Page 57 of Bound By Blood

“She’s dead,” Landon told him truthfully. “I killed her in order to keep the bond between Carly and me a secret.”

He figured it was best not to lie to his father. That would only set him off, and he didn’t want Drayton to turn his anger on Carly. The man was ruthless and didn’t care who he killed as long as it benefitted him in some way. And killing Carly would definitely benefit him as it would completely crush Landon.

“Well, at least you are being smart about one thing.” His father casually straightened the jacket of his pristine suit before he clasped his hands in front of him.

Landon’s eyes darted toward Carly, who was now lying on the ground. He wanted to go to her more than anything, wanted to make sure that it had, in fact, been a sedative and not something far more dangerous, but his moving right now would put her at risk. He also made the decision to keep the fact that she was immortal from his father. If this ended up going sideways, and they did end up trying to kill her, he didn’t want them to know how to do so.

“Father, please,” Landon pleaded. “I swear to you, she’s not a threat.”

Drayton’s face contorted in disgust. “Begging doesn’t become you, Landon. It makes you look weak.”

Landon stiffened as his father stepped up to Carly and looked down his nose at her. He was quiet for several moments while Landon was on edge the entire time. He knew his father could attack her at any moment and he wasn’t sure if he would be able to make it to them on time.

“If she’s not a threat to me, then why not tell me the truth about her from the very beginning?” Drayton asked him pointedly, finally looking away from Carly and focusing on him again.

“I was going to. I only found out the whole truth from Kata yesterday,” Landon tried to explain. “I didn’t know exactly what was going on between us until I spoke to her.”

“Another lie!” Drayton snapped, causing Landon to jump involuntarily. “Oakley told me everything days ago!”

Landon’s fists clenched at his sides. He should have known that Oakley would betray him, the guy was a weasel. His loyalties changed constantly, depending on who he believed to be his best chance at power.

“Oakley didn’t have the whole story either,” Landon ground out through clenched teeth. “He didn’t know everything Kata knew. No one did, you made sure of that. I wasn’t going to come to you until I had all the facts.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie. He and Carly had discussed telling Drayton the truth in depth the night before. They agreed it would be better for him to hear it from them, but they had wanted to wait until they had a plan first. They wanted to figure out a way for them to escape if he didn’t accept the bond between them. Obviously, they had run out of time for all that.

Drayton lifted an eyebrow. “Now, how am I supposed to believe you when you’ve kept something like this from me for so long? If you truly believed she wasn’t a threat, you would have told me from the very beginning what was going on.”

“Would you have accepted it?” Landon countered. “Would you have even let me explore this bond with her, or would you have killed her like you did Kata’s mate? You have never experienced this before, so you have no idea what it feels like. Instead, you fear it because it’s unknown.”

Drayton spat on the floor and sneered. “What it feels like? No wonder you are going soft. Feelings make you fucking weak, Landon! I warned you about that!”

Landon hissed angrily, his eyes darkening and fangs popping through his gums. “I am not going soft!”

He knew deep down that, if his father believed he was no longer useful, then Drayton would have no problems with having Landon killed. Only one thing mattered to Drayton Creed, and that was power. If he thought Landon was incapable of helping him gain that power, then he would get rid of him without a second thought.

It was true that Carly had changed him. It was true that she made him feel, but that didn’t make him soft. If anything, she helped him to truly embrace who he was. Every part of himself, even the dark parts. He felt stronger than ever, but it wasn’t just his life that hung in the balance here. It was Carly’s too, and that was his weakness. One that his father could exploit easily because Landon wouldn’t do anything that put Carly in harm’s way.

“That remains to be seen,” Drayton stated.

“What do you want, father?” Landon asked firmly. “What are we doing here?” He was done with whatever game his father was playing. He wanted to know one way or another how tonight was going to end.

“I want what I’ve always wanted, Landon,” his father replied, taking a step toward him. “For my son to be by my side, to put me above all else. Can you honestly say that you do with her in the picture?”

“Why do I have to choose? Why can’t it be both?” That was what he didn’t understand. Even with the bond between him and Carly, he still did whatever his father asked of him. He didn’t see why he was being forced to choose.

“Because there’s going to come a time when your little booty call disagrees with the way we do things. When that happens, you will be put in a position to choose sides.” Drayton folded his arms across his massive chest, putting strain on the seams of his jacket. “I need to be sure you will pick the right side. My side.” With that, he looked over at the man standing over Carly. “Get her to the van. And if Landon tries to stop you, kill her.”

“Yes, sir,” the man replied instantly, stooping to pick Carly up off the ground.

“Now hang on!” Landon exclaimed, taking a step forward. However, he was quickly stopped by two vampires. He could have easily overpowered them, but he didn’t want to give Drayton any excuse to execute Carly.

As it stood, Drayton seemed to be keeping her alive, but that didn’t give Landon a pleasant feeling either. He knew his father, so he knew that Drayton probably had some other scheme hiding up his sleeve when it came to his mate. Something far more dark and sinister.

“Here’s what’s going to happen, Landon,” Drayton began, forcing Landon to tear his eyes away from the vampire who tossed Carly’s unconscious form over his shoulder. “You are going on a little… time out. Give you some time to think about your options here. You have my word that she will not be harmed in the meantime. However, if you try to escape, if you hurt any of my men, then I won’t hesitate to kill you both. Understood?”

Landon ground his teeth together in irritation. He knew what his father’s ‘time outs’ were like. He was going to be locked in a stone room with no windows and a heavy metal door. He was going to be starved, kept out of the sunlight, and have no outlet for the monster inside of him. It was a sick form of torture his father used to ‘reset’ men who fell out of line. Many had been driven mad because of it.

However, Landon wasn’t going to allow himself to succumb to that madness. He was going to use that time to come up with a plan to get rid of his father. That was his only option now as he would never accept Carly and her place in Landon’s life. And there was no way in hell he was ever going to give Carly up. Not anymore.