Page 7 of Forced Bonds

“Fine,” I relented. “I’ll get some sleep before they arrive. I’m no good to anyone with no sleep.”

I left the room when none of the men made a protest, grabbing my phone and ending the call. I immediately missed the pine scent that clung to the alpha. Being in an enclosed space with him was the sweetest torture. I hoped that I, too, had a tantalizing scent that messed with his brain.

I passed Freddy and gave him a nod in greeting. “Off to get some rest?” he grinned.

“Yes, that obvious?” I combed my hair back, having not even bothered checking my reflection when I woke up.

“Nah, I would’ve done the same if I had the option. I won’t be off for another two hours.”

“That sucks, but at least you got donuts,” I said, pointing to the donut box next to his computer.

“Don’t let it fool you,” he staged-whispered. “That’s Alpha's way of bribing us not to quit.”

I couldn’t help it, laughter bobbled out of me. “It’s a nice trick.”

Freddy beamed but the furious stomping from the hall had everyone silently staring in that direction.

The chief stood menacingly and glared at us. “Mr. Green, weren’t you off to get your beauty sleep? I would prefer that over you interrupting my pack.”

I suppressed an eyeroll. Party pooper. Ignoring the alpha, I turned to Freddy and gave him a genuine smile. “I’ll get going. See you later.”

He grinned back, not even aware that his alpha was glaring daggers at him. Oh, well, that wasn’t my problem. I had a hot date with my hotel bed and then a shower after. Perhaps a burger before work could be arranged as well. Yes, that sounded perfect to my ears. I needed all the pampering to be able to face the vampires later. And the Jevaline were not just vampires. They were one of the most powerful covens known. I had gone thirty-six years without ever meeting a coven, but it seemed I had met my deadline. At least they were supposed to help us. No matter, I had plenty of turtlenecks packed away.

Chapter Four

Benjamin

I shouldn’t feel hurt over the fact that the alpha had left me to deal with the vampires alone. We weren’t friends. In fact, I knew he hated my guts, but still. I stood alone outside the library and waited for their arrival. My favorite gun was loaded and ready to go, simply because the sun was setting and I knew the rogue vampires would return. When I’d said as much to Christopher, he’d stated that the coven was coming and they would be there to help me out.

Fuck. Him.

A black sedan approached, the sight enough to cause goosebumps to form on my skin. Why was seeing vampires that were in control so daunting? I never felt like this with the rogues. Maybe it was simply because I was allowed to shoot them. I couldn’t just aim a gun at these guys and kill them. No, it took much more to kill a regular ancient vampire. Sadly. And I wasn’t about to chop off their heads. That would likely be the only thing I could do against them. My bullets would weaken them, sure, but the older a vampire was, the harder they were to kill.

The car stopped a few paces from where I stood, another car already approaching from the same direction. Allies. I had to remind myself they were allies.

Four men exited the first car. No. Not men. Vampires. They were regal looking, sure in their strides as they closed the space between us. I didn’t get a chance to prepare myself before they stood before me, their vampire speed fluid and elegant.

“Mr. Green?” the blonde vampire asked.

“Yes,” I replied, swallowing uneasily.

The blonde nodded. “I am Anker. This is Salizar.” He gestured to the man to his right, the tallest of them and the most handsome one, too. He had brown hair and elegant features. “And these two are Yuni and Ronin.” The other two men had black hair and wore black clothes, as though they preferred to look like a cliché.

“Nice to meet you,” I nodded to them, hoping to get this thing moving. “The town alpha won’t tell me what the library behind us is hiding, but it’s clear the rogue vampires want whatever it holds. They come each night from that direction.” I pointed to the darkening playground that was still a broken mess.

“And the town has had over eighty rogues in one month, is that correct?” Anker asked.

“Yes,” I nodded grimly. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve also never seen them target the same location. It was like they were in a trance or something, not just bloodlusty zombies, but like they actually had a common goal.”

The vampires frowned as they shot looks between themselves. It appeared this information either confused or worried them.

Salizar shot me a flirty grin, his right fang gleaming from the streetlight next to us. “Good thing you have our support tonight, then.”

Anker nodded. “We’ll stay in town until we figure out who is causing this, and why.”

Yuni took out his phone, tapping something into it. “I’ll let Master know. We need our kin in the surrounding towns. Maybe the source is hidden somewhere close by.”

Ronin made a gesture to the other car that had followed them and five vampires joined us seconds later. Three of them were women and the other two were very young-looking men. It was still a mindfuck to never know their exact age. Both men looked to have been turned in their early twenties, but could be hundreds of years old. Freaky fuckers.