Page 64 of Forced Bonds

“Of course!” Altaur beamed. “I’d waited for centuries for Salizar to pick his bonded. Him gaining two was a surprise for us all.”

“Us as well,” Sal grinned, a proud glint in his eyes as he took us both in.

“I fear what I have to discuss with you won’t be pleasant, but you need to know the details,” Altaur said, his expression now pained. “I’ve spoken with Isabelle Greenwren. She, um, she told me about the book, about what it holds.”

We held our breath, all of us leaning forward to hear the next part. “I already told Salizar this, simply because I needed his stance on it.” He sighed. “Isabelle and her four will be here tomorrow.”

“Why?” Benjamin blurted, his voice breaking as he asked. He would see the vampires who hurt him, and Sal had agreed to it?!

“Yes,” I drawled, glaring at my vampire. “Why indeed, would Benjamin’s attackers, the ones who’d almost killed him, come here where we were supposed to be safe?”

I hated not being able to touch Benji, so I stood and moved around, now sitting next to my human to offer him my support. If they came here, we would just leave, simple as that.

Sal sighed, but looked hurt as he took in our trembling human. “They can’t open the book.”

“And why the fuck is that our problem?” I snapped.

“Because they need your blood to open it,” Sal replied, his tone lacking any emotion.

“And you agreed to it?!” I asked, eyes wide with hurt and betrayal.

“No!” Sal snapped, also displaying emotions of hurt. “But if we don’t, we’ll again start a war with all the vampire covens, and we won’t survive that.”

Benji spoke up then, “But why do they need Chris’ blood?”

Altaur spoke next, his voice calm and collected, “Because Christopher’s father died stealing the book. His soul was the offering the book needed to open. Only a blood relative can open it, and you, Christopher, are the only one alive.”

“So,” I began, trying to understand how this had affected my father’s death. “They don’t need my actual blood, just for me to be the one opening it?”

Altaur shook his head. “You need to bleed onto the front, a sort of offering, and then it will open.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

Salizar

The feeling of hurt lingered as Altaur answered Chris’ questions. To think he actually thought I would be okay with all of this. He was mine, as was Benji. I would die for them.

“—and my father’s soul is in the book?” Chris asked, sounding off. I registered the telltale emotion of grief pouring out of him and hated that I no longer held his hand.

“No, the book needed a soul to be opened, a sacrifice. Him dying was the sacrifice. Even if he hadn’t known about it,” Altaur explained.

“Was that why he died?” Chris asked.

“Yes. But again, not much is known about the book. It’s that old. Isabelle had to guess most of it, but she did know about the whole sacrifice thing at least,” Altaur said.

“But how do they know Chris’ blood is the thing they need?” Benji asked.

“Because the book stopped glowing after you’d left their mansion,” Altaur said. Then looked grimly down at his desk. “She has a seer, I believe, because she knew it was Christopher it needed.”

“Did she tell you why she wasn’t just asking us to hand over the book? It could’ve saved her a lot of time if she’d just done that,” Benji said, his tone also affected.

“At first Isabelle thought you’d already opened the book,” Altaur explained. “She told me the book holds power and since we don’t know what sort of power yet, she must’ve feared you’d gained the power and was mad powerful because of it. She acted in desperation, not that she would ever admit as such.”

“So that's why they kidnapped me,” Benji whispered.

Altaur nodded. “I think most would’ve kept the book for themselves if they knew the power it held. They either took Benji to know what was in the book, or to use him for bargaining.”

“I still don’t remember what they said or if they asked me any questions,” Benji admitted, sounding apologetic.