Page 39 of A Hunt Bound in Blood

“Too close,” I growled.

Slowly, she raised her gaze to mine. “It can never happen again. No matter what else we face on this journey, you cannot let me bite you again. Promise me.”

I thought of the rush of desire I’d felt under her teeth and flashed her a sly grin. “I’ll do no such thing.”

Glory opened her mouth to say something else, and I tasted a fresh burst of fear, then she seemed to change her mind and instead looked around the camp, at our packs that were scattered and drenched in blood between the ravaged corpses. Her shoulders sagged, but she pushed herself to her feet. “I guess we should clean this up and get moving. I don’t want to be here if another horde comes to finish what they started.”

She gave me no chance to stop her. Almost fully healed by the looks of it and moving with more speed and grace than I’d seen since we’d met, she slipped out of my grasp and set to work.

For a moment, I could only kneel where I was and watch her. My erection throbbed. On a deep level, I understood the discomfort was my body warning me of the sudden blood loss, but with the effect of Glory’s bite still riding me, the rest of me interpreted the symptoms as lust. I curled my hands on my knees and followed her movements with my eyes, waiting for the first rush of this sensation to pass. When the moments went by and nothing subsided, I rose and helped with the cleanup. Both of us longed to wash off and change, but we opted for speed over comfort, staying in rags until we could find a safe place to stop.

The moon slid across the sky, but eventually our bags were packed, Glory’s tent—with a few new holes—was strapped together, and we were on our way towards the edge of shifter territory, leaving our gruesome encounter behind us.

Glory looked over her shoulder as the camp faded from view. “Do you think they’ll come after us?”

I shook my head. “They made a bad decision with their attack, and they’ll recognize it. I wouldn’t advise going through their territory again any time soon, but they won’t cross boundaries to seek revenge.”

A faint sniffle sounded in the darkness, and only thanks to the moonlight and my demonic night vision could I make out the tears cutting tracks through the blood on Glory’s face.

“I wish it hadn’t come to that,” she said. “I—I’ve never…”

The longing to draw her to me and clutch her to my chest nearly overwhelmed me. My arms felt empty without her shape, and my fingers itched to run through her hair. I shoved my hands in my pockets to resist this new, bizarre temptation, making a note to assess the yearnings as soon as I had a moment to myself.

“You did what you needed to do to survive. Killing is only a fun experience to those who have lost so much of themselves that the value of a life is wasted on them. The fact that you’re grieving proves you’re still yourself. Take comfort in that.”

My own feelings over killing to stay alive had hardened over the years, but I kept that part quiet. Glory didn’t need to wonder how many times I’d been in that situation during my years of exploration. If she did, she might believe she should never step foot outside the city again, and I didn’t want that. In fact, I found myself hoping she’d want to spend a lot of time outside her familiar borders—a thought that took me off guard, and I chalked it up to yet another effect of her bite.

In an effort to distract her from her morbid thoughts and have my own curiosity satisfied, I cleared my throat and asked, “What exactly can I expect from these little punctures in my neck? We’ve already proved the heightened libido is true.”

A rough breath slipped out as she steadied herself, and she tucked her hair behind her ear. “That’s definitely the big one. As it were. And if that’s all it were, it wouldn’t be such an issue, but the bite— You said the decision to outlaw vampires was random, but there’s a reason we’re a threat. If all we did was encourage people to let down their inhibitions, I doubt the monarchy would care. They’d probably tax our encounters and add some gold to their coffers.”

I pressed my hand to my chest. “You? Cynical against the throne? I’m shocked.”

A small smile played on her mouth, and I prided myself on earning that much given her current state of mind.

“All right,” I prodded, “so if it’s not just my intense desire to shove you up against this tree and fuck you until you forget your name, what else is there?”

The flavour of her responding desire made mine flare, and I cursed myself for teasing her. Neither of us were in a place to act on it, despite our wild, unfettered emotions.

Her flush deepened, and she chewed on her bottom lip in the way that toyed with my sanity. But the fear was back, the same flavour that had assaulted me moments ago. Whatever she was about to say, it wouldn’t be great news for me. The muscles in my back tensed, and for the first time tonight, I wondered what my reckless behaviour had gotten me into.

Her fear settled as she worked up her courage. “The bite creates a bond. It’s temporary after the first bite, but a second makes it permanent. It ties the donor to the vampire, turning them into a sort of thrall.”

Unease curled in my gut, and I found myself putting distance between me and the beautiful woman by my side. “You mean you’ve enslaved me?” Despite all I knew about vampires, this was the first I was hearing about any bond.

Her eyes widened, and she drew to a stop. “No, no, it’s nothing that intense. It’s more of an… inclination to serve. I—” She groaned and tugged on the loose hair that had fallen over her shoulder. “I’m not describing this well. I’ve never had to describe it to anyone. I’ve never…”

Those words again. It seemed my little mage had crossed a lot of firsts off her list tonight. A thrill ran through me that mine was the first blood she’d enjoyed straight from the source, but I had no way of knowing if that thrill was mine or because of this bond. Would the bond even work the same way given my demonic nature?

I told myself we wouldn’t be exploring that line of thought. On the contrary, I would do my utmost to resist it. I couldn’t regret what I’d done to save her, but I wasn’t a demon to be tied to anyone.

“What exactly does this bond entail? You say it’s an inclination to serve, so that suggests I’m going to want to be close to you until it wears off?”

She nodded, seemingly relieved that I was giving her a chance to explain. “That’s exactly it. It’s a defence thing on a vampire’s part. The bond ensures the donor wants to keep us safe. To protect us and care for us, especially during the daylight hours when full-blooded vampires are vulnerable. In return, we feel a sort of compulsion to do the same for them. It benefits us, you see, to have our willing donors safe. As such, I can… well, I have a sense of your emotions.” She huffed. “Not to the same extent you have of mine, of course—we’re in a unique situation with that—but I can get a basic read on them. Like I can feel them under my skin. I wasn’t sure it would work the same since I’m only half, but I guess so.”

She ran her hands up and down her arms as though to chase away a chill. The gesture was more sensuous than bracing, and I imagined goosebumps bubbling along her skin, raising the tiny hairs, making her sensitive to the lightest touch.

I gave myself a shake and considered what this temporary bond would mean. Sure, my role in our journey was to protect her from threats we might come across, and it was nice to hear that because of this bond, she might be inclined to do the same for me, but the forced nature of it wasn’t ideal. As a demon, I was used to being the only one in the room who could manipulate a person’s emotions. To have mine played with like this, to be made to feel like I needed to bend my will to make someone else happy…