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W e don’t see Wyatt or Aang for the rest of the day. Instead, we sit downstairs, listless and unfocused. Gene shows up with lunch, but after he hears the news, he sits with us, a stark expression on his face.

When night falls, I return to my room, my head and heart aching. After only a few minutes of deliberation, I put my lamp in my window. Gage told me he’d come if he ever saw it, and right now I need to talk to him, to find out some answers for me and for Aang.

Sinking onto my sofa, I rub at my puffy eyes, my thoughts drifting down a few floors to Aang’s room. Has Wyatt gotten to him yet? I hope so. No one should be alone during something like this. His agony disturbs the deep well of grief I still have for Candice, but I don’t give myself the luxury of falling apart. Not now.

“Where do you go when you aren’t here?” I ask it somewhat absentmindedly when I hear Valen in the hallway.

“Thither and yon.” He strides in and takes one look at me, then sinks to his knees and takes my hands in his.

“The shit you say is so ancient.” I’m tired of the games. Or maybe I’m just tired. “And that’s not an answer. You never answer.”

“I know.” He kisses each of my palms, which is when I notice a gash along the side of his head, close to his hairline.

“Fighting again?”

“I won.” He shrugs one shoulder. “What’s happened here?” he asks, his gaze taking me in. “Something bad, I take it?”

“Aang’s partner, Idrine.” I refuse to choke up. “He’s dead. He went into one of the blood camps, and now he’s dead.”

He kisses the insides of each of my wrists, his touch soft and warm.

“What goes on in the camps? Tell me the truth.”

Dropping butterfly soft kisses along each of my knuckles, he says, “Take whatever horrible fate you’ve imagined befalls the humans who volunteer and triple it, then you might be close to the answer.”

I yank my hands from him. “Why?”

His look isn’t mocking, not cruel. Just frank. “You know why, Georgia.”

“You’re just killing people? Is it you? Is that where you go?”

He scoffs. “I have no need of cattle.”

“We aren’t cattle!” I yell. “We’re people. Idrine was a person, and you killed him!”

“I didn’t kill him.” He stands, his gaze snagging on the lamp in the window before returning to me.

“Not him, but others?”

“Many others,” he admits.

“What was I thinking?” I press my palms to my face. “Letting you in. I never should have?—”

“You couldn’t stop it.” He takes my hand again and pulls me to my feet.

I push away, but he holds me fast, one of his palms going to the back of my neck, collaring me. “Let go.”

“Never.” He grips my hair, pulling my head back as he glides his tongue along my throat, sending a shiver through me. “Listen,” he whispers. “Listen to your blood dance at the nearness of mine.”

I shudder as he sucks my neck, my traitorous knees going weak. I’m enraged, horrified, but that doesn’t stop the electric pull I feel to him. “I hate you.”

“You keep saying it.” He yanks on my strands, making me gasp. “But I can scent your need. It tells me you’re lying.”

I press my thighs together, heat rushing into my face as he slides his other hand down my back and grips my ass.

“You want me just as badly as I want you.” He kisses lower, his mouth at my collarbones. “My blood calls to yours just as yours does to mine.”

“Leave.” I gasp as he lets me go, one of his hands at my waist, steadying me. “Now.”

“I’ll be back for you, Georgia. Always.” His sharp gaze cuts through all my reasoning in the same way as his touch. He sees me. I don’t know how, but he sees so much more of me than anyone else ever has. I only wish I could see him as clearly.

He leaves, and I melt into a puddle on the couch, a million conflicting emotions flooding through me. He’s a monster. A killer. One who finally told me the truth about the camps. I hate it when my mind whispers that he’s been far more honest with me than Juno has, that he’s been here for me when she’s all but a ghost. Even so, she’s my sister. Not by blood, but she’s my family all the same. Valen and I aren’t even the same species, I remind myself.

For hours, I stay on the couch and try to read. The words in my book don’t have any meaning. They run together on the page again and again, but I force myself to focus. To do anything other than wonder about Aang. The impulse to go check in with Wyatt hits me again and again, but the rational part of me knows it’s a bad idea. Not because I might overwhelm Aang, but because my sister may be responsible for his partner’s death. Wyatt didn’t say it, but I know he was thinking it when he asked us to leave. I can’t blame him.

I’m dozing when I hear my doorbell sound. Scrambling up, I dash down the hall and press the button. “Hi?” It ends up sounding more like a question than a greeting.

“Roof,” is the gruff response. I don’t even see anyone on the camera.

I want to ask if it’s Gage, but I’m scared to say his name if he’s in danger just being here. Besides, who else would show up and ask me to meet on the roof?

Just in case, I grab a knife from the kitchen, then enter the stairwell and look up. I’ve never explored higher than my floor, but I suppose now’s the time. I climb two flights before finding a door marked with warning signs. Pushing through it, I find another short set of stairs and a door with even more danger signs and warnings plastered on it.

I push the bar and open the door just a little, but the wind catches and swings it wide. Scrambling out, I wrestle it back and close it, then turn and look around. My hair whips in my face as my eyes adjust to the darkness, the half moon overhead not granting enough light.

“Georgia?” Someone steps out from behind one of the large air conditioning units. Even in the low light, I can tell he has copper hair.

I lower my knife. “Gage.” I ease around a skylight and then the metal vents, giving the edge of the roof a wide berth, to reach him.

“I saw your light.” He steps toward me and pulls me into the lee of the A/C unit, the wind not tearing at us so badly here. He notices the blade in my hand. “Expecting trouble?” he quips.

“I’m glad you’re here.”

“What’s wrong?” In dark military fatigues, he looks like some special operative. Hell, for all I know, he is.

“Where have you been?”

He shakes his head. “We don’t have time for that. What’s happened? Are you all right?”

“Yeah.” I nod. “I’m okay, but I need your help. Aang’s boyfriend went into one of the camps outside San Francisco. Idrine’s sister says he’s dead, but we don’t know for sure. We have to find out.”

His jaw tenses. “If he went into the camp, he’s gone.”

I don’t want to believe it. “What?”

“People that enter those camps, most of them don’t come back out. The ones who do, they’re catatonic and sick. Poisoned or worse.”

Pretty much the same thing Valen told me. My heart sinks even further.

“But … Does Juno know?” I ask the question that’s haunted me for months.

His eyes gentle, and he rests a hand on my arm. “I think you know she does.”

I swallow hard. He’s right, of course. I know he’s right. That doesn’t make it hurt any less, doesn’t make me any less angry and betrayed.

Swallowing down my horror, nearly choking on it, I ask, “How can we stop it?”

“We can’t.” He sighs. “Not yet, anyway. Not until the military realizes that the country is being stolen right out from under us. The chain of command is still intact, and your sister is calling the shots. She’s agreed to these camps, sacrificing lives with the hope that your work will save what’s left.”

“But weren’t you working with her?” I ask.

“I was passing missives, yes, hoping we could find a way to get the upper hand over these creatures. But even with Valen’s inside information, all we’ve managed to do is stave off some of the worst of it. They’ve been hiding and watching and planning for centuries. The plague was the opening they needed. They’re still coming for us, all of us. It’s war, just not a hot one yet.”

“But Valen told me they’re at war amongst themselves. How do they expect to take over the entire human world if they’re fighting each other?”

His face sours. “The bloodlines are always vying for power, and Gregor has been their ruler for the past few centuries. The other houses are looking for ways to take the crown. Their battles are constant, one of the reasons they don’t have the numbers we do. Valen is Gregor’s general. Or his executioner, for lack of a better word. He’s sent to handle the uprisings and destroy anyone who threatens Gregor’s position. Valen’s vampire armies pin the other Houses beneath their boots.”

“I’m lost. How is Valen working with us helpful to Gregor?”

“Valen is playing both ends against the middle.” He scowls. “He wants the crown as badly as all the others. He’ll do anything and sacrifice anyone necessary to get it.”

“That’s not true. He’s saved me. More than once.”

“Wait. How?” he asks, his grip on my arm tightening. “What has he done?”

I shrug out of his hold. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does.” He peers at me, his gaze almost intrusive. “Whatever you do, Georgia. Don’t let him give you his blood. Understand?”

“Why?” I ask a little too quickly.

“Fuck!” He punches the metal beside us, and I jump back.

“Sorry.” He holds up his hands. “Sorry, Georgia.”

“What was that?” I take another step back until I bump into the edge of the cooling unit.

He closes the distance between us. “He’s a Dragonis. His blood carries his intention. It’s how they exercise control.”

“Intention?”

“Juno’s Miracle.” He grimaces. “His intention was to heal her. If he intended for you to jump off this building, all it would take is a drop of his blood to make you do it.”

“Blood isn’t sentient. It isn’t?—”

“Theirs is. And it’s strong. He and Theo are Gregor’s only direct descendants, their power rivalling his.”

Vertigo hits me, and it’s not from the height. “Wait. Valen is Gregor’s son ?”

A high whistle sounds from somewhere on one of the other rooftops.

“We have to go.” Gage takes my hand and leads me back across the roof.

“No. Hang on!” I tug against his hold and reach into my pocket, the vial warm from my body heat. A twinge of guilt pricks at me, a stone in my shoe. What if he used it on Valen? I swallow hard at the sudden thought.

“What?” He glances around again.

“I think…” I keep the vial in my pocket and withdraw my hand. “I think I’ve found a way to kill them. Other than sunlight.”

He stops so abruptly that I run into him. “How?” He turns to me, his face intent. “How does it work?”

“It’s a mix of specialized cell proteins that?—”

The whistle comes again.

“ Cliff’s Notes , Georgia.” He pulls me through the door into the small stairwell.

“Well, long story short, you’d just need to inject it, I would think. But I can’t guarantee it’s the correct dosage to actually—” I stab the air with my knife. “You know.”

His eyes twinkle. “Kill them, you mean?”

“Right. There may be another way to deliver it, possibly orally or even atomized, but I don’t know for sure. It’s a poison.”

“You can make it?” he asks. “A lot of it?”

“I think so, yes.”

“Good.” He pulls me down the stairs. “Holy shit, you realize you may have just saved us?” Without warning, he pulls me into his arms and plants a kiss on me.

I’m too startled to do anything except make an mmph noise.

When he pulls back, I just stare at him, unsure of what that was. There’s no heat in me, no pull, nothing except awkwardness.

He doesn’t seem to feel the same, a grin on his face. “I’ll see you again. Soon.” He slips out the other door.

Right before it closes, I see an emblem on his sleeve. A patch of a circle, a glowing halo with light shooting from it in all directions.

* * *

A low growl wakes me.

“What the fuck?” I yell and sit up.

“I can smell him on you.” Valen looms over me, the unnatural glow of his eyes sending a shiver along my skin. “His stink. His desire.”

“Hey!” I yank the blanket to my chin. “You should at least fucking knock!”

He prowls on top of me like a powerful cat and presses his nose to my throat. “He covets our bond.” His voice is thick, gravelly, and penetrating.

“You sound insane right now.” My voice quivers. “We don’t have a bond. We’re just—” I don’t know what we are.

“You doubt me?” He pulls back, his gaze eating me up.

“You need to leave.”

“Why?” He runs the back of his knuckles down my cheek, his touch gentle despite the violence in his voice.

“You can’t just show up here in the middle of the night and accuse me of-of-of whatever it is you’re accusing me of!”

“Not you, my Blood. Not you. The captain.” He snarls, his fangs white bone in the moonlight. “He wants you for himself.” The growl from him is even more feral, a wild animal pressed against me with murder in his eyes. “I’ll flay him and bring you whichever trinkets of his skin you’d like. An ear, perhaps?”

“What?” I gawk at him.

“Both ears?” He smiles. “My Blood is greedy for more, and I’m happy to oblige.”

“No! No, I don’t want anyone’s ears! This isn’t medieval times, okay? No flaying, no ears, no—none of that!”

“Why?”

“Are you seriously asking me why you can’t murder someone and take their ears for trophies?” I wriggle from underneath him, but he only sinks deeper between my legs, his hard cock pressing against me, sending a spark of traitorous heat through my veins. “Look, he came because I asked him to. All right?” I snap.

He blinks, then moves closer, running his fangs along my throat, my nipples tightening with his touch. “Why would you do that?”

“I needed to know more about the camps. About everything you won’t tell me. I can’t keep me or my people safe. The Saints are coming.”

He pauses, but only for the tiniest moment. “He told you this?”

I figure it’s best not to mention I saw the Saints insignia on Gage’s arm, especially considering how little I know about how he fits in with those murderous psychos. “No, well. I don’t know. Major Barker told me. He said we all have to leave the lab. Go to Atlanta where it’s safe. The Saints are going to this entire place in just a few days.”

“If they dare to attack you again, they’ll meet the same fate as their compatriots.” He hooks a clawed finger onto my blanket and eases it down.

“There are too many. A whole army of them.”

“Human armies don’t concern me. You wearing far too many clothes does.”

“Human wars don’t concern you, eh? Asshole!” I reach up to smack him in the side of the head, but he catches my hand and kisses it.

“I’m human!” I yank my hand away, and he lets me. “Me. Human.”

“I’m aware, but as I said, I’ll keep you far from harm. Human wars are meaningless affairs.”

“Because you’re busy fighting your own wars for Gregor?” I ask. “Who, by the way, maybe you should’ve mentioned is your father .”

He’s unfazed, his movements deliberate and disarming. “Does that matter? Does it change anything?”

“I mean, yes,” I say, flustered as he nuzzles against the hollow of my throat.

“Why?”

“Because …” I can’t think when his warm breath tickles my skin. “Because I can’t trust you!”

“As I said, how does that change anything? You’ve never trusted me even though I’m the only creature in this world who’s keenly interested in your survival.”

“You want me to survive only as a means to an end.”

“Still telling yourself that?” He snickers, his mouth warm against my chest. “Please do go on. What else did the meddling captain have to say?”

My heartbeat is so rapid I feel like I’m running a race. “That’s all.”

He laughs, low and sultry. “Lies don’t suit you.”

“You’re scaring me,” I whimper.

His gaze meets mine again. “Afraid?”

“Yes.”

“No.” He smirks. “Another lie. Your blood knows I would never hurt you. Never .”

He pulls the blanket down farther, his lips grazing along my chest.

“Your scent.” He groans and moves along my body, his fangs catching on the buttons of my pajama top and slicing through each one. “It’s undeniable. I know what you crave.” He presses his nose to my pussy and inhales.

Half of me cringes. The other half of me is exasperatingly turned on. “You can’t do that!” I smack the side of his head.

His dark laugh ripples across my stomach as he returns to my breasts and swipes my shirt apart. When he wraps his lips around one of my hard nipples, I can’t help the moan that rises from me. God, what’s he doing to me? It’s just sex, I remind myself. Just mind-blowingly good sex that I can’t seem to stop thinking about. And I certainly can’t stop wanting.

He slides a hand beneath my back, lifting me as he licks each breast, taunting me with his wicked tongue. My entire body goes tingly, the heat circling me like a drain that stops between my thighs.

With a hard yank, he pulls the blankets away and covers me with his body. I twine my arms around his neck. He kisses me with hunger, with raw desire. My toes curl, my body going up like a wildfire, the smoke obscuring any thoughts of danger.

He returns to my breasts, one of his hands kneading as he sucks my nipple.

I gasp when I feel a sharp sting, then moan when I see his fangs embedded shallowly in my breast, his lips sucking as his gaze meets mine.

Electricity crackles along my skin, every nerve ending firing, every single cell in my body focused on Valen. On his mouth, his hands, his cock. His bite, god, his fucking bite. I don’t know how, but it’s like a shot of dopamine that swims through every neural pathway, making me float, making me relentless in my pursuit of more.

Releasing my breast, he sits back and strips his clothes off so quickly he’s nothing more than a blur. Then he returns to me and peels my shorts and panties off, his low growl heightening every sensation that rolls through me.

When he presses his open mouth to my pussy, I arch, my pleasure a live thing that dances under my skin. His fingers dig into my thighs as he spreads me wide. He gives me no quarter, no escape from the lashing of his tongue, the grazing of his fangs.

My thighs shake, my hips rocking against his mouth. I chase my climax, reaching it as he slides two fingers inside me. I come hard, his name on my lips. The orgasm rolls through me again and again, clenching and releasing, unwinding the tension that coiled so deeply inside me.

When I’m in the aftershocks, he climbs up my body.

“Mine.” He strikes my neck as he presses his cock deep inside, his fangs a dark, sultry kiss that stoke my arousal, sending the inferno burning higher and higher. There is no gentleness in him. No easing of the delicate ache as he stretches me. Valen doesn’t hold back. He pulls out and starts a hard rhythm, fucking me as he drinks my blood. Fucking me as I cry out from the overwhelming sensations. Fucking me as I hold onto him, taking everything he gives me and begging for more.

“Mine. My Blood. My only.” He grates against my throat, then kisses my mouth, his tongue coppery and warm.

I wrap my arms around his neck, holding on as he takes my breath away. He changes his angle, hitting my clit with each stroke. Meeting him, I take my pleasure, every bit of friction like gasoline on an already-raging fire.

He rolls, perching me astride him. When I slide all the way down on his cock, I throw my head back, a moan in my throat as he cups my breasts.

“Take all of me. Make me yours.” He thrusts upwards, filling me.

I move on him, riding his cock as he pinches my nipples.

“God.” I exhale and put my hands in my hair, my fingers desperate for something to grab onto as I grind on him. Every nerve ending tingles, every part of me attuned to him, to the way he strokes me from the inside. Arching, I’m a slave to the sensation, to the pleasure that floods me.

“You’re the only god I worship.” He wraps his hand around my nape and pulls my mouth to his. His other hand goes to my ass, feeling each pulse as I rock against him. When he slides it lower, toying with my asshole, I jolt.

He laughs low and sexy against my lips. “I’ll have you here, my Blood. Soon.” He presses his fingertip inside, and I lose it at the overwhelming pleasure. I bear down, filled with his cock, my clit rubbing perfectly against him as he strokes and invades.

My hips move faster, my orgasm rushing through me as he plunges his finger deeper. He pulls my hair, arching me as I come, his mouth going to my breast, that sweet sting erupting again as he bites my nipple. I’m shuddering, moaning, lost in the carnal act, lost in him. It’s almost too big, too much—an entire world of desire and longing that exists only here, only between us.

He roars against my skin, his fangs embedded as his cock grows harder, his body like stone beneath me as he comes. I feel his hot spurts, the tension rolling through him as he gives me everything. I take it, just the thought of his come inside me sending another wave of heat cascading along my skin, my pussy contracting around him, the pleasure teasing and growing until I’m lost again.

My mind seems to fold in on itself, then bursts outward in a million sparks. Everything is alive. Everything pounds and rattles and screams to the sky. Or perhaps it’s just me, just my scream as I come so hard I feel like I might pass out.

Slowly, he lowers me to his chest, his hands roving my back, his lips against my forehead. He whispers something in the language I don’t understand, his words lost to me, but his meaning clear. It feels almost holy, the way he speaks to me. Almost like worship.

“What are you saying?” I murmur.

“You are not ready to hear it in your tongue.” He kisses my hair. “But one day, I will tell you.”

“How do you know I’m not ready?” I ask, my eyes closed, my body sated.

“My blood knows, as does yours.” He swipes his finger along the bite at my throat, then lifts me just enough to do the same to the bites at my breasts, his touch raising goosebumps along my skin.

“Healing?” I ask.

“My blood is yours,” he says. “Eternally.”

“Spoken like a truly ancient creep.”

His chest shakes with a stifled laugh as he wraps his arms around me. “Sleep now, my Blood. I will keep you safe.” Then he speaks quietly in the foreign language again, his voice soothing, his body warm.

In his arms. Safe.