Chapter 34
MARCUS
My mate sleeps on my chest and I stare into the steam.
My thumb runs absently up and down her arm.
She is muscled for a human, but still so fragile.
I held back with her in bed, scared of breaking her.
Even now, I fight the burn of my instincts and the painful throb of my fangs.
I am not sure how much longer I can continue like this. Fighting Julian like this will be hell.
Isa. I cast the word out across the mental bond I share with my sister.
It’s more fragile than the one I share with Teddy, because Isa and I use it less.
She and Theo are my siblings because we share a sire.
They were both born and turned centuries after I was.
Julian is my brother by blood and parentage, but the bond I once shared with him was killed long ago.
It’s a black stump at the back of my brain, like a severed limb.
What? Isa’s mental voice is languid and drowsy, as it usually is. Isa was sired before Teddy, and she’s a hedonist at heart, even more than my baby brother is.
What do you know about the mate bond?
There’s a spark of interest down the bond. I picture my slightly wild sister flashing to me and discovering my mate in my arms. The thought makes my lip curl. Like all mated vampires, the beginning stages of the claiming have made me half animal.
Do not even think about investigating, I warn.
I thought stories about the mating turning males into assholes were just that. Shockingly, you’re grumpier now than you were before. She’s taunting me, and I growl into the steam. Seal it before you drive me crazy, Marcus. A yawn.
With a mortal?
That has her attention.
Do not. Her voice cracks like a whip. I do not want to lose my second-favorite brother.
Love you too. The bond pulses in my mind, like she’s run a finger up it. I might not have a choice. It is agony not to claim her.
You will die, Isa snarls down the bond. You foolish male. You cannot mate a mortal. It shouldn’t even be possible.
Has it ever been successful?
It is rare and there are two outcomes. One, she dies quickly and you die slowly of hunger. Two, she is injured and bleeds the immortality from you as she heals, until you are nothing but a husk. You die before you even have a chance to starve.
The bond will make me stronger, I counter. I can keep her safe.
One wrong move, and she’s gone, Marcus. If you’re lucky, old age will kill her.
That gives you, what? Eighty years? There’s sorrow in her voice, and I know she’s thinking of her friends over the centuries.
Pressure gathers behind my ribs, but I stay silent.
She won’t appreciate my sympathy. I’d hoped for a different answer.
Isa has spent more time with humans than I have, and I thought maybe she’d know of a successful mating.
Eighty years if I’m lucky, I admit. The thought is heavy.
You could choose to turn her. Isa’s mental voice is grave. Siring another is a heavy responsibility. Leah would have to die with my blood in her body—far more than I’ve ever given her for healing.
She might not survive. She has to want it. And I know from the horror in Leah’s voice at the thought of turning that she does not. She would not live through a change, Isa. I would kill my mate.
Then let it go, brother. Walk away.
Leah moves drowsily against my chest.
I need to go.
Cut it, my sister says with finality. Sever it like you did with Julian’s. I’ll help you with the backlash.
We end the connection. I know she is right. I have to walk away from Leah. But I’m no longer sure I’ll be able to.