Malachi sighs. “Come here, Mina.” He doesn’t wait for me to response, just reaches over, grabs my wrist, and tows me over to half-float in his lap. He guides my head to his shoulder, and the position allows me to relax fully. He carefully sets his hands on my hips, keeping me anchored in place. “I didn’t mean for it to happen like this.”
“There he is.” Wolf laughs. “So eager for that guilt. She said yes. That’s consent.”
“I promised I wouldn’t.”
I give into the feeling of gravity weighing my eyelids down. “I wouldn’t have come to your room if I didn’t want to end up in some variation of what happened.” It’s the truth, even if I couldn’t admit it to myself until the moment Wolf tempted me with something I hadn’t realized I wanted. Worrying about doing this theright wayis silly. There is no right way when you live in a world of vampires and blood wards and sacrifices. Which reminds me… “Is there another way to break a blood ward beyond killing someone?”
Both men go still and I open my eyes to find them exchanging a look. Wolf finally shrugs. “There’s a theory other supernatural creatures might have ways to do it, but I’ve never seen it firsthand. You’d have to fill the space with so much power the ward couldn’t contain it, but without a sacrifice, it’s impossible for a vampire to do it.”
That’s what I’m afraid of.
It’s not that I think Malachi will kill me. Foolish or no, I trust he means me no harm. But as long as that blood ward is up, we’re both trapped here. Now that we’ve crossed the line of no return, it’s theoretically only a matter of time before I get pregnant and my father comes to collect me. No matter how powerful Malachi is, he’s no match for my father and his turned minions. They have numbers on their side, and my father is also a bloodline vampire. Malachi won’t win, which means I’ll be carted back to the colony until I give birth and they decide they no longer need me.
There has to be another solution. Therehasto be.
“Don’t worry about that, Mina.” Malachi’s chest rumbles at my back as he speaks. “You’re safe here.”
Safe.
What a foreign concept. I’m not safe here. None of us are. Not while we stay where my father can reach us.
I close my eyes again and relax back against him. “We’ll find another way out.”
“We, huh?” Wolf’s tone is lightly mocking. “She gets one cock inside her and we’re all a big happy family.”
“You’re free to go whenever you want, Wolf.” Malachi rests his chin on top of my head. “Nothing’s keeping you here.”
A pause, and I have a feeling they’re doing one of those silent exchanges. I don’t open my eyes. No matter what I was feeling in the moment, I’m honestlynotsure of Wolf. I won’t ask him to stay, especially since he’s not trapped her like we are.
Finally, Wolf gives a dramatic sigh. “I suppose I’ll stick around for a bit.” A calculated pause. “Rylan mentioned he might meet me here at some point, but you know how he is.”
Malachi tenses beneath me. “You’re justnowtelling me?”
“It slipped my mind.”
“I’m sure it did,” Malachi curses. “Convenient, that.”
“Isn’t it?”
I finally drag my eyes open. “Who’s Rylan?”
“Another Bloodline.”
That shocks some of the exhaustion from my system. “AnotherBloodline? I thought most of you were scattered or loners?” Three of the Bloodlines, including my father’s, are still in power in their respective territories, even if their numbers are low. But I was under the impression the remaining four were scattered to the winds.
“We are.” Wolf’s got that strange smile on his face, as if he’s telling an inside joke. “But the vampire community isn’t so large that any of us are strangers, especially those of us who have been around for a few centuries.”
There’s more there, more he isn’t saying, but I don’t have the energy to drag it out of him tonight. I twist a little to look at Malachi. “Is Rylan a problem?”
He hesitates, clearly torn. “No,” he finally says. “We have a complicated history, but he’s not an enemy.”
“So confident,” Wolf murmurs. “I wonder if Rylan feels the same way. Especially now you have this delicious little dhampir riding your cock.”
“Fuck off, Wolf.”
“Tempting.”
I look at them both. “Another ex?”