“I know. I’m sorry.”
I reached across the counter to put my hands on her shoulders. “Stop apologizing. This isnotyour fault. That fucker lost control, and Steven is—was—an asshole, and turned vampires can’t control their bloodlust the way born vampires can, and—wait, did you kill Arthur, too?”
“No. I didn’t, I swear. I haven’t gone back to work since the werewolves let me leave after questioning on Friday. I told them I’m traumatized from seeing my boss’s body. Which isn’t actually a lie.”
“Was that the last time you fed? Thursday night?”
“Yeah. I’ll get caught if I try to feed on anyone else, and I’ll probably kill them too. If I go to the Guild, they’ll stake me, and the bloodlust is already horrible again.”
“Shit. We have to figure out a way to get you fed while we figure this out.” I ran a hand over the top of my hair, stopping when I reached the base of my floppy bun. It was a mess, but I didn’t give a damn. “I can tell the Guild I’m starving after being imprisoned by the wolves. They might give me blood bags to bring home after I feed on someone.”
“They never do that.”
“I know. I just…fuck.” Tears burned my eyes. “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know. I can’t let myself turn into a monster, though.”
“We’re not going to let that happen. Worst case scenario, we bite each other to become mates. If you’re going to marry anyone, it should be your best friend, right? My family will raise hell before they let anyone kill you, because it would take me out, and then we?—”
“Turned vampires arealwayskilled, Bloom. I’m not letting you doom yourself with me. I should’ve stopped screwing Velour months ago. I sure as fuck shouldn’t have murdered Steven. This is on me, and I’m going turn myself in the next time I get anywhere near losing control again.”
“For the record, if you were going to kill someone in Darkwood, I’m glad it was Steven.”
Harper sputtered out a laugh, wiping tears that were falling from her eyes. “I’m glad the endless nightmares I’m going to have of his face have made your life better.”
“You should be.” I let out a shaky breath. “If we’re not going to try a friendly little mate bond, I’m going to try to get blood bags tonight. I’ll tell them I can’t stomach biting anyone else because of the soulmate thing with Maverick, or?—”
My phone made an obnoxiously loud noise I’d never heard from it before, and I bit back a groan.
“Was that abullhorn?” Harper asked.
“Unfortunately, yes.” I lifted the device off the counter reluctantly, turning it so I could see the screen.
Maverick’s name was above the message bubble.
“Did you set that up?” she checked.
“Of course not. Who would ever do that to their own ears?”
She grimaced. “I thought he was going to leave you alone.”
“You and me both.”
Apparently, his definition of leaving each other alone included adding his contact information to my phone and giving himself a unique ringtone that featured the bullhorn we’d quite literally bonded over.
I scanned the message.
Maverick
Open the bag
“What does it say?”
I turned the phone so Harper could read the message.
Her forehead creased. “That’s kind of suspicious.”
“Right?”
