Page 19 of Daring Her Vampires (Embracing The Bond #12)

“Why the fuck do you think I’d tell you that?” Atlas snarls, his composure fraying.

“You have been protective in the past,” he chuckles. “Are you tired of chasing me yet? Why don’t you give her to me?”

“You won’t get near her,” Atlas grits out.

“Are you sure? Marcus found a way to be close,” he hums.

“Yeah, and look what happened to him.” Quinn motions to Atlas to keep him talking, so he must be trying to get a lock on Fredrick’s location. “I ripped his heart out.”

“Fuck you, he was loyal,” he snaps.

“Loyal?” Atlas scoffs. “He killed for you.”

“He loved it.”

“He won’t love anything again,” Atlas says.

“You’ll pay for it,” Fredrick promises.

“Show your face, and we’ll see.”

“Live in fear, Allie. Your brother took something from me, and I can’t wait to take something from him.” He hangs up and Atlas growls.

“Shade has a lock on the number,” Quinn says, staring at his phone.

“Atlas, he’s playing with you,” Allie says, moving in front of him.

“It’s fucking working,” he says, rolling his shoulders.

“Don’t let it,” she says. “He won’t get to me. We know he likes to threaten from afar.”

“Shade will continue to work on it. The number went offline. It’s probably thrown away, but he can try to find the last known location,” Quinn says, and Atlas runs his hands through his hair.

“We continue with the plan.” Standing, I squeeze Luca’s arm. “He won’t fight in the open. Allie’s right—he wants to unnerve you.” I walk around the desk and toward Atlas. “We will find him. Allie is protected.” Leaning into his body, he circles my waist, taking a deep breath.

“I don’t want you alone,” Luca says, staring at Allie.

“I haven’t been alone since we came here,” she says.

“Allie, I’m serious,” he growls, prowling closer to her.

“I’m careful.” She presses her hand to his chest. “I’m not weak. He won’t attack until he thinks he can win.”

“You need to stay at Sally’s,” Atlas says.

“Uh…no,” she sputters. “I’m not getting in-between that.” She wiggles her fingers at us. “I’ve been fine staying with the family. Roxanne is expecting me.”

“We can follow her there,” Stephanie says.

“We won’t let anything happen to her,” Quinn adds, and my mates reluctantly nod. “I’ll keep in contact.” Allie hugs Luca, and I step away from Atlas so she can embrace him.

“Let’s go,” Luca says, guiding me toward the door.

Allie wiggles her fingers toward me before getting in her vehicle, and Quinn and Stephanie follow.

Luca opens the passenger-side door for me and shuts it after I get settled.

Atlas gets behind the wheel, and Luca sits behind him.

My mates are tense, and I want to ease their worry.

The topic of the witch will make dinner tense, but making food for them is my love language.

I pull out my phone and text Bishop, Logan, and River, inviting them for a meal.

What food do I make to satisfy my vampire boyfriends, a dragon, a lion, and a wolf?

I doubt Atlas and Luca will care. River loves food, so anything will be consumed, but he won’t be happy to dig up the past. Bishop might breathe fire when I ask him. My apartment isn’t much, but it’s mine.

I don’t want a hole burned in my roof.

“Boyfriends, we need to go to the store,” I announce.

“This is a lot of food,” Atlas says, sitting at the counter after they hauled the twenty bags of food in. They’ve calmed down after messaging Allie numerous times. She took her things to Roxanne’s and should be here soon.

“You haven’t seen River eat,” I snort. “The party was nothing. The boy always has food in his hand.” I move around the kitchen. “Plus, I needed some essentials.” Brownies were a must. I usually make them from scratch, but sometimes, you need them immediately.

“Are you expecting them to be angry?” Luca frowns, joining his brother.

“Yes, but I know they’ll do the right thing.” I nod firmly. Spreading the ingredients on the counter, I wash my hands and get started.

“We have other options,” Atlas says.

“This will be the best one,” I insist.

“Have you met the witch?” Luca asks.

“I haven’t met Mara.” I pour the breading into a bowl.

“I have met others. Lace is a witch and Daisy’s friend.

I spent some time with her while they were going through some shit.

She’s nice, and I got to watch her start a fire with her mind.

” I grin. “Her powers aren’t like Mara’s.

We aren’t close friends and don’t keep in touch. ”

“We don’t know much about their magic. Traveling like we have, we don’t spend time making friends with anyone,” Atlas says, watching my hands as I mix the crumbs.

“Was it hard to be alone?” I ask. “I realize you had each other. Weren't you lonely?”

“We didn’t miss what we didn’t have,” Atlas mumbles.

“It was hard to trust anyone but the three of us,” Luca says.

“But you must have come across others like you and me,” I insist, as I brush my hands together.

“Yes,” Atlas says, but pauses. I look up, tilting my head. “We met a woman.”

“It’s okay. I know I won’t be your first,” I say dryly. “I don’t like thinking about you with anyone else. It makes my skin itch. But you didn’t know me then, I won’t hold it against you.” His jaw ticks. “Unless it’s difficult to talk about.”

“She was beautiful.” He folds his arms on the counter.

“I met her at a bar we frequented. Luca was home with Allie. She was a lion shifter. We didn’t know such a thing existed until we met other vampires.

They taught us about using our sense of smell.

I instinctively knew what she was. We started talking, and she reeled me in.

She said all the right things, and even though I learned about mates, she wasn’t mine.

Why not have fun?” I dunk the chicken in the egg.

“We met numerous times a week. I started to care about her, and we made plans. Luca and Allie went to a job, so I brought her to our place. We rented a cabin for a few months.”

“They didn’t know about her?” I ask, glancing at Luca. He is stiff and staring at the wall.

“No. We fought over something stupid, so I didn’t share.

We weren’t talking about much at the time.

The weekend made me fall a bit in love. She listened to me and seemed to give shit about me.

” He runs his hand through his hair. “I didn’t expect Luca and Allie home so soon.

When they arrived, we were on the couch.

” He clears his throat, and I wrinkle my nose.

“It wasn’t innocent.” I nod briskly, hating the vision.

“Allie was surprised. Luca was irate. Before I met her, she was seeing Luca.”

“Oh, fuck,” I whisper, forgetting all about the chicken in my hand.

“She was playing us,” Atlas grits out. “We went to the bar together many times. We didn’t see her, but she saw us. Her friends bet her she couldn’t get us both.”

“No.” Shit, and I made a game out of seduction.

“It’s not the same,” Luca growls, and I meet his eyes. “You aren’t her.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Stop.” Atlas presses his palm in front of him. “We didn’t know we were playing the game she was. She wasn’t our mate. We agreed with you. You wouldn’t do anything to purposely hurt us.”

“I want both of you equally,” I rush to say.

“We know,” Luca says.

“Did she admit it?” I ask, dropping the breast in oil.

“She had no choice.” Atlas laughs. “Allie almost ripped her throat out. It’s funny now. At the time, we wanted to kill each other. She tried to convince us that the other knew, and we instigated it. The truth came out, but our emotions were raw. It took a while to forgive each other.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” I hiss.

“No. But our pride was hurt,” Atlas says.

“Right,” I murmur.

“Since then, our relationships have been short.” Atlas leans back.

“If we meet anyone, we talk about it,” Luca adds. “I was more pissed at myself for not knowing.”

“How would you know?” I ask, placing the rest of the chicken in the pans.

“I should have noticed her scent on Atlas,” he says.

“Shit, I could say the same.” He cups Luca’s shoulder. “We were fighting, remember? How many times were we in the same room? Not many.”

“What were you fighting about?” I ask, grabbing the potatoes.

“Living together for over three hundred years is a long time. We're brothers, and get on each other's nerves,” Atlas says, pushing with his hand before dropping it.

“You bought me a pink polyester suit,” Luca says, lifting his eyebrows.

“What?” Atlas frowns.

“Don’t you remember? You were pissed that I spent a shit ton of money on a business you thought would fail. I assured you it wouldn’t, but you thought you knew best. The suit was hanging on my door the morning I was going to sign the papers. You threw away all my clothes.”

“Oh shit,” Atlas laughs. “I fucking forgot about that.”

“What did you do?” I ask.

“I wore the suit,” Luca says, grinning. “I looked fucking good.” I smile thinking of him covered in pink.

“What happened to the business?” I put the potatoes in the microwave.

“I made enough to buy a new suit and then sold it. It was a shit business.” He punches Atlas on the shoulder. “Asshole was always right.”

“What type of business was it?” I press the buttons on the microwave and then wipe my hands, leaning on the counter.

“Yes, brother, what was the business?” Atlas asks, smirking.

“Custom wool suits.” Luca grins boyishly, and I have to hold onto the counter as I throw my head back, laughing.

I’m startled when I feel a body pressing against my back, and I gasp.

Atlas fists my hair. His other hand cups my jaw, tilts my head back, and kisses me.

Tingles spread over my body. His mouth is hard and rough, taking what he wants.

I open eagerly, willing to give him anything. I’m breathless when he pulls back.

“Damn, boyfriend. You make me weak in the knees,” I breathe. The kiss was short but powerful. He flexes his fingers, kisses my nose, and moves back.

“Prepare for your knees to give out,” Luca says, stalking toward me. “I’ll catch you, though.” He slides his hand over my stomach and pulls. My side hits his chest, and he dips his head. He cups the back of my neck, holding me where he wants me.

I grasp his shirt, leaning into him. My body is vibrating with need for my mates.

We haven’t had much time alone to explore our connection.

Hearing their stories about their family dynamics was entertaining.

I want to kill the woman who played them.

They don’t seem to be harboring negative emotions toward each other for it, and I’m grateful.

Our situation could bring up insecurities if they did.

I leave my eyes closed for a moment as he ends the kiss. The heat of the mating bond is working through me, urging me to keep going.

“Tricks,” Luca chuckles.

“One minute,” I whisper, and open my eyes. “I’m savoring.”

“We won’t be savoring anything if you don’t turn the chicken. Both of us are shit cooks,” he says, and I jump.

“Crap.” I grab the tongs. “You're distracting me,” I scold, hurrying to flip the breasts.

“We can say the same,” Atlas says, resuming his seat. “I don’t remember the last time we had a home-cooked meal or fried chicken.”

“That is a crime. Fried chicken is everything,” I say.

“We never learned to cook,” Luca says.

“I tried a few times, but it ended in disaster.” Atlas grins.

“Thank you for reminding us,” Luca says softly.

I tilt my head. “Of what?”

“Of what being a family feels like,” he says, and I want to burst into tears.