Page 43 of Claim of Blood (Blood Bound #1)

Chapter Twenty-One

Lander

The fireplace’s warmth wrapped around Lander like an unwelcome embrace as he pretended to study the flames.

The soft cotton of his most casual clothes, jeans and a t-shirt Adam had deliberately selected from the depths of his closet, felt like a constant reminder of just how thoroughly the ancient vampire had upended his world.

These were clothes he wore alone, not in company.

Without his usual armor of crisp shirts and tailored suits, he felt unmoored.

Exposed, in a way that had nothing to do with skin.

Through lowered lashes, he watched Adam lounging against the pool table, bronze forearms bare where he’d rolled up his sleeves, dark eyes tracking Leo’s every movement with quiet, predatory focus.

The sharp crack of billiard balls cut through the parlor as Leo, to Lander’s growing amazement, continued to decimate Adam.

For someone who’d witnessed the game’s invention, Adam played with appalling ineptitude.

Though perhaps that had more to do with how Leo bent over the table, those borrowed jeans —Adam’s pick—hugging his curves in a way that made even Lander’s mouth go dry.

Lander shifted restlessly, bare feet against the cool hardwood.

Leo looked perfectly at home in his casual clothes, padding around like he’d been born to it.

But Leo had always been more at ease in simplicity.

Lander, by contrast, used his wardrobe like a shield.

And now that shield had been deliberately stripped away.

Adam’s doing. Another layer of control. Another reminder of what had changed.

The blood-bourbon burned a path down his throat, grounding him as his thoughts spiraled. The tug he felt toward Leo was confusing enough, but Adam? That was a labyrinth he wasn’t ready to navigate. Vampires didn’t feed during sex lightly. It meant something. Intimacy. Bond. Lovers. Claims.

Which they weren’t. Right?

Heat crept up his neck. He’d topped plenty of men—his height and build made him a natural for it. But with Adam... the way those dark eyes had flared when Lander admitted he’d never bottomed, the way the doorframe creaked under Adam’s grip...

Lander fidgeted, body still aching from memory. From how easily he’d submitted. How much he’d wanted to.

No. He shut the thought down hard. This wasn’t real. Just a side effect of blood compatibility or whatever magical nonsense governed their current situation. He wasn’t looking for more than that. Didn’t want it. Didn’t—

The parlor door swung open, interrupting his spiral.

His parents entered, looking entirely too pleased with themselves. The scent of recent sex followed them in like a smug ghost, and Lander immediately tried to bleach the knowledge from his mind.

His mother’s expression shifted from relaxed to shocked to downright delighted in under a second. Before he could move, she crossed the room in a blur and swept him into a hug that compressed several ribs.

“Oh! OH! This is wonderful!” she cried, practically vibrating. Behind her, his father clapped a confused Adam on the shoulder. Leo flinched mid-shot, the cue ball skipping wide as he straightened with flaming cheeks and instinctively drifted closer to Adam.

“Mor, what—” Lander began, but her delighted gasp cut him off.

“The third!” she exclaimed. “Just like when we found Andreas! Oh, he was such a delicious little man. So perfectly small and compact.”

Johan hummed in fond agreement. “We both rather enjoyed his size...”

“NOPE.” Lander clapped his hands over his ears. “We are not discussing your sex life.”

Elisabeth waved him off. “Don’t be such a prude, darling. Andreas was with us nearly two decades before you were conceived.” She turned toward Adam, eyes sparkling. “He was another vampire. Found his match in the most exquisite shifter. They still join us occasionally for the most incredible—”

“MOR. PLEASE.” Lander’s voice broke on the second word. “I’m begging you to stop.”

“Fine,” she said with a sigh, though her expression turned sly. She looked radiant, Lander noticed. Not just pleased—glowing. “I’m just so happy for you, sweetheart. Every third I’ve known eventually found their own blood-compatible match.”

Adam leaned forward slightly, interest flashing in his gaze. “Sit. Explain.”

They settled onto the couches, Adam reaching for Leo with casual certainty.

Leo hesitated, eyes flicking to the parlor door as if gauging distance.

But after a beat, color rising in his cheeks, he allowed himself to be pulled into Adam’s lap.

He curled against the vampire’s chest with a quiet sigh that spoke of equal parts resignation and comfort.

Lander’s parents exchanged one of those ancient, wordless looks that only centuries of partnership could produce. Elisabeth’s hand drifted to her stomach—soft, unconscious, familiar. Something about the gesture tugged at Lander’s memory, but he couldn’t place it.

“It’s perfectly fine with us,” Elisabeth said, her tone turning gentle, “if you need Leo more... intimately. We understand.”

A low growl vibrated through the room. Lander tensed as Adam, without preamble, freed his cock from tailored slacks and reached for Leo’s waistband.

Leo’s breath caught. His hands rose instinctively to Adam’s, perhaps to slow him—but he didn’t resist. With practiced ease, Adam shoved Leo’s pants down mid-thigh and hauled him onto his cock in one smooth motion.

Leo gasped, the sound edged with shock and arousal, his face burying against Adam’s shoulder. He flushed deep, clearly mortified by how exposed he was—but didn’t move to stop it.

Heat flared across Lander’s face. His own cock strained against the denim. In front of his parents, no less. He shifted awkwardly, trying for discretion—and failing, if his father’s smirk was anything to go by.

Adam settled Leo more firmly in his lap, hips snug, hands gripping the hunter’s waist. “Thank you,” he said, voice cool, “for understanding.”

“Oh, of course,” Elisabeth replied brightly. “The possessive instinct during the early years is perfectly natural.”

“Couldn’t keep myself out of Elisabeth for the first century,” Johan added fondly.

“Father,” Lander groaned, scrubbing both hands over his face.

Leo, now fully seated on Adam, was visibly trembling. His fingers clutched Adam’s thighs, knuckles white as he tried to stay still and composed.

Adam’s voice dropped an octave. “How long does this level of... need typically last?”

Lander leaned forward slightly, more drawn by Leo’s struggle to maintain composure than by the question.

“Actually,” Elisabeth said, nestling against Johan with casual intimacy, “we don’t know.

Until you, we were the oldest generation to experience a perfect match.

Andreas and his shifter were fourth generation, possibly fifth.

But you,” She gestured at Adam, still balls-deep in Leo, “are something else entirely. Your age, your power... it changes things.”

“How many perfect matches have there been?” Lander asked quickly, needing a distraction from the heat pooling low in his gut.

“Not many,” Johan said, brushing his thumb along Elisabeth’s arm. “We’re not like shifters with their fated mates. They breed often and eagerly. Vampires can turn others, yes—but true children? You’re the fourth vampire child ever born.”

“And all to perfectly compatible pairs,” Elisabeth added warmly, gaze resting on Lander. “It appears to be a requirement for conception.”

Lander blinked. “That... actually makes a disturbing amount of sense. Too many vampires turning others, not enough humans to feed them—it’d spiral quickly. Maybe it’s a kind of magical population control.”

“Perhaps,” Elisabeth mused. “Though it feels more... purposeful than that.” She glanced between Adam and Leo. “And potent. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Leo’s blush deepened. He shifted slightly on Adam’s cock, trying to adjust. A growl from Adam froze him in place, and he stilled, trembling.

Adam’s expression turned distant, thoughtful.

“I knew Merytre well,” he said, one hand now idly stroking Leo’s length.

“The Mother. We spoke often about her spells—her intentions. I was there at the beginning. There was nothing in her original work that should’ve created this.

No mention of compatibility. Of claiming.

” His grip on Leo tightened. “Nothing like this.”

Lander tilted his head. “There are rumors,” he said carefully. “That magic isn’t just a force. That it... learns. Watches. Decides.”

Adam’s gaze sharpened. His hand continued its slow, deliberate work on Leo’s cock, drawing muffled whimpers from the hunter.

“You’re asking if I believe magic is alive?”

Lander met his eyes. “Do you?”

Silence stretched. Leo was shaking in Adam’s lap, body trembling as Adam’s hand continued its careful strokes. But Adam’s voice, when it came, was calm. Measured.

“Yes,” he said at last. “I believe it has will. Understanding. That it chooses. Why, or how—I’ve no idea. Five thousand years, and I still don’t understand it. But yes... magic evolves.”

Elisabeth nodded knowingly. “Magic learns. Adapts. Perhaps it saw what vampires needed to survive and... adjusted.”

Leo’s soft gasp filled the silence. His body shuddered as Adam’s grip on his cock grew more purposeful. The discussion faded from Adam’s attention as he zeroed in on the trembling hunter in his lap. His movements, once idle, had shifted into something far more possessive.

The idea consumed Lander. Magic as a living force. Watching. Listening. Choosing. He stared openly now—at Leo, at the way his head tipped back, lips parted, soft sounds falling from his mouth like prayer. Adam’s focus had narrowed entirely to him, drawing those noises with surgical precision.

What else might magic change if it decided to? What new rules might it write, unannounced and unexplainable?

“Lander?” Elisabeth’s voice snapped him out of his spiral. “Are you even listening?”

Heat surged up his neck. He blinked and straightened, catching Leo mid-whimper. “Sorry, Mother. Just... thinking.”

“Unfortunately,” Elisabeth said with a sigh, “there’s no precedent for someone of Adam’s age and power.

Everything you’re experiencing is uncharted territory.

” Her hand drifted again to her belly, and this time Lander’s gaze snapped to it.

That gesture. That faint glow to her skin. He’d seen it before—centuries ago.

The pieces slid into place with nauseating clarity.

Leo’s sudden laugh shattered the thick silence. “My cousin would love this.”

Johan raised an eyebrow. “Your cousin?”

“Another hunter?” Elisabeth asked, though her tone suggested she already suspected more.

Leo groaned as Adam adjusted beneath him, the shift drawing another needy sound from his throat. Lander couldn’t stop the flash of memory—Leo’s body around him, clenching tight, desperate. He shoved it aside.

“Felix,” Leo managed, breathless. “Obsessed with vampires. Keeps notebooks—actual, physical ones. Won’t let anyone else see them. Hides them from the family.” His voice hitched again as Adam’s hands flexed against his hips.

“Interesting,” Elisabeth murmured. “Have you tried retrieving this cousin?”

Adam’s grunt was tight, clipped. “We can’t locate Leo’s family.”

“Unfortunate,” she said, sharing another quiet glance with Johan. That same look. Knowing. Content. Smug, almost. “Still, how much could a hunter possibly know?”

Johan stood, pouring bloodwine for the group. His movements were graceful, fluid, but Lander noticed the shift—how carefully he watched Elisabeth, how often his hand brushed hers. The softness between them tonight felt... heightened.

When Johan handed her the glass, his fingers lingered.

“Well,” Elisabeth said brightly, “speaking of vampire fertility—”

“Were we, though?” Lander muttered, dread curling in his gut.

Elisabeth swatted him playfully. “Hush. Johan, how did we raise such a prude? We’ll do better with the next one.”

Lander’s glass froze midair. “Next one?”

Johan beamed. “Your mother’s pregnant. You’re getting a sister.”

The words slammed into Lander like an angry bull. Sister? Pregnant?

Adam and Leo murmured their congratulations, but Lander barely registered them.

Elisabeth positively glowed. “We didn’t realize at first. No periods, obviously, and I just assumed the bloat was from traveling.

But then I remembered this sensation from before, that little shift of magic inside me. My body knew. It’s a girl.”

Two hundred and fifty years.

Lander’s mind reeled. “You’re seriously having a baby. Now.”

“We’ll throw a feast after the winter solstice,” Adam said, his voice smooth but authoritative, fingers still pressed possessively into Leo’s hips. “New life among our kind is rare. Worth celebrating.”

“This explains why Erik mentioned you’d be staying for an extended period,” Lander said numbly.

“Oh, yes,” Elisabeth chirped. “A few decades, at least. Until she’s grown and ready to travel. Then we’ll return to Norway.” She beamed at him. “And she’ll be raised with her big brother right here! Isn’t that wonderful?”

Lander downed his bourbon in one burning swallow. “Decades,” he echoed.

He poured again. Drank again.

Adam’s brow lifted. “Will that be a problem?”

Lander didn’t answer—only emptied his third glass and let it clink against the table.

The blood-bourbon was fully in effect now, softening the world’s edges. But even dulled, reality wouldn’t stop pressing in. His parents. A sister. The fact that Adam was literally still inside Leo, in the middle of the room, while all of this was happening.

He reached for the decanter again—only to pause at a sudden, sharp gasp.

His gaze slid back to the couch, unwilling but helpless.

Adam was actively thrusting up into Leo now, each motion making the hunter’s cock bounce. Leo’s hands clung to Adam’s thighs, white-knuckled.

And then, as if none of it were happening, Elisabeth said, “Now darling, should we look for a house nearby, or stay here in the mansion?”

Adam’s hips snapped upward with force. Leo whimpered.

“You’ll stay here,” Adam growled. “Right here. In this parlor.”

“An honor,” Johan said smoothly, pulling Elisabeth into his lap with ease. She went willingly, eyes fixed on Leo with bright fascination.

This was not happening.

Absolutely. Fucking. Not.

The decanter and glass clattered against the side table as Lander abandoned both, fleeing the room as though all the hunters in creation were on his heels.