Page 65 of Bound By Blood

She nodded and scrubbed her face to relieve some of the stress that she knew tonight would bring. “With all this shit, I think I’m going to end up spending the rest of the day throwing up. The stress is unbearable.”

Loxton smirked and patted her leg. “The stress. Right.” He pushed himself to his feet. “I’ll go inform Drayton that Landon has made his decision. Remember, Carly: Tonight is all for show. And if all goes well, you and Landon will be riding off into the sunset before the night is through. Off to be one big happy family.” With that, he stood from the bed, turned, and quickly left the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts and her churning stomach.

Tonight was going to be interesting. “Here goes nothing,” she whispered to the room that would witness so much by the time the sun sets.

Chapter 25

Landon Creed

Hours later, though Landon didn’t know exactly how long, without having any way to monitor the time, the door to his cell opened once more. This time, Drayton, Loxton, and a total of six guards stepped inside while Landon was standing in the middle of the room with his head held high. He had heard the group coming down the hall and was now trying to mentally prepare for what was to come.

With a plan finally in place, Landon did feel a lot better about the situation, and he was more determined than ever to end his father’s cruel reign over the vampires. But in order for things to play out the way he want them to, he needed to make Drayton believe that he was on his side first. Something he wasn’t sure he was capable of doing, considering the disdain he now held for his father.

He also didn’t like the idea of having to feed off Carly so much, but now that she was immortal, Loxton had assured him that she would be fine. He had told him that it would take a lot more than massive blood loss to kill her, though he was still rather vague on what would. And since her blood strengthened Landon more than any other blood, due to the bond they shared, it was his best option for killing his father.

Landon watched in silence as Drayton stepped forward, his hands clasped casually in front of him and an impassive look on his face. “Loxton tells me that you have finally come to a decision,” he stated.

Landon nodded once. “I have.”

“And?” his father pressed, seemingly bored.

This was it. The moment of truth. This was the first step in the plan, and already, Landon was struggling with his part. He didn’t want to do this, he didn’t want to swear his loyalty to his sorry excuse for a father, whether he meant it or not. But unfortunately, he didn’t have a choice.

Shifting on the balls of his feet, Landon swallowed hard. “And my loyalties are with you, father. Just as they have always been.”

The words tasted like ash in his mouth. He hated saying them because he felt as though he were betraying Carly, the love of his life, but tonight he was going to have to say a lot of things he didn’t mean, so he needed to get used to doing it. He just hoped that she would forgive him for them when this was all over.

Either Drayton was really dense, or he was ridiculously oblivious because he clearly didn’t hear the disdain in Landon’s voice. Instead, he smirked proudly as if he had won. “Glad you finally came to your senses, son. You know what this means now though, right?”

Despite having a fairly good idea of what was coming, Landon shook his head. It was all a part of the game.

“There’s a pesky little problem upstairs who has been giving my staff hell these last two weeks,” Drayton continued. “And you need to get rid of her.”

That was exactly what both he and Loxton expected to happen. Drayton was predictable and was playing right into their hands without even realizing it. What an idiot.

Landon ground his teeth together but nodded once. “Consider it done.”

His father laughed, but there was no humor to the sound. “Oh, no. You are not getting off that easily. I want to watch you do it this time. That way, I can be sure that you keep your word.”

“Understood,” he replied shortly.

Landon was purposely keeping his responses short because it made the lie more believable. The more he said, the more he risked giving away bits and pieces of their plan, and that wouldn’t be good for anyone.

“Good. Let’s get this over with then. I have a coven to run.” Drayton turned, and the guards quickly followed him out of the room.

Drayton led the group up the stairs to the third floor of the estate. Landon could already smell Carly from the top of the stairs. His heart began to beat rapidly inside his chest, and his hands clenched at his sides. This was going to be the first time he had seen her in two weeks, and he was surprisingly nervous.

Loxton had promised him that she knew what the plan was, that she was onboard and mentally prepared for what was about to happen. But that didn’t make it any easier for him to swallow. He had already discovered how much it pained him to hurt her, and he was going to have to hurt her even more now, just to ensure that his father let his guard down.

The group stopped just outside a door that locked from the outside. Drayton gave him a cocky grin before pulling the key out of his pocket and unlocking the door. When they stepped inside, Carly’s scent was far more powerful, and it hit him like a brick wall, nearly knocking him backward. However, he also quickly discovered that there was something different about it.

Landon followed the others inside, both excited and afraid to see her again. He wasn’t sure he could follow through with the plan once he saw her beautiful face and piercing eyes. Already, he could feel the darkness inside of him threatening to take over, which only fueled his nerves.

Carly jumped to her feet, and Landon met her eyes. A wave of relief instantly washed over him when he realized that she was unharmed and still healthy, but he managed to keep his face impassive so as not to give them away. However, it nearly became impossible when a sudden realization hit him square in the gut.

All of a sudden, the reason Carly’s scent was off became abundantly clear to him, and he didn’t know how he could have missed it. Nor could he understand how his father did too. It was as plain as the nose on his face. Carly… was pregnant.

“What’s going on?” Carly asked, her eyes searching Landon’s. It didn’t go unnoticed by him that they were not wild or confused as they would have been had she truly been unsuspecting. Though her obliviousness was well faked.