Page 15 of Blood & Bond (The Bouchers #2)

Ambrose

“ P lease,” my mother said, lifting her hand to quiet us. “Just give me this one night. Everyone is home at the same time. Let me have one dinner where we act like a family and not an army under attack.”

We’d been arguing about the next steps for the last fifteen minutes, and we hadn’t gotten very far.

Chance and Danny couldn’t agree on a damn thing.

My father wanted to go hunting. He figured if we started at the bottom, we’d eventually reach the top.

He wasn’t concerned with any collateral damage we could cause in the process.

Beau was still holed up in his room with Reese.

We hadn’t seen them since we’d gotten back to the house, and I thought my mom was being na?vely optimistic if she thought they’d come down for dinner.

I was fucking distracted.

I’d walked Charlie and Lucy to Zeke’s room and left them there. I’d thought that Charlie would want to explore by himself, but he hadn’t said a word when Lucy walked inside with him. She’d practically closed the door in my face.

I wondered if she was growing more uncomfortable by the moment, or if it was just me who felt like I was going to come out of my skin.

The heat was manageable if we were in the same room, but when she was out of eyesight, my body went into revolt.

Sweat pooled at the base of my spine as I tried to pay attention to what Chance was saying.

How the hell did Vampires do this shit back when courting a human woman meant that they could only see her for an hour or two a day? The stories of the occasional Vampire kidnapping their mate didn’t seem so far-fetched anymore. It seemed crazier to try to stay away.

“Well, at least we know that it’s true, no matter what Lucy said,” my dad said in amusement. “You still with us, Ulf?”

“What?” I asked, turning to look at him.

“Looking a little warm, son.”

“Funny,” I snapped, straightening.

“Honey, why don’t you go find her?” my mom asked with a grimace. “If it’s this bad for you, she must be miserable.”

“I doubt it,” I replied as the table went quiet. I knew she was there before I’d even turned around.

“Um, Ambrose?” Lucy called, her voice strained.

I was on my feet so fast that the chair behind me skidded across the floor.

She looked like absolute shit. The hair around her temples was damp with sweat, and her eyes were dark with pain.

The arm that Matthias had held that morning was tucked up against her chest like she was trying to protect it.

“Baby,” I murmured, hurrying toward her. “Why did you wait so long?”

The second I reached her, she opened her arms and wrapped them around my neck.

Ignoring my family, I lifted her into my arms and carried her toward the stairs. Her legs tightened around my hips, and her mouth pressed against my neck as I took them two at a time. The entire back of her T-shirt was stuck to her, and she shivered as I rubbed my hand down her spine.

By the time we reached my rooms, she’d stopped shivering, but she didn’t loosen her grip. I closed the door behind us and walked straight to the couch.

“This is frigging bullshit,” she mumbled against my neck as she dropped her legs so I could sit. Her knees tucked in neatly on each side of me.

“You should’ve come down sooner.”

“I wasn’t this bad before,” she said with a sigh. “I wanted to be with Charlie.”

“It wasn’t this bad because we’ve been together since we met,” I reminded her.

She huffed in annoyance. “Well, we’re together now, and it’s still not going away.”

I smiled, glad that she couldn’t see my face. “It usually gets worse before it gets better.”

“When the hell is it going to get better?”

“After we complete the bond.”

“What, so we need to do some crazy Vampire ritual, and then I won’t feel like I’m being boiled alive anymore?”

I couldn’t hold in my laugh. “I don’t think sex is considered a crazy Vampire ritual, but exchanging blood is.”

Lucy shot up and glared at me. “Exchanging what?”

“It can’t be that surprising.”

“I mean, I know Vampires drink blood. That’s the whole thing.” She paused. “Wait, you haven’t been drinking blood.”

“Yes, I have. I carry it with me.”

“Bull.”

“Check my bag,” I told her. “I’ve got a small cooler inside.”

“When the heck did you drink it?” she asked suspiciously. “I haven’t seen you.”

“When you were sleeping.”

“Oh.” She slumped and wiped a hand across her forehead. “So…this isn’t going to get better unless I let you drink my blood?”

“And you drink mine.”

Her nose wrinkled. “Yeah, that’s not happening.”

“You’ll like it.”

Gods, she felt good on top of me. Running my hands down her sides, I curved them around the globes of her ass. Perfection.

“And what if I don’t want to complete the bond or whatever?”

Everything inside me rebelled, and my hands tightened on her ass.

“I don’t know,” I gritted out. “It will get worse, I think.”

“But, no ,” she said in alarm. “I thought we could walk away. Beau walked away, right?”

I wanted to be careful with her. She was my mate.

The beginning of our relationship would shape the way we interacted for the rest of our lives.

Beyond that, I didn’t want to upset her.

It was my responsibility to protect her, not just physically, but emotionally as well.

It was a lesson that had been drummed into me since I was a child.

But the cavalier way she spoke about the mating bond was like someone dragging rusty knives down my chest.

“Beau practically killed himself when he walked away from his mate.” I ground out, holding her in place as she started to pull away.

“His mate was married and pregnant. She wasn’t even aware of the mating bond because she was so in love with her human husband.

Beau sacrificed for her. He didn’t walk away, Lucy. He tore himself away, at great cost .”

“Oh,” she breathed.

“So, yes, it is possible to deny the bond. But even if you put a world of distance between us, it would be incredibly painful for both of us.” I leaned forward a little.

“And I’m not sure that I could stop myself from following you.

I’m not even sure that you would get very far before you turned around and came back. ”

The symptoms she was experiencing were a pretty good indication that she no longer had the option of walking away.

“I wouldn’t turn around,” she replied stubbornly.

“What was Charlie doing when you left?” I asked softly.

Lucy stiffened.

“I’m guessing you didn’t want to leave him, right?” I let out a huff of exasperation. “That was the distance of half a house and about twenty minutes.”

“So I’m just stuck,” she said angrily.

“We’re both stuck, baby,” I replied flatly.

She shoved at my chest. “Why are you being such an asshole?”

“How am I being an asshole?” I asked, not letting go of her. She may have been pissed, but our points of contact were the only thing keeping the heat from torturing us both.

“You didn’t talk to me like that before,” she snapped. “You didn’t look at me like that, either.”

“Sorry,” I grunted as she shifted on my lap.

“Oh, yeah, it sounds like it,” she said derisively, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Do you have any idea what this is like for me?” I asked, reaching up to grip her chin. “Baby, I’ll treat you like delicate china if that’s what you need. But you’re sitting on my lap, bitching about being stuck with me, and I’ve been waiting a hundred fucking years for this.”

She licked her lips, and I nearly lost it.

“I don’t like not having a choice,” she said in grudging apology.

“I understand.”

“It’s not you, it’s me,” she joked.

The baseline arousal that had thrummed through my veins since the moment I met her seemed to pulse. I struggled to ignore it.

“I can wait as long as you need,” I said, the words practically burning my throat. “But please stop questioning the bond. For you, it’s a trap. For me, it’s fucking salvation.”

Lucy’s gaze softened. Her arms dropped, and one of her hands reached up to trace the curve of my jaw.

“It’s hard for me to wrap my head around that kind of commitment right now,” she said softly. “I barely know you.”

“The Gods don’t make mistakes,” I replied, biting her fingers when they reached my lips. “We’ll wait to take permanent steps if that makes you more comfortable, but you’re meant for me.”

Lucy frowned.

“I was made for you too,” I clarified. “It goes both ways.”

Lucy’s hips shifted forward, and I wasn’t even sure if she’d realized she’d done it, but I couldn’t think of anything else. I was notched between her thighs, and the heat of her was making my pulse pound in my ears.

“So what’s the point of no return?” she rasped, her eyes on my lips. She shook her head and met my eyes. “This is getting more uncomfortable.”

“The exchange of blood completes the bond,” I answered. “I’ll take yours, and you’ll take mine.”

“So we both have to do it?” She shifted on my lap again and cursed. “I can’t focus.”

“Once I’ve had your blood, I won’t tolerate anyone else’s,” I explained as I wrapped my hand gently around the base of her throat. Her pulse fluttered under my fingertips. “But the bond won’t lock into place until you’ve had mine too.”

“Where does sex come in?” she asked curiously as her hands began to roam over my shoulders and chest.

“That’s when we’ll exchange it.”

“Really?”

“From what I understand, it’s incredibly intimate.”

Lucy froze. “You’ve never done it?”

Repulsion must’ve shown in my expression, because she jolted back in surprise.

“Of course not.”

“Not of course not,” she countered. “Why are you making that face?”

“We don’t exchange blood with anyone but our mate.”

“Since when?”

“Since always.”

“That can’t be true.”

“Humans can donate without a Vampire biting them.” I shook my head.

“But—”

“Do you take a bite out of a live cow when you’re hungry?” I snapped.

“Not sure I like being compared to a cow,” she shot back.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“That’s what you said.”