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Well, he had to find out sometime. “When I woke that first night without Odette, I kind of went a little blood-crazy. I drank a body a night for a week straight until Carisa found me and dragged me back to her nest. They did the best they could for me but I was too far gone by then. I couldn’t stick to the blood rations and kept sneaking out for more snatch-and-grabs. Chester warned me that if I did it again, I’d be kicked out. But, a bloodlust-y newborn is gonna compel more people to drink from, no matter the consequence. So I was out. My punishment is thirty-three years’ exile from the nest.”
Julian went still. Like, still, still.
Except his eyes. Those went full dark.
The room swam in his power, his dominance filling in the spaces mine hadn’t touched. I kept my back straight, chin high as he let out a feral, chandelier-shaking roar.
Yeah, now that I knew what I was listening for, I could definitely hear “Sunny” in there.
“You bellowed, sir?” Sunny’s eyes bulged as she drew near the dining room entrance. She took several large steps backwards, making sure to stay well clear of the double dominance-filled dining room.
“Get the names of the members of Chester’s nest and have them all report here. Immediately!”
“Of course, sir.”
I did a double take, swiveling from Sunny to Julian and back again. “Whoa, whoa, wait! Hang on, Sunny. Don’t do anything yet.”
Sunny paused mid-step, gaze darting from me to Julian as her face went pale.
“Why are you hauling my nest mates in here?”
“Nest mates?” Julian roared the words. “They were hardly your nest mates when they kicked you out on the street. When they made you figure it out yourself. When they left you to suffer alone. What if you hadn’t made it? What if you’d turned savage and went—”
I stood, coming around the table to face him fully. “Yes, Julian. That’s exactly what they did. And turns out, that’s exactly what I needed.”
“They should have—”
“No, they did exactly what it took for me to get my poop in a group and be a real vampire, not a bloodsucker wandering the street, okay?” He huffed out another sigh and I pulled the vampire king close. “But thank you for wanting to right that perceived wrong for me.” Julian was still rigid with anger, dominance still mucking up the air. I pulled him closer, pressing my lips against his ear. “I gotta admit, seeing you get all worked up over me, definitely going in my spank bank.”
Julian’s body still vibrated with power, but slowly, the room cleared of his dominance, leaving only mine and his gorgeous hazel eyes smiling down at me.
“Back to your regularly scheduled programming, Sunny,” I said just a moment before the vampire king of Laurel Cove’s mouth crashed into mine.
Twenty-Four
Whatever life forceor magical energy blood imbued into vampires, I was swimming in it. Buzzing with it. From head to toe.
That’s what it was like kissing Julian.
His lips—pliant but forceful, soft but also firm—teased against mine. Just the barest brush at first, before he spun me away from the table and had me pinned to the wall, claiming my mouth with his.
Fireworks exploded behind my eyes as his hands roamed over me, his body pushing against mine. My leg hitched over his hip, and without realizing, I’d arched Ms. Lady up and pressed her against the hard rod of steel in his pants.
Another feral snarl tore from Julian’s lips as I deepened the kiss, tasting the earthy, delicious flavor of his mouth.
God, he tastes good. Feels good. Smells good.
Another growl vibrated in his throat in response and I wondered if I’d gain the ability to hear his dirty thoughts about me at some point.
A question for later.
I trailed my hands down the perfect triangle of his back, letting my nails bite into his flesh through his silky shirt.
In response, Julian twisted a fist in my hair and licked up my neck, reducing me to little more than a shivering, moaning mess. “May I feed from you?” The question rumbled low in his throat.
And I could only manage a pathetically whimpered, “Yes.”
I hadn’t even thought about it long enough to question it.
