Page 13 of A Bond Beyond Blood (The Butcher’s Daughter Trilogy #1)

J ack

After fulfilling my duties as the third wheel all night while my brother and his girlfriend tossed heart eyes back and forth across the table, I’d been able to sneak out early without any complaints. I wasn’t even sure they realized I left.

They would have had to break eye contact for that kind of information.

I’d had family dinner on the brain when I dressed earlier, but halfway through the meal, and affected by the way my brother looked at Thea, I’d realized I wanted to put in a little effort for my date.

Because it was a date.

And Vinny deserved effort.

The man had held me until I fell asleep last night, decorated my apartment for Christmas while I slept, and then spent the morning feeding me coffee and donuts—while worshipping my body.

Throwing on a sexier outfit was really the least I could do.

Mrs. Mankin was outside the dry cleaners next door, lugging loads of laundry from the shop to her car. Dad had been right; that woman would work until the day they put her in the ground.

She waved as I climbed out of my car.

“Hey, Mrs. M,” I called as I waved back. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Jacqueline...” She paused, her eyes softening as her smile morphed into one of sympathy. The kind that instantly sent my guard up. “Are you holding up okay, dear?”

My teeth clenched, but I forced a smile as I nodded. Please don’t make me talk about my dad.

“That’s good.” She returned my smile and swung a bag of laundry over her shoulder, but then her smile fell and her eyes widened.

I looked behind me quickly, but there was nothing there.

When I looked back at her, I frowned. “Mrs. M? Everything okay?”

“You’re not all alone for Christmas, are you, dear?”

Stifling a groan, I shook my head. “No, ma’am.” There’s a sinfully hot vampire waiting for me as we speak.

“That’s good.” When her back was turned, I stepped around the car and headed for the stairs, but the open back door to the butcher shop caught my eye.

I stiffened, then glanced over at Mrs. Mankin. “Hey, Mrs. M? Did you see anyone go into the shop tonight?” My gaze flicked back to the open back door as apprehension spider-walked down my spine.

But it could be as harmless as one of my employees coming in unexpectedly. And two of them had keys, so really, Mario could have come in tonight to get a head start on Christmas pickup orders, or Justin could be hiding out here because his house was full of in-laws...

It wouldn’t be the first time, but there were no other cars parked in the lot.

“Jack?”

I looked back at Mrs. Mankin and realized she’d been speaking. “Sorry, what?”

“Would you like me to call Harold, dear?” she asked. “So you don’t have to go in alone?”

I shook my head. No offense to Mr. Mankin, but I trusted my own abilities to save myself more than I trusted his.

“No, thank you. I remember now; I just forgot to lock up earlier.” It was a lie, but I definitely didn’t need her or her elderly husband strolling into the shop behind me and becoming accidental victims if someone was here to rob me. Or worse.

Had I not revoked Gannon’s entry earlier, I’d chalk this up to an ex-boyfriend who was unwilling to take a hint.

“Okay, honey, if you’re sure...”

“I’m fine,” I lied. “I forgot that, um...” Shit .

“My brother was going to come by and pick up a ham. He probably just forgot to lock up. You know how Gio is.” I shrugged casually and chuckled to play off the lie—and my unease—praying she’d believe me and leave me alone.

I couldn’t protect myself if I was too busy protecting her.

After holding my gaze for a long time, she finally nodded, then slipped inside the cleaners.

I breathed deeply and tucked my keys into my pocket, then slung my purse over my arm, and readied myself with my dominant hand hovering near my stake. Then I pushed the door open and moved quickly inside.

The door shut behind me without my help, and I froze as a sinking sensation filled my belly with dread.

I definitely wasn’t alone.

But, thanks to Vinny and his surprise attack last week, this time, beneath my puffy jacket, was a holster and two sharpened stakes.

This time, I was prepared.

I was also excited, because it was likely Vinny again, showing up to test me before our date. I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from grinning—

“Jack,” a man who was not Vinny said in a way that made it seem like he was testing the word for the very first time.

Ice trickled down my spine and cooled my blood.

My pulse sped as I struggled to focus in the dark shop, frustrated by the lack of nightlights.

After Vinny’s surprise visit, I’d told myself I wanted to install low lighting that would stay on all night so I’d never be caught off guard in pitch blackness again, but I had yet to act on that idea.

“I’d expected a male.” He chuckled softly and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. “Your father was a clever man.”

My muscles hardened at the mention of my father and I took a step back, but the vampire tsked and I froze.

“Surely he was clever enough to have taught you not to run from a vampire.” The man’s voice was velvety smooth; I hated the way I liked the sound of it.

Because this was the one I’d been waiting for.

I knew it with every cell of my being.

Eli had finally come for me.

“You knew my father.”

“Indeed, I did.”

I tilted my head, trying to listen for the monster in the dark kitchen. I’d waited almost a year for his appearance.

I wanted to see my enemy.

Wanted to look into the eyes of the man who turned his back on my father.

I struggled to keep my anger under control even as my blood boiled. I’d been training for this moment for so long but had begun to think he’d moved on.

Or been staked.

I’d hoped for the latter.

And because of that hope, I’d grown complacent. I still trained, sure, but each day that passed made me less sure that I’d ever meet the man who’d turned his back on Franco Fiorino.

“You’ve been waiting for me,” he murmured thoughtfully, a hint of a smile in his tone.

“Not waiting exactly.” Preparing .

I reached for the light switch, but froze when my fingers met with a hard body beneath smooth fabric. He’d moved from his spot across the room to immediately beside me and I hadn’t heard a goddamn thing. Not even the tickle of a breeze as his movements displaced the air.

His hand circled my wrist and my pulse sped faster, louder in my ears. “He told you about me.”

“Yes.”

“Then you know I am ancient. Fighting me would be futile.”

I swallowed hard, annoyed by the loud sound it made in the quiet shop.

“Nod if you understand.”

Nod, because he could see me in the dark, while I was rendered blind. So I nodded. I would give him the answer he wanted, but I had no intention of going down easily.

And, this time, thanks to Vinny, I was armed.

“Is that so,” he drawled as he snaked one hand up beneath my coat to feel around at my hips, then inched higher, trailing his fingertips along the length of one pointed stake.

I swallowed hard, and he made an amused little sound, then leaned forward and breathed me in. “You reek of vampires. Do you offer yourself up to monsters, Jack?”

“No,” I forced through clenched teeth.

He sniffed and I went rigid as his nose came dangerously close to the skin of my cheek. “Two vampires. Young, the both of them. Babies, really.”

He got all that just from their scents? Jesus. How old was this guy?

“I was born in sixteen-oh-eight, petit colibri .”

I gasped and he laughed, the sound a deep rumble that sank into my bones.

“With age comes many things. Wisdom, yes. Boredom, most definitely—”

“And you can read my thoughts.” With one hand still held firmly within his grasp, as slowly as I could muster, I reached for my nearest stake.

He leaned closer and I froze, then shivered as his nose brushed that sensitive place just below my earlobe. “Only because my blood flows through your veins.”

My mouth dropped open.

The hand that had been reaching for my weapon flopped to my side. “Wh-what?”

The vampire sighed. “I, too, am surprised by this development.” He paused and I tried to still my racing heart, but it was no use.

His blood ran through my veins?

What the fuck? How?

“How, indeed.” He sighed again, and it wasn’t the sigh of irritation but something else. A bone-tiredness I couldn’t fathom. “Come. Let’s go upstairs and have a civilized conversation.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“Oh, do try to cooperate. We have so much to discuss.”

“I doubt we have anything to discuss.”

He tsked again. “Please don’t test me, petit colibri . I’m positively famished.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?”

“Because,” he said, his mouth dangerously close to my ear, “your heart beats as rapidly as the wings of a hummingbird. Fear has that effect on humans.”

My muscles went rigid and I straightened my shoulders. “I’m not afraid.”

“How very foolish of you.” He flipped on the light and I blinked against the blight fluorescents, struggling to focus, but when I did—

Holy shit.

He was absolutely stunning.

His face was chiseled stone, a jawline so sharp you could cut glass on it, but the way his full lips were so soft and pale pink beneath his broad nose. They were almost feminine in their fullness, and it softened him somehow, made him more beautiful than was humanly possible.

Because he’s not human, you moron.

My father should have warned me. Should have told me Eli looked like this .

His hair was so blond it was nearly white and slicked back, long on top and cut neatly along the sides and in back.

His body was long and lean, all hard lines beneath a sleek black suit.

Skin as pale as freshly fallen snow stood out in contrast against that bespoke suit, striking in its beauty, but it was his eyes that captivated me.

The purest icy blue, like the deepest caverns of a glacier—

“If you’re quite finished...”

I gasped, eyes widening as I realized he’d sat through that entire monologue. He’d heard every bit of it and hadn’t stopped me.

He tilted his head, boredom evident in the way he watched me, but then his brows furrowed. “Feminine lips, though? Really?”

“Oh my god.”

He smiled, but the motion didn’t meet his eyes. “If you wouldn’t mind...” He motioned toward the back door. “We have much to discuss, and I fear I am running out of patience.”

I swallowed hard, then, before I could talk myself out of voicing the question, I said, “Have you fed lately?” I grimaced as I awaited his response.

“I have, yes.” He flicked his wrist toward the walk-in freezer as he turned and began to stride away from me. “I helped myself. Hope you don’t mind.”

“You’ve been gone for a year . What have you... eaten?”

Eli sighed, the sound deep and loud in the quiet butcher shop, then he spun back around toward me and motioned to the office. “Shall we sit, then? I can see you’re unwilling to take me upstairs.”

“I’m not inviting you into my house.”

“Little secret about a blood bond, love...” He met my gaze and his striking blue eyes stole my breath.

“What’s yours is mine.” He waited, allowing those words to sink in, then rolled his eyes as he added, “I no longer need an invitation.” With that, he disappeared into my father’s office and left me frozen in place.

Giving my head a quick shake, I forced my feet forward, stopping just inside the doorway.

“Sit.”

“I’ll stand.”

“Stubborn like your father, I see.”

As the silence grew louder between us, I couldn’t keep myself from asking, “Why are you here?”

“Would you believe I’ve been struck with saudade?"

“What?”

“Melancholy, love. Nostalgia. A longing for—”

I snorted. “No.” As if vampires could feel melancholy .

He sighed and dismissed me with the flick of his wrist. “Well, as much as I hate to admit it, we most certainly can , and I do .” He looked around my father’s office, then leveled his gaze on me. “This was your father’s favorite holiday, you know.”

I gasped and he offered me a sympathetic smile that made my spine itch with irritation. “Don’t talk about my father.”

“You asked me why I am here; I simply responded. Might I suggest you refrain from asking questions you do not want the answer to?” He leaned back and unbuttoned his suit jacket and my eyes followed the motion of his hands.

They were strong hands, but slender like the rest of him.

I held my breath as I watched those hands, my brain wandering off into dangerous territory as I imagined what those fingers could do to my body—

“As much as I enjoy your tawdry musings, if you continue to look at me with that blatant lust in your gaze, I’ll be forced to respond.” My breath hitched and he laughed, then added quietly, “And you may find yourself in a situation you cannot get out of.”

I swallowed hard and looked up into his eyes, instantly regretting my wayward thoughts.

His eyes were dark and hooded—and damn near glowing red.

Which meant he wanted one of two things—and I wanted nothing to do with either.

Plus, I was smart enough to know he wouldn’t go easy on me in either capacity.

When he licked his lips and I caught the faintest hint of a fang, I sucked in a stuttering breath as my belly clenched and heat rushed south.

He tsked again, then stood so quickly I jumped.

“In for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose,” he said as he closed the distance between us. Then he snaked his hand around to cup the back of my neck, tilting my head back and exposing my throat. Panic surged within me. My heart beat loudly, the rush of my pulse deafening in my ears.

He brought his nose to my flesh and inhaled, sighing as he leveled me once again with his intense gaze. “So it’s true?” He tilted his head as he stared down at me. “You offer yourself up to my kind?”

“No,” I ground out through clenched teeth.

All these months of training and now he was going to bite me. I was truly defenseless, and the fact that I’d never be able to avenge my father tore a sob from my lips.

His hand tightened and his brow furrowed. “What was that?”

Tears leaked from my eyes as his grip continued to tighten. If he squeezed any harder, he’d snap my spine clean in half.

“I could, yes, but I’m much more interested in why you’ve been training.”

“To fight you,” I forced through clenched teeth as the pain in my neck made it difficult to speak.

“To fight me ?” He laughed and my fists clenched at my sides.

And then, with amusement dancing in his dark eyes, he released me and took a step back, extending his arms to either side and giving me the slightest bow. “To fight me,” he mused. “Splendid.” He quirked a brow in challenge. “By all means, petit colibri , who am I to deny you?”