Page 97 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

“Evan is worried about me.” Tears shimmered in her eyes. “She said last night that she believes you care about me, but despite that, I’m the one who keeps getting hurt.”

“I’m sorry.” Alex lowered his head. “I know it’s taking too long for me to come up with a plan we can act on. I meant to talk to Dante and Isabella, but we needed to meet with Finneas this morning and I haven’t been able to catch them. Isabella is always busy and Dante is never home lately.”

“You’ve been trying to do so much. I feel sick at the thought of the other aberrants trapped in the dungeons. Were you able to get the keys?”

“Not yet.” Alex looked down. “Do you want me to go? Tell me to leave and I will.”

“I don’t want you to go, but I hate feeling this way.” Dani hugged herself tighter. “I know it’s the bond, but I hate craving you. I hate needing your bite and your touch, knowing that at the end of the month, if nothing changes, you’ll be hers and I’ll be left suffering constant tremors and cravings, just like my stepmother, until I slowly go mad. I never wanted to care for you, Alexander. And now I can’t bear the thought of losing you.”

“That’s not going to happen.” Alex took her in his arms. “I’ll talk to Isabella and Dante today. I hope they’ll agree to come with us, but if they won’t, ultimately, they’re adults and it’s their decision. What did Evan say when you talked to her? Will she and Ava leave?”

“She’s… not happy about it. But what else can we do? I’m terrified, Alex.” She drew a breath. “You’re doing what you have to in order to protect us. And I accept that. It just terrifies me, seeing the first signs of blood addiction, knowing that if I’m not changed soon, my fate will be the same as Nadine’s.”

“Tonight,” he promised her. “Try to convince Evan and Ava to come if you can. Sera has a safe house. We can give you my blood there.” He kissed her gently. “It’s going to be okay, Daniela. I swear to you, I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”

Alex found Isabella in her lab, frowning at her laptop.

“Did you need something?” His sister barely looked up before turning back to curse at her data. “I have a lot of samples to run.”

“This won’t take long. I wanted to talk to you about Dad.”

That got her attention.

“Oh.” She pushed her glasses up and leaned against the counter. “Okay, shoot.”

He had to ease into this carefully.

“We’ve all noticed changes lately. I’m sure you have, too.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. Going over to the printer, she grabbed a stack of paper and began flipping through them. “Did Lara say something to you?”

“She’s… been concerned. We all have been.” Where was this going?

“You have a funny way of showing it,” his sister snapped. “Do you have any idea the stress he’s been under, trying to calm the rioting in the sector, hoping you would step up and take some of the pressure off? Instead, it’s been nothing but drama between you and Lara and that sanguine everyone knows perfectly well you can’t marry. You may think it’s all fun and games, but it isn’t good for his blood pressure.”

She was breathing hard, close to tears. Alex frowned. How had he not seen how much pressure Isabella had been dealing with lately?

“I wanted to talk to you about that. I’m sorry if I’ve made you feel like I wasn’t listening. Certain things have just been unfolding really fast. And I didn’t realize how much stress you were under.”

Keep the conversation focused on her.

Isabella lowered her head. “How did you figure out he was really sick, that they weren’t just rumors?”

For a second, Alex could only stare. He quickly recovered.

“Sick. Yes, of course, the cancer,” he said slowly, the pieces falling into place. I’ve seen him feeding more, at rates he shouldn’t need to. And there have been personality changes. I think we’ve all noticed those.” When his sister nodded, he went on. “He’s not well, Isabella. He hasn’t been well in some time.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Her voice turned cold. “You’re gone every day volunteering at the legal aid center. Dante disappears for days to wherever Dante goes. And Sera was all too happy to abandon this family when she was caught being fucked by my boyfriend the night she was supposed to get engaged to the fae king.”

“If I had the power, I would go back and throw Micah out of the castle.” Alex shook his head. “You were all of eighteen years old and had just lost your mother. There is something very wrong with any man who would take advantage of a vulnerable girl twelve years younger than him, and one he was assigned to guard.”

“I was old enough to consent.”

“That doesn’t make it right.”

“You’re not listening to me.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. She pushed up her glasses, swiping them away. “You never listen. Micah and I understood each other. I’ve always felt like an outsider in this family. They treated me like a freak at school. Micah was the one person I felt I could talk to. He actually listened to me when you and Sera were always too busy.”

Alex thought he would be sick. “Bella, I’m so sorry—”