Page 10 of Forced Bonds

“Bonded? Is that like the equivalent of a shifter’s mate?” I couldn’t seem to stop myself from asking these highly inappropriate questions, but when would I ever get to ask them again? I still planned on avoiding vampires for the rest of my life after this assignment was done.

“It’s sort of like that, yes. But we get to pick our bonded and then they’ll be linked to our lifespan. We can only survive on their blood and we feel possessive over them.”

“What happens if they aren’t with you? Will you starve to death?”

“Eventually, yes. And then our bonded will die as well.”

“Well, isn’t that just marriage with horrible added perks to the end?” I snarked, my tone a bit harsh. Seriously, who in their right mind would want to be bonded to a vampire forever? I silently judged whoever Altaur’s bonded was. He truly wasn’t well in the head.

Salizar laughed again. “I admire your lack of fear. Or is it a simple wish to die?”

The way he asked that so nonchalantly, had me stiffening in my seat. Was he lowkey threatening me, or was I truly amusing to him? Perhaps I should’ve just kept my mouth shut until we had work related business to talk about. It could very well save my life.

When I refused to answer, the vampire only smirked knowingly as we continued into Willowhill, the town was vastly different from Keen, with the tall buildings and inner-city vibe. We had to stop the source as quickly as possible because this wasn’t the place to kill vampires without being spotted. I already dreaded our first night here.

We passed by several hotels before we finally reached the one Salizar had picked for us. Once his car was parked in the underground parking space, we walked into the spacious lobby. This was not the sort of hotel I usually stayed at. This place screamed I have more money than I know what to do with, and I was left scurrying after Salizar as he waltzed up to the register like he owned the place. I couldn’t believe such a busy town was right next to a small town like Keen. A hotel like this meant they had lots of visitors, and that only made our job harder.

The receptionist was a handsome young man with his blonde hair gelled back, his green eyes not hiding their perusal of Salizar as he stepped up to the desk.

“Welcome to Holloway Inn. How may I help you today?”

I almost rolled my eyes at his suggestive tone, but kept them in line for the time being. Maybe Salizar would need to feed and this poor guy would end up as vampire food. Not that humans died often when vampires fed, but it still happened!

That thought had seriously shocked me. Was I truly just thinking that I should just say nothing because the guy might get killed soon anyway? Like it was nothing? Who was I? Clearly being in close proximity to a vampire was bad for my mental health. I took out my phone and added another note, stay far away from vampires to avoid losing your soul.

When I looked up from said phone, pleased to have added another great note to my ever-growing list, I found Salizar smiling kindly at me. I raised a questioning brow, but he simply grabbed my hand, startling me.

“Come on, honey. Time for some alone time.” The way Salizar purred into my ear, loud enough for the receptionist to hear, should be illegal. There was definitely some vampire mojo at work because my legs suddenly felt all jelly-like and I simply followed his lead into the elevator, too stunned to fight his hold on my arm.

Chapter Six

Salizar

The cute human was like a little doll as I all but dragged him towards our shared room for the unforeseeable future. Was I looking forward to having him to myself? Hell, yes. I wasn’t normally into redheads, or vampire hunters for that matter. But this human intrigued me, and for a vampire as old as me, being intrigued was a rarity. I’d seen it all before. Done it all as well. If something grabbed my attention… Well, they’d better run, and I would relish the chase.

I scanned the keycard and gestured for him to walk in first, and to my utter amusement, he refused. “I’m not going in there first,” he snapped, finally out of his docile act from before. So, what if I used a bit of coercion? No one would ever know and most importantly, I would dare admit that I enjoyed getting him to do my bidding. It was addictive. And now I longed to have him like that always, just with consent, too. I wanted him to be my little human treat, always by my side when I wanted to feed, or fuc—

“No. Fucking. Way!”

Oh, I believed the human had noticed the rather interesting room design. He’d gone ahead anyway it seemed, while I’d been stuck in a fantasy, a fantasy that confused the hell out of me. I wasn’t really thinking of keeping this human, was I? Was life truly getting so boring that the thought of feeding from the same human seemed… refreshing? I must’ve lost my damned mind. But he sure was delicious looking as he glared at me from the bedroom.

“What?” I asked innocently. “You don’t like sharing the duvet?”

His eyes widened as he turned toward the queen-sized bed in the middle of the room. The only bed.

“That’s not,” he started, then took a deep breath. “I wasn’t talking about the bed. But that needs fixing too.” I simply smirked at that and waited for him to continue. “I was talking about the fact that the bathroom is behind a glass wall, facing right into the bedroom!”

“A truly interesting design choice, I completely agree,” I said, acting like that wasn’t the exact reason I’d chosen this hotel in the first place.

“Interesting?! I prefer to shower without you ogling me!” he snapped.

I rolled my eyes, secretly loving how feisty he was. “Watch,” I said, walking into the bathroom, then hit the light switch at the same time as I pushed the little black button along the wall.

“Oh,” he said, sounding relieved.

I walked back out and stared at the now opaque glass.

“It turns opaque when you turn the light on. There will be no ogling. Unless you want me to?” I smirked.