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“It’s true, Ethan,” Bel added. “You don’t have to do this. You’re a brother now just as much as Winter or Rafe.”
“You’re family,” Winter said with such steel in his voice that Ethan had no choice but to believe it.
Ethan turned teary eyes on Marcus, who was watching him with a solemn expression. “I will love you the same whether you are human or vampire.”
Roughly brushing away tears, Ethan cleared his throat against the lump that had grown there. “My mind is made up. I want to be a vampire.”
“Good!” Bel jumped to his feet and whipped out a syringe with a very long needle. “I get to take some blood first.”
“Whoa!” Ethan threw up his hand to ward off Bel while backpedaling from the vampire. “I thought you’d be taking my blood the other way, with the fangs and the drinking.”
“We are,” Bel said, looking undeterred as he continued to chase Ethan around the room.
Rafe laughed loudly. “This has you scared?” he demanded through gasps for air. “We tell you we’re going to drain you and kill you, and you freak over a little needle?”
“That’s no little needle!” Ethan countered. He grabbed Marcus and positioned his lover between himself and Bel.
“But it’s for science!” Bel said.
“My heart,” Marcus said calmly, though it sounded like there was a hint of laughter in his voice. But the endearment did its job. It helped Ethan get a hold of his rising panic. “Bel wants some vials of your blood to study. He’s never been able to study someone’s blood before and after they’ve been transformed. He thinks it will help him unlock his cure.”
“Yeah, well…I don’t want to be cured. I want to be a vampire.”
“But someone else might,” Marcus murmured.
Ethan dropped his forehead against Marcus’s back and sighed. Okay, that was a really good point. He wouldn’t want to steal that chance from someone else if they were changed into a vampire against their will or were maybe miserable as a vampire.
“All right. That’s fine with me,” he murmured. He still hated needles. Had hated them since he was a little kid. But with any luck, this would be one of the last times he’d ever have to do this in his life.
Walking over to the couch, he sat down and was pleased to see Marcus force Rafe to get up so he could sit beside Ethan. They held hands as Bel swabbed his arm and drew what had to be close to a pint of blood for his experiments.
“Well, at least Bel gave us a head start,” Winter said as he walked over to the couch. Rafe was standing beside him, his arm resting on his younger brother’s shoulder. Bel carefully packed away his newly acquired specimens and joined them.
“How are we going to do this?” Ethan asked, hating that fresh nerves were creeping in now that the other distraction was completed. He wasn’t a fan of being the center of attention and right then, all eyes were on him.
“It would probably be best if you lose this,” Marcus said, plucking at the hem of his shirt.
Ethan pulled his shirt off and clenched it tightly with both hands between his legs. Marcus gently pried it from his grip and set it aside. He placed his palm against his jaw and rubbed his thumb over his cheek. “I’m so proud of you. So brave.”
“Nope, getting pretty scared shitless at this point.”
“Do you want to stop?”
“No,” Ethan said without hesitation and Marcus’s smile grew.
“So brave.” He pressed a light kiss to Ethan’s forehead and dropped his hand. “There’s a lot of blood in the human body. I can’t take enough from you to take you to the brink, so my brothers are going to drink from you first. They will do what they can to limit any pain you feel. When you’re close, I will take from you the last that’s needed.”
“What do I do?”
“I want you to remain calm and listen to my voice. Trust us to take care of you. When I ask you to be calm, you stay calm. When I ask you to drink, I want you to drink. And when I tell you to open your eyes, you must open your eyes.”
Ethan nodded. “Okay. I can do that.” He said it over and over in his head. He could do this. He wasn’t going to die. He was going to fight for Marcus. He was going to fight for their life together. He was going to fight for himself and the life he wanted. No more being shuffled through a system or following a path someone else directed for him. He wanted to be a vampire. He wanted to build a life with Marcus, one that included a new safety for humans against violent attacks like the one against his family.
