Page 12 of Forced Bonds

I shook my head, then tried to listen for any sounds nearby. Nothing other than the normal sound of wind passing through trees. I tried smelling the air but again nothing unusual. That made me frown. Why was a van parked out here then?

Placing my hand to stall Benjamin’s movements, I walked ahead, closing in on the van. Finally, I got the scent of something. Blood wasn’t the scent I had hoped to catch, though it did seem like we were on the right track.

In the driver seat was a slumped over man, his neck dripping fresh blood. This kill was new, as in an hour ago, at most.

Benjamin was behind me, his gasp of surprise a soft sound in my ear. “Was it a vampire?” he whispered, his scent enveloping me as he tried to peek further inside the van.

Stifling a groan of arousal, the scent of blood mixed with whatever Benjamin’s natural scent was, was enough to make me hard and aching. I cleared my throat, “Yes, it appears so. Not a rogue, they simply wouldn’t have left any blood behind, er left him so… intact..”

Not privy to my darkening thoughts that included fucking Benjamin in a pool of the blood, he asked in whisper, “Is this a trap?”

Shit. I really shouldn’t have let my guard down, but it seemed Benjamin’s scent had been enough to make me momentarily forget myself. Add in the fresh scent of blood and I was done for.

Sharpening my senses and ignoring the two alluring scents beside me, I scanned the area.

“Fuck.” The word had only just left my lips when a horde of rogue vampires came running straight for us. We’d underestimated them, and it might’ve cost me Benjamin’s life.

Instincts had me reacting faster than Benjamin could likely process and I had him on my back in seconds as I fled the scene. It wasn’t fast enough though, and I heard the frail human’s whimper as something hit him, then the scent of his blood followed. I kept running. And running.

Chapter Seven

Benjamin

My leg was burning and I felt sore all over. At least I remembered why. I blinked my eyes open and almost screamed in shock when Salizar’s worried face was inches from my own. “Have you ever heard about personal space?!” I exclaimed, trying to create some distance between us but that only made my leg protest as a new wave of pain flooded my system.

“Careful!” he chided, like he wasn’t the reason for my reaction. “You were shot with poison. It’ll take a while to heal properly.”

“Poison?!” I tried to mask my surprise, but failed.

“It’s witch-made,” he informed me, his tone was lacking his usual cocky tone. Like me, he’d pieced things together, too.

“Vampires and witches are working together,” I finally whispered, the words hard to get out. Last time this had happened, a war had broken out, killing thousands of innocent humans.

Salizar nodded. “I ran back to the hotel with you on my back, then called my coven for help. We got the antidote into your system in time and have the whole hotel warded. We’re basically stuck here until you heal enough to leave.” I had no idea who’d warded the hotel and I truly didn’t care, what I did care about however was much more pressing.

“Rogue vampires are swarming the town and we just learned that vampires and witches are together in this, and you tell me we have to sit here and wait?!”

He nodded and was about to say something when my phone rang. He wordlessly handed it over and I didn’t understand why, but the thought of him not just answering, instead allowing me to do it, had my body relaxing a little. I’d been asleep in his company without being killed or snacked on, so I knew Salizar was likely a decent vampire, but seeing him respect my property helped too.

I took my phone and grimaced when I saw who the caller was. Exhaling a sigh, I accepted. “Benjamin,” Christopher’s smooth voice said from the other end.

“Christopher,” I grunted back, not even caring if I sounded petty. Even poison couldn’t deter me from reliving the sting of rejection.

“I heard about your attack,” he said, not sounding the least bit worried.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I’m sad to say I lived.”

Salizar shot me a surprised and rather worried look. I knew fully well he could hear both sides of the conversation, but he didn’t know about my fate as a rejected mate to the alpha jerk I had rendered speechless with my bluntness.

After a long beat of silence, I looked at my phone, checking if he’d hung up on me, but he hadn’t.

“You think I was behind your attack?” he finally asked, sounding both appalled and offended.

“No, I don’t,” I assured him. “I just figured it was a happy accident in your case. Sadly not one where you got rid of me.”

Christopher sighed, long and deep, like I somehow irritated him. “I just called to check you were okay, but I can clearly hear the poison hasn’t done enough damage to make you likable.”

I almost gasped indignantly at that, but it wasn’t truly a surprise to verbally hear his dislike of me. He had rejected me, after all. Gritting my teeth, I handed the phone wordlessly to Salizar, waving my hand in a “your problem” kind of way.