Page 77 of X-Clan The Origin

“Mmm,” he hummed, his fangs skimming my sensitive skin. “Fresh Omega blood.”

The wolf at my back snarled.

“Yes, yes, I know. We’ll share. You just need to handle hermate.” His grip tightened against my throat as his opposite hand went to my hip, his knife seeming to have disappeared.

Into a holder of some kind? Or did it disappear entirely?

“You’re even better than the bounty described,” he whispered, causing my brow to furrow.

Bounty?

“Shall we keep her for ourselves, Henrick? Or use her before we hand her over?”

The wolf behind me grunted just as Jonas released a warning howl in the distance.

He didn’t bother disguising his approach, the male Alpha wanting everyone to know that they’d fucked with the wrong shifter.

The world spun as the vampire whirled me in his arms, pressing my back to his chest. His palm remained against my throat, his lips at my neck, as his opposite hand went to my belly.

Alpha vampires didn’t typically take Omegas of other species—unless they were V-Clan Omegas. While my blood might sate him, he couldn’t mate me.

Although I could technically take his knot—something all Alpha vampires possessed, in addition to fangs—I very much did not want to.

And the other male was a Viking Alpha—something that was obvious to me because of his stark white coat and abnormally large size.

His scent also gave him away.

But I didn’t know why he was on this continent. His kind typically resided near Scandinavia.

“There’s a lovely price on your head,” the vampire murmured against my pulse. “But they require you to be alive. Someone clearly misses you. Which makes me wonderwho, as it’s clearly not your mate.”

I’d like to know the answer to that as well,I thought, frowning.Does the international council think I’m missing? Are they using a bounty hunting service to find me?

I supposed we were several days behind schedule, and it wasn’t like Jonas or I had phoned in an update.

But to hire bounty hunters?

That didn’t seem very council-like. They’d send out more military types like Jonas before they put up a call to rogues.

Mostly because of the exact situation I found myself in now—the hunters couldn’t be trusted to do the right thing.

Jonas sprinted forward, his eyes a darker blue in wolf form and taking in everything around him in a single sweep of his gaze.

“Ah, welcome to the party,” the vampire purred, his palm moving south, his intention clear. “I was just acquainting myself with your mate. Seems only fair after you murdered our pet.”

Pet?I repeated to myself.Does he mean their feral friend who they’d obviously sent after Jonas as a diversion?

Jonas paused midstride, a wave of fury rolling off him as he took in the male at my back.

Henrick growled and lunged at Jonas, exploiting my mate’s sudden stillness.

But Jonas reacted in a heartbeat, his claws slashing out defensively and catching the other male on the shoulder.

The two began to brawl in a flurry of fur and claws andteeth.

I shivered, the aggression making my knees go weak.

“It’ll be over soon, little wolf,” the vampire promised me, his lips grazing my pulse. “Verysoon.”