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She’d felt different since the lovemaking with Griffin, though until this moment she hadn’t thought to analyze it. For one thing, despite the fact that she’d fed Griffin, her heart felt oddly laden again, as though …
Her eyes widened and she put a hand to her chest. She felt it now, a heaviness that wasn’t emotional at all, but rather very physical. Something a blood rose would experience.
She gasped. She’d heard all the rumors, especially the latest ones about the shifter Olivia, who was now mate-bonded to Mastyr Zane. They’d become a Nine Realms power couple and all because Olivia was a blood rose.
Sandra didn’t spend even a few seconds denying what she knew in the depths of her spirit to be true. She was a blood rose.
She was building a fresh supply even as she stood in the pantry, only it didn’t feel Griffin-specific. Instead, all she had to do was think of the several unbonded mastyr vampires roaming the camp and waiting for wraiths with which to mate, and a profound need to feed each and every one of them rose within her.
When she found herself turning toward the door, ready to head out to find these vampires, she forced herself to hold only Griffin within her mind. She’d heard of this, as well. So long as she remained an unbonded blood rose, she’d crave every mastyr she came into contact with.
Oh, dear sweet Goddess.
As she focused on Griffin, she felt something rise within her, so powerful, like a geyser within her heart, that for a moment she couldn’t breathe. It was as though the new sensations she was experiencing, the need to offer sustenance to a mastyr vampire, became exponentially enhanced when she thought of Griffin.
The reason had to be simple; she’d made love with him. But was it something more? Something that came from her heart?
She knew the truth again without wasting time denying what she felt. Her love for Griffin enhanced what she felt as a blood rose. She’d probably been in love with him from the moment she’d entered that holding pen a year ago and found him defending the newly enslaved women against three powerful shifters. He was a man who would go the distance, who would die trying to protect those he loved, and who probably had already guessed what Sandra had so recently become.
She trembled now from excitement and hope and from the love she felt for the vampire.
The next moment, however, she shaded her eyes and tears bloomed. The reality of fortress life, the spies who roamed the halls for Margetta, and that Griffin was required to be outside sparring until dawn, all worked against them.
But if something didn’t happen in the next few hours, Margetta would force the wraith-bond on her and there would be nothing she could do to escape it.
Whatever she chose to do, she had to be swift and she had to be careful.
First, she decided to path Griffin, to see if she even could at such a distance. She’d never done so before, but she was a blood rose now and her powers had increased. Griffin, are you there? I’m in trouble.
When she didn’t hear a response she tried again. And again.
~ ~ ~
Griffin sparred with a powerful shifter, mate-bonded with a wraith who floated above them shrieking the whole time. He used his battle energy in bursts and an axe in his left hand.
The shifter had once served in the Swanicott Shifter Brigade when he’d left to join Margetta’s forces and engage in the Invictus bond. But he was no match for Griffin.
As Griffin levitated with sudden speed, and sent a minute amount of his battle vibration straight into the shifter’s head, the shifter crumpled to the dirt.
Griffin was barely winded, but he feigned what his usual response would be and bent over at the knees, waiting with axe in hand for the shifter to revive.
Griffin, are you there?
The words were faint but unmistakable now that he wasn’t fighting. Sandra?
Thank the Goddess you can hear me. I’m in trouble. I’m a blood rose, but I’m guessing you know that by now.
I do. He remained where he was and watched as the shifter slowly began to regain consciousness. Buying a little more time, he sent another blast and hit him in the chest. He rolled on his back, limp. Tell me everything.
He listened as she spoke of the new supply she was building for him, then a string of panicky words about needing to feed all the mastyrs in the camp.
At that, he tossed the axe onto the nearby weapons pile, rose up and moved in a circle. He shoved his hands through his long hair, dislodging the leather strap. He re-tied it.
But the thought of Sandra feeding even a lesser mastyr had his fangs vibrating heavily in his gums. He’d heard about the almost caveman-like visceral response to the blood rose, a drive to possess her and keep her away from all others.
There’s more. Margetta intends to bond me to a wraith near dawn.
