Page 18 of Blood Claims (Garnet Dagger Mafia #2)

UNTIL ONE DAY…

“ E asy now… calm for us, little one,” Tal cooed down at me as I tried to control my panicked breathing.

The nightmare still lingered, clinging to me like some sticky web entangled in my thoughts.

And now, I was left questioning why that same living shadow I had previously seen being recused had showcased in it?

Was it just my mind twisting my memories or was something more nefarious going on… I just didn’t know.

What I did know was how real it had all felt.

How real he had been.

My shadowed stalker.

Of course, I had no choice but to tell them that it was just a bad dream, when at heart, it had felt like so much more.

The rational part of my mind was now at war with the memory of it.

Because like I said, it had just felt far too real to be nothing more than something my mind had fabricated. Too real to conjure up…

Him.

Even his voice still lingered in my mind, making me shiver against the brothers as I thought of another who had held me. That dark promise he made leaving me terrified.

“That must have been one hell of a nightmare, baby,” Victor hummed into my hair, where he dipped his head as he still held mine cradled to his chest.

“Yeah,” I breathed out on a sigh, prompting him to pull back so he could look at me.

“You wanna talk about it?” he asked, making me instantly shake my head, telling him no.

Because what was I going to say? That it felt like someone was now stalking my dreams, promising me that one day soon he would be the next one to steal me from my life.

A life that hadn’t felt like my own since that first night meeting Tal.

The uncontrollable motions I had been forced to take each day, all thanks to that fucking witch!

And now what exactly…? There was a new player on the board? Well, that was just bullshit! Because I still had a curse to break and a pair of Vampire brothers to escape. The last thing I needed was another one to have to deal with!

“Hey, come back to us, baby,” Tal hummed from my other side, because it was clear my mind was anywhere but here. In an angry place, at that.

“I’m sorry, I just need a minute,” I told them, trying to shift off the bed… something they wouldn’t allow. I knew this the second an arm banded around my waist like a steel bar, one that belonged to Tal, who had reacted before his brother had a chance to.

“Then you take it here with us, Nessa,” he ordered softly behind me. Which was when I finally realized something, making me blurt out,

“I’m not chained up this time?” Just the fact that I sounded as astonished as I did spoke volumes to how fucked up my life was right now. But then again… when had it not been?

“No chance of you escaping us anymore, so there was no need,” Victor told me, making me turn to face him. It was when I noticed that I was in a huge, dark bed I didn’t recognize, and both men appeared to be naked.

“You seem sure of that,” I said, instead of focusing on the hotness that surrounded me. As for my comment, this made him scoff.

“It was daylight hours when we found you, Nessa, not sure you would have chosen to be choked by that bitch had you the means to get out of it,” Victor replied, making perfect sense.

“One soon to be dead bitch,” Tal growled behind me, making me shiver.

“Agreed. But until then, we have everyone in the city looking for her,” Victor informed me.

“You do?” I asked, admittedly surprised by this. Which meant the only time they could have set these wheels in motion had been when I was talking to Stacey.

“Of course. No one hurts our girl and gets away with it,” Tal answered.

“She didn’t take away the curse,” I told them quietly, making Victor sigh as Tal gritted his teeth.

“That’s because there was no curse to take,” Victor said firmly.

“She fooled you, Nessa, used you because she recognized what you were to us,” Tal added, making me shake my head.

“I don’t believe that.”

Tal frowned before opening his mouth, about to argue this, when Victor stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Then we will just have to find a way to prove it to you, but until then, can you try to trust us?”

“Trust you how?” I asked in a timid voice. I felt like I was walking precious ground here. But Victor was only too happy to continue.

“Trust that we won’t hurt you and that we only want to care for our Fated.”

I swallowed hard, trying to hold back the emotions and the deepest of wishes that this was true. How badly I wanted this to be real for them as much as it already was for me.

“I don’t know how,” I admitted softly, and Victor granted me a tender look.

“Then we will make you a deal,” he said before glancing to his brother, no doubt relaying exactly what that was with just a look.

“What deal?” I asked fearfully as I looked from one to the other.

“Forget about the curse.”

“What?” I gasped.

“Forget about anything that witch told you, and act as you would, as you did before you knew anything about it. Be yourself with us, Nessa, and allow us to be the same. Allow us to care for you, to keep you safe and to see what road this relationship takes us down naturally, without restraint or doubt on your part,” Victor said, and as if to emphasize it, he began stroking gentle fingers across my belly just where my tank top met my pants.

A slither of bare skin that he needed to touch, to connect with.

It was maddening as much as it was addictive.

Just like the way I could barely think with these two being naked next to me with so much muscle on show.

“But how am I to…?”

“Just let it go, sweetheart. As I think it is clear that she was not to be trusted, so why continue to trust her in this?” Tal asked, making a lot of sense.

But of course, I didn’t need to ask myself why, because I already knew. Both of them being cursed into loving me made much more sense than this being actually Fated. And why? Because the bad was easier to believe and, in my life, disappointment had become my life’s motto.

It was hard to love yourself when you didn’t know what it looked like.

When it wasn’t something you recognized because no one had ever loved you before.

It was a life lesson that skipped me by, thanks to shitty parents, a shitty upbringing, and even shittier relationships that followed. Which was why I told them honestly,

“Because in my life, love has always been a lie.”

They both gave me a gentle, tender look of regret, before moving in and holding me close.

Then they eased me down so I was lying flat, sandwiched between them.

Tal with his arm across me, his hand curled at my hip, whereas his brother’s arm was tucked across me under my breasts.

Both were holding me tight because my words clearly affected them.

But it was Victor who leaned in closer to whisper against my cheek.

“Until one day, it isn’t.”

I closed my eyes and let a single tear seep from beneath my lid as the power of these five words penetrated. And when they did, it was so deep and profound. But I didn’t tell the brothers this. No, instead I cut the minute’s silence by asking,

“And this deal, what’s my side of the bargain?”

“Easy, if after time we can’t prove to you the curse isn’t real, we will simply let you go.”

I felt Tal’s arm tighten as if the thought was one that he couldn’t bear. As for me, I tensed also, because it seemed too easy and again, something I didn’t know if I could trust.

“You would let me go?”

“We would, but only if we wouldn’t be able to prove to you the curse is not real after a considerable amount of time,” Victor said, making me question,

“And what exactly constitutes as a considerable amount of time in your book?”

He grinned as he cupped my cheek, turning my face fully to look at him.

“What do you think?” he asked, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips.

“Until retirement?” I joked, making him laugh.

“Try until we find the witch and kill her,” Tal whispered from my other side, making me gasp.

“I don’t understand.”

“All spells cast by a witch die the moment they do. So, if what she told you was correct and if by some fucked up miracle on her part she was able to cast the curse, it wouldn’t matter, for if she died… so would the curse she cast.”

My mouth dropped open a little as my mind spun with the possibility. Because if what they said was true, then it was the only way to know for sure.

“You know I kind of have a negative view on the whole killing thing, right?”

Tal laughed, whereas Victor allowed himself to fully smirk at me, as if what I had said was funny.

“Yes, well lucky for you, we don’t,” Tal commented, making me grumble.

“That doesn’t exactly help me want to relax and enjoy this relationship.” My comment, of course, was just another thing that made him chuckle.

“There is still a lot about our kind and our world you don’t know, Nessa, but we will soon rectify that by giving you all the answers you seek,” Victor said, and my brows shot to my hairline.

“You will?!” I asked, shocked.

“Yes, sweetheart, we will… but not tonight.”

I sighed, the disappointment no doubt easy to see.

But, this time, it made them both smile because they had enticed their bargain from me.

And as for me, I had bargained for nights without chains.

A fact they pointed out, as Victor gripped the back of my neck and pulled me closer. His lips at my temple as he told me,

“Now it is time to sleep easy in our arms and we will do the same, knowing, for once…”

“There is no escaping your Fate.”