“Her pain.” Caesar squeezed my hand. “Yes, I’ve broken his commandment. I will take whatever punishment he dishes, but it won’t be from you, Griffin. You have no say over what I do or don’t do.”
The other vampire lifted his shoulders in a nonchalant shrug I knew was so far from that, it was akin to him telling Caesar to fuck off.
“Why are you in pain?"
Griffin addressed me, ignoring Caesar. It was hard for me to speak. Every second was agony. The last time it had been so bad, I had a seizure—Wanda feared I wouldn’t wake up from it.Before today, I wondered if it would’ve been better if I hadn’t.Depression proved as much of a monster in my head as the real ones standing before me. Grief didn’t ever go away; maybe we just got better at carrying it around, although arguably I hadn’t yet.
“I…” I had to close my mouth, because my teeth chattered. I leaned on Caesar’s shoulder. He wanted me to run? I wasn’t even going to be able tomove.
“Our fathers bit her every day for the entirety of our death, sometimes up to ten times a day. She’s addicted, but she managed to get it down to fewer times by letting the castoffs bite her. She paid them. I found her near death, although she didn’t realize it, and I’ve been taking care of her ever since. She was doing remarkably better… until you showed up.”
He was leaving quite a lot out. Griffin had his own head tilt, and he used it right then. “I don’t think Rowan knew that.”
“If he did, he didn’t share with the rest of us.” Caesar squeezed my arm, a gesture meant to be soothing.
“He likely wouldn’t have sent her off so abruptly if he had. I see why you thought this was a rule to disobey, yet you couldn’t have known that before you got here. Semantics, I suppose.” He approached us. “She’s in pain now. Have you not bit her yet today?”
Caesar let go of me, leaving me on the counter, though he didn’t move too far away. If I fell, I imagined he’d catch me. Agony was my best friend. I lay down on the granite, bringing my knees to my chest. “It’s going to be bad.”
I hoped they understood what I meant.
“I did.” Caesar nodded toward me. “There are some unusual things about that. I’d love your opinion. Maybe you’d like to give her what she needs and then we can all talk.”
Griffin threw his coat on the table. “I am hungry. I’ve yet to feed. Fine, I’ll do it, and then we’ll discuss exactly where to go from here. I’ve saved your ass again.”
I didn’t care what he meant. No, all I knew was Griffin pulled me upright. I cried out, pain jolting me as his teeth came down on my neck, the opposite side from where Caesar had been biting me. Immediately, everything that hurt stopped.
Yes, this is better. I closed my eyes as Griffin’s body softened against me. He moaned. I couldn’t do more than float in bliss.
Four
My floating didn’t last long. Soon enough, I was thrust back into reality—my body awake as earlier and needy. I moaned. Griffin pulled me against him so that he held me up instead of my sitting on the counter. I breathed heavily.What is he going to do?I desperately craved relief, but not like with Caesar. It had taken days to get to where we both wanted it.
Griffin pulled off me, licking the wound closed, but he didn’t move right away. Instead, he held me against his hard body, his erection evident and probably painful. For just a second, he nuzzled down on my shoulder. “How?”
“We don’t know,” Caesar answered. “It doesn’t happen with the others. I wondered if it was just me. That’s why I let you feed from her.”
“Letme?” Griffin’s eyes shifted to a threatening red. “You think you could stop me if I wanted to bite her? You think I needed your permission?”
He stepped toward Griffin. “No, when we were humans, we shared her. I remember that.”
“As do I.” Griffin nodded. “You think that has changed? You’re taking ownership of her?”
Caesar’s smile was without any mirth. “Not at all. I’m warning you that she has me to protect her should you decide that you don’t like what’s happening here.”
Griffin turned slightly, setting me down on the counter again. “Don’t fall.” He left his hand on my leg. “I don’t understand what’s happening yet, so I don’t know if I like it or not. I know that you’d be dealing with a lot more than me if Rowan had been home when that nothing of a vampire showed up to tattle.”
I blinked, coming fully back into the conversation. “Which vampire?”
“I guess Caesar threw a vampire into a wall to stop him from biting you.” He lifted his eyebrows. “He came to complain. Looking for Rowan, who is away dealing with the war. The elders refused to see him, so he was sent to me. He told me his story. It’s why I knew where you were.”
I frowned.This must have been why Caesar wanted to get out of here. “So, you’re caught.”
“No, I killed him. He threatened Caesar. He matters, that one didn’t. He’s gone.” Griffin shrugged. I would be shocked except that Griffin had been the same way as a human, too. He’d been the one to turn my teacher over to the vampires because she’d picked on me. She hadn’t mattered to him as much as I did.
He had always ranked people like that.
Caesar nodded to him. “Regardless, we should leave. Maci and I were on our way out. She needs clothes. We’re going to her apartment, then we’ll be on the road tomorrow. Message delivered, Griffin. You can leave now, if you want.”