Page 16 of Make Me Bleed (Sanctuary #2)

CHAPTER 15

BELOVED

T he devastatingly handsome vampire is sitting on my couch, one leg resting on his thigh, arms spread out along the back as if he has every right to be in my personal territory.

My fangs punch through my gums. The tips slide right past the swell of my bottom lip as my nails sharpen into claws. Ancient lore says that vampires don’t have a reflection. That’s something else the humans get wrong since I can see my profile in the dark television screen out of the corner of my eye. I look furious .

And Julian just raises his eyebrows at me in mock acknowledgement of my reaction.

Being a born vampire comes with some hang-ups that I’ve struggled with all my life. Always be sweet, never short. Comport yourself with decorum. Keep your head held high. Smile, right? I’m such a pretty vampire, but I’m prettier when I smile…

I take a second to get myself under control, looking as nonplussed as he did when I saw him sitting there. Even then, I can’t help but I frown at him. “What are you doing here? This is my house.”

“You left the door unlocked. I took it as an invitation.”

My door is unlocked in case Bridget wants to stop by, not a smarmy vampire.

Swallowing my anger, I say, “I hope you weren’t waiting long.”

“Yes. I did notice that you’ve been missing from the sanctuary. Enjoy your foray out into the woods?”

Immensely, but I’m not going to tell him that.

Then again, I don’t have to. Shifting in his seat, removing his arms from the back of the couch so that he’s leaning forward, elbows planted on his thighs, he draws in a deep breath. His nostrils flare as a tiny smirk appears in the corner of his mouth.

“I smell musk all over you, and it’s not only yours. Another scent covers you. It’s a little sweaty, a little sweet. Blood, too. Hot blood.” He shakes his head. “Shifter blood. You’re not cheating on your beloved now, are you? Unless…”

My surprise at just how keen his sense of smell is—and just how right he is—must show on my face because he chuckles.

“Surprised, Elise? You shouldn’t be. Some vampires get the looks,” he says once he gets his laughter under control. “Others get the speed. There are those who can sense a vein pulsing from a mile away… and who can scent when you’re scared. When you’re wet. When you’ve been fucked .” Julian wrinkles his nose. “The bear, Elise? Claws-for-brains? You let one of them touch you? I know it’s slim pickings up here in Alaska, especially when you don’t have a human donor eager to please you, but I thought you understood you could always come to me if you needed relief.”

Ugh. I’d rather dry up and never have sex again than accept Julian’s offers.

Then he says, “At least tell me you traded your body for blood and pleasure while waiting for your true beloved to service you. I could respect that a lot more than if you willingly mated with an animal ,” and I can’t even hide my revulsion from flashing across my face.

Now, this certainly isn’t the first time I’ve met a bigoted vampire. In Clarity, most of my kind have an innate sense of superiority over other supes, and humans especially. I did my best not to fall into that trap. I’d like to say that I accomplished it, and when faced with how outright other vampires despise the other races, I think that I have.

“Don’t talk about him like that,” I say sternly. “Hank?—”

Julian holds up his hand. “And I don’t care. There’s no bond or mating mark, so whatever had you crawling around the woods with the beast, I simply do not care since you’re still free to claim. And now we’re together, so that’s all that matters.”

He’s right. I’m here—and he needs to go .

I gesture at the door I foolishly closed behind me. “I’m not interested. You need to leave.”

“Not yet. You see, something happened while you were fooling around in the woods with some animal. Another came to see me. The wolf.”

Oh, crap. How did I forget that I warned Bridget about the way Julian had been creeping around my house? I’d been so concerned with Peter skulking along the edge of Dyea’s borders that I told the head of security about the human, but I needed Bridget to keep an eye out for the vampires in case Julian proved to be more trouble than I can handle.

And that was my bigotry peeking out after all, wasn’t it? I didn’t even realize it at the time, but I… I just didn’t trust Conall—as a wolf shifter—to confront a vampire. He could do patrols and keep Peter away. That was fine. But when it came to another vampire unnerving me, I couldn’t ask a wolf for help. I confided in Bridget instead.

And Hank…

I couldn’t tell Hank, and that has nothing to do with him being a bear shifter. Until I relocated to Dyea, I’ve never even thought about bears before. I was raised to detest wolves thanks to the Claws and Fangs war, but that was vampires versus wolf shifters. Bears… my only impressions of them come from my large, huffing, sweet, honey-loving Hank.

He’s kind. Dedicated. Devoted. Protective. Adorable.

Oh, and the sexiest male that I’ve ever known.

His blood sings to me. His heartbeat echoes in time with mine. The thud of his pulse lulls me to sleep as I sprawl out on top of his big body. I’ve always been petite, never sure that anyone would believe me when I insisted I could take care of myself, but in Hank’s arms, I want to let him keep me safe.

Only he’s not here right now. It’s just Julian and me, both of our fangs on display as I remember how quickly he was able to cross the sanctuary with his speed. If I try to leave, he’ll chase me. He’ll catch me. And while I’m certain I could hold my own against other vampires on my level—and definitely any humans who came after me—there’s something about Julian that has the small hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.

Forging past the insult of him breaching my home like this for the moment, I pay closer attention to the other vamp.

I don’t have the same sense of smell that Julian clearly does. It’s still vastly more impressive than a human nose, and I look past how annoyed I am to see him infiltrating my space to focus instead on how the room has changed with him in it.

The air crackles with tension. A hint of something… acrid overlays the room. It’s bitter.

It’s wrong .

I’ve never been in close quarters with him before. I’ve only ever met him outside where the Alaskan wind could blow other scents closer, making it harder to catch Julian’s. Not here.

What is that?

He notes my sudden curiosity with thinly veiled hostility covered in false amusement. “Did you hear me? You brought the mutt to my door, Elise. I didn’t appreciate it.”

“I didn’t tell Conall to do that,” I argue, still trying to understand what’s going on.

Trying—and failing .

“But you did. Conall came to see me while you were… ahem, busy . He told me, and I quote, ‘to leave you alone’. As though he has any authority over who I speak to or when.”

Julian is smug now. Condescending. He’s clearly irritated that I involved Conall, whether I did or didn’t, and since I told him that I didn’t and I can’t lie, he knows that I didn’t… and he doesn’t seem to care about that, either.

He’s also, from his power level, at least a century older than I am, if not more. If I’ve learned how to dance around a topic so that I could say one thing and mean another, he’s had decades more practice.

It seems, though, that Julian is so confident in whatever motives brought him through my door, he doesn’t twist his speech. He’s bold and open as he sneers. “Wolves and vampires have never been allies, Elise. You really think he cares about you? About any vamp? He only puts up with you because of the fire witch.” His sneer deepens, his fangs impossibly longer. “Unless you decided to betray the witch and seduce the shifter away from his mate next. Isn’t that all the vampire power you have? Luring males to do your bidding?”

I gasp, all insults returning. “I would never,” I tell Julian through gritted teeth. My own fangs dig into my bottom lip, but I barely notice. “And you insult Conall by even suggesting that he would cheat on his bonded mate. Just like I wouldn’t. Because that bear? He is mine.” And it feels amazing to say that out loud to someone else. “ Maybe when you find your own beloved, you’ll understand that once a supe claims their forever, nothing will sway them from it.”

That’s right, Julian. Hank is my forever. I might’ve been terrified by the prospect of that when we first met, but I’m a supe, too. I’m a vampire . I’m possessive and demanding, and I don’t want whatever Julian is trying to offer me. I want Hank Barrett.

The vampire’s backhanded attempts to make me feel disloyal did the opposite. He’s right. I returned to Dyea unmated just so I could invite Hank to stay with me. Mayor Lou agreed, so why wait to make our bond permanent? I’ve spent decades searching for my beloved, haven’t I? I finally found him. And until I’ve given him my blood—until he’s made me bleed—anything can come between us.

Any one for that matter, too.

Julian rolls his eyes. His eerily dark eyes. “Fate is shifter bullshit. I’ll make my own beloved when I choose to. Until then, I’ll have whatever female I want. But you know all about that, don’t you?”

I really don’t. “I think you should go, Julian,” I repeat.

Something warns me against taking my attention off of him. He’s like a coiled snake, poised on the edge of the couch, leaning forward on the balls of his feet. Then, as though he didn’t hear me speak at all, he adds, “You always did like to lead males on, didn’t you? In Dyea… and in Clarity.”

My stomach drops down to my heels. “How do you know that I came from Clarity?”

One of the perks of moving to a sanctuary is how easy it is to reinvent yourself and leave your old life behind. That’s what I’ve done, and I’ve been careful not to tell anyone about who I am and where I used to live. Only Bridget knows the truth, plus Mayor Lou and Conall. That’s it.

So how does Julian?

“Please, Elise. Did you think I’d let a vampire courier bring blood into my sanctuary without permission? Though I will say, I always thought that Thorn has excellent taste. AB-positive is a favorite of mine, chilled or not.”

“You know Thorn?” I ask. I can’t help myself, and I’m so preoccupied by Julian casually name-dropping both Clarity and Thorn, I ignore the other implication of his words… until a few seconds later when my hand flies up to my face. “You! You’re the reason I haven’t had blood?”

“I might stay in Dyea due to a… let’s say a small indiscretion in my past. But I still have my fangs in the vampire world. A courier traveling to Dyea and planning to leave a delivery outside of the borders? Of course I’d sign for it, regardless of the name on the cooler.” He chuckles again. “A hungry vamp is an easily controlled vamp, Elise. I’m sure you understand. No hard feelings, I hope.”

I scoff, shaking my head. “Is that was this was about? Your promise that we could be a good match? You tried to starve me so that I’d agree?”

He shrugs. “It was worth a shot. Because, you see, the coolers weren’t the only thing I discovered out in the wild. Does the name Peter Hawkes sound familiar?” I can feel the blood draining from my face, and Julian trails one of his fingers along his thigh before tapping his bottom lip with the tip. “I thought so. He told me quite a lot about you. Obsessive little twit. As if a vampire of your caliber would choose him as your beloved. No. I wouldn’t allow it. Not when I’ve come this far.”

Peter.

He’s talking about Peter.

I haven’t thought about the human male since the night out in the woods when I swore I heard his voice. Meeting my mate basically knocked him clean from my mind, and once Conall decided he would handle the search for him, I kept him out of it.

“What do you know about Peter?”

Julian’s lips twitch. “What do I know? That the worthless human coveted something that I decided was mine .”

He doesn’t mean?—

He can’t mean?—

A lump lodges in my throat. The thrall doesn’t work on other supes. I couldn’t inadvertently cause him to be attracted to me, and even if I did, my own instincts would’ve made it so that all of my attention was focused on Hank once I recognized him as my beloved.

So why is Julian looking at me like he’s fantasizing about sinking his fangs in me?

Crap. I know he suggested it before, but Julian doesn’t really want me as his next conquest, does he?

No. No . He can’t. If he had even a hint of a possessive instinct toward me, he would’ve lashed out after realizing I’d been intimate with Hank instead of being amused by it. Plus, he has his human donor. He doesn’t need me.

Right?

So, rather than think about what he could mean, I bring the subject back to Peter.

“You’ve seen him? Here? In Alaska?”

Julian waves one hand flippantly. “I left him to the woods when I thralled him to give me every last detail I needed from him. Pity it’s spring now. The winter won’t have the chance to claim him, but I’m sure something else will. But I promise you this: it won’t be you, dear Elise.”