be stupid, Gwen.”
“Me, stupid?”
“Grayson, back away from Gwen.” Laredo’s voice cuts through the air. “She is only joking around to get a rise out of you because you and your brothers lack tact and respect toward the female population with your ideas for your futures.”
Grayson stiffens, reaching for the stake in his jacket. Porter pulls his gun from his holster. Silas, Declan, and Ashton unsheathe their daggers. Kyler appears in the hallway with his own stake. All of my brothers turn to face Laredo, looking hell-bent on attacking him.
I sigh and strut in front of Laredo. “You guys, knock it off. Laredo was right. I was only joking. He knows he’s not my type.”
Laredo releases a soft growl.
“Now, put your weapons down. Laredo is my blood source, and he’s not a threat. I really don’t feel like having to hunt the shadows for a new one. He’s raised my expectations on who I drink from quite a bit.” I look at each of my brothers. “As for the other stuff, I doubt such a place exists.”
Laredo drapes his arm over my shoulder. “She’s right. It’s a trap to lure humans into an out-of-control, infested area of shadow dwellers. The Orchards is the last place I’d ever take you.”
My brothers get themselves under control and leave me alone with Laredo, though Grayson gives me a pointed look to warn me that our conversation isn’t over. Lifting me off my feet, Laredo spins me toward the couch and plops down next to me. I shift to look at him, his eyes flashing silver.
“You lied to my brothers,” I say, keeping my voice low.