4. Finley #2
Then it hit me, Ayla was supposed to be arriving at some point today and I didn’t want this vampire to know about her or that there were far more elves alive than people assumed.
He might already know some elves survived since the Dark Ring liked to collect them, but no one knew about the clans scattered in small pockets all over the world.
This information getting into the wrong hands before the Senate and the Dark Ring were destroyed could cost many lives.
Elves nowadays were conditioned to hide, not to fight.
They wouldn’t be prepared if an attack happened.
“We need to get this over with quickly,” I called out to everyone. “Ayla is coming today, and ally or not, he can’t know about her.” I got various yips and snarls in reply, but they all agreed it was best to keep our cards close to our chest.
As we broke from the forest into the main pack area, the sun was over the mountains warming up the earth from the cool evening air.
Spring was coming, but the nights and mornings were still quite brisk, not that I noticed much anymore being a werewolf.
What I did realize, though, was I was hungry, and when a rabbit darted out of the underbrush, my mouth watered.
I let out a yip of excitement which caused the rabbit to race off back into the woods.
Just as I was about to chase after my prey, Zander cut me off with a snarl.
My wolf realized what we’d been about to do and dropped to the ground with a whine of apology.
As the lowest wolf of the pack, it would have been a slight to my alpha if I’d hunted only for myself.
Zander closed the distance between us and snuffled my face, licking my snout reassuringly.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to come on so strong.
We just couldn’t risk you running off by yourself.
Who knows what else might be hiding out there waiting for the moment you’re alone,” he explained, rubbing his head against mine affectionately.
“Once in the house, I’ll make you some breakfast if Mason left any food there for us to eat after last night. ”
“No, I see why you all harp on me so much about not making sure to eat enough. I can’t believe how easily I was distracted by a rabbit,” I said as I stood and followed after him up the porch steps into the house.
“Finley, go up and put some clothes on, please,” Colt directed as he stood in the middle of the living room, staring down the vampire sitting in the armchair. “Take anything you need from mine or Lane’s room. We haven’t moved as much over to the other house.”
I left them to deal with things as I bounded up the stairs to Colt’s room directly at the top.
Shifting back, I walked over to the dresser and grabbed a T-shirt and sweatpants.
Feeling a little gross, having not really taken the time to pull myself together, I stepped into the room that was originally supposed to be mine to brush my teeth and wash my face.
I pulled open the medicine cabinet to see if there might be a hair tie, on an off chance, but there wasn’t.
When I turned the light switch off to the bathroom, my finger got cut on a nail sticking slightly out of the wood paneling on the wall.
“Shit,” I muttered at the bite of pain. Looking at the damage, it didn’t seem to be anything to be concerned about. I was sure that with my shifter healing, it would be gone in a minute or two. When I looked up, I came face to face with Derven, his eyes glowing red as he stared at my finger.
“This can’t be,” he whispered, reaching out to gently grasp my wrist. “It doesn’t make any sense. I know they’re all gone.”
“Derven?” I questioned, trying not to react to how much his eyes freaked out my wolf. She was begging me to run away from the predator before us, but I just had the gut feeling that if I ran, it would make things so much worse.
Ignoring the fact that I’d spoken to him, he lifted my hand and took a deep breath.
He groaned, and before I could stop him, he popped my finger into his mouth and licked the blood off my finger.
A tether snapped into place, almost like when my wolf mates marked me.
My blood sang in my body as if it rejoiced at finding something that had been lost to it.
Derven didn’t let my finger go. Instead, he scraped his fang along the pad, cutting the flesh open, making it bleed for him.
Instead of pain, it felt as if he was sucking on my clit instead of my finger causing my knees to go out from under me.
Derven caught me around the waist, holding me to him as he sucked and lapped at my finger.
Each draw of blood had me twitching, my core clenching as if it knew something should be inside us to get this type of reaction.
His eyes opened and locked onto mine as he took one last pull at my finger long and hard, causing me to explode in an orgasm unlike any other I’d experienced before.
I let out a cry of pleasure as I became boneless against his body, only the steel band of his arm keeping me upright.
“What,” I panted as he released my finger. “What did you just do to me?”
“Sangele meu, I should be asking you that.” Derven purred as he picked me up and sat on the end of the bed. “This should be interesting.”
Before I could ask what he was talking about, Colt, Zander, Lane, and Rath were standing in the room, faces alight with rage.
“What did you just do!” Rath bellowed.
Never would I have guessed my composed elven mate could respond with such violence in this tone.
“You did something. I can feel it in our soul bond.” He snarled as he stalked forward, acting just like any wolf would with his mate in danger. “Tell me what you did right now before I rip out your heart!”
“I would advise against that, seeing as you’ll kill her,” Derven answered as if he didn’t have an elf and three wolves waiting to tear him to pieces.
Zander narrowed his eyes as a growl seeped from his lips. “What did you just say?”
“It would appear that Finley and I are Blood Bonded,” he explained, glancing down at me as I gasped.
“I’m sorry, the moment the scent of your blood hit the air, I was unable to fight against the call.
For us it’s as powerful as any mate bond between elves or wolves.
It’s not a choice you can fight when it is fated to happen. ”
“I don’t understand. You had a Blood Bond already,” Colt challenged. “Was that a lie? Something to soften our hearts toward you or something?”
“Marissa was taken from me forty years ago,” Derven shared.
“It might seem like a long time for most people, but I’m a thousand years old.
Forty years is like blinking. No one knows how Blood Bonds work but what is known is that if you have one, you can’t feed from anyone else but that one person.
I can feed on others, but it won’t nourish me or keep me alive, so what would be the point?
If the blood donor dies, then the bond is broken, and the vampire starts to feed on others again. ”
“So you’re saying you could have many Blood Bonds out there but only one you are actually bonded to at a time?” I asked, trying to navigate through what he was saying. “So the only way to break this bond is with my death because if you die, I will too.”
“Yes, sangele meu, that is the simple version of things as I understand them,” Derven murmured, resting his head against mine.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen.
The last thing I would want for my bonded partner is to make their life more complicated and that I fear is what I’ve done. ”