Marked by Blood: Book 2 of The Marked Series Ford, Rinna (books to read fiction .TXT) 📖

you?” I closed my mouth and nodded. “I’m an asshole because I’m not putting your needs first, my mate. I selfishly want you all to myself and here you are, sacrificing what you need because of my pride and dragon-sized ego. I’m sorry, baby. Can you forgive me?”

I parted my lips and nodded. “There’s nothing to forgive.”

He breathed in deeply and broke eye contact with me, looking back out over the dark sea. “You need to mate with him. Make him yours, like you made me yours. I hate to admit it, but he’s exactly what you need.” I began to argue with him, but he squeezed my hand and kept talking. “Don’t get me wrong, I know I’m what you need too, just in a different way. You need us both because of who you are and there’s nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all. I was a fool to think I could keep you all to myself because of how special you are, but now I see it was never a possibility. I’m okay with it now, I promise.”

“Do you mean it?” Hell, I hated how weak I sounded, but I didn’t know where I stood with any of it.

He lightly laughed. “I mean, it’s gonna drive me a little nuts to see you with him for a while at least, so please for my sake, tone it down in front of me, will ya?”

“I’ll do my best,” I joked back, “that is, if he’ll accept me.” I sighed and looked away. “After what happened this morning, I wouldn’t be surprised if he already left. He made it perfectly clear he didn’t want to be anywhere near me from the moment I stepped into his room.”

“Baby, that’s self preservation. That vampire has it bad. He’s just protecting his heart from getting crushed by you. Trust me, I know when I see a man so far gone they can’t do anything else but pray for you to be close, and he is that far gone. I don’t think you have to worry about him leaving.”

I leaned across the distance between us and kissed him on the lips.

“I love you so much, Xander Liu. Now and forever.”

“I love you too, my Emi. You’re almost there, baby. You’re almost to the point of coming back to me. I believe when you mate with the vampire, you’ll be you again.”

I stiffened against him and what he was saying. I agreed with him that fully mating with Matias would go a long way to calm my vampire side, but what about my third mate? My caster mate? I hadn’t forgotten about Ronan and the kiss we shared in the woods. I replayed it and his devilish smile over and over in my head so many times, I knew I’d never lose the images from my memory. It was a shame those few moments were all I had of him, but I didn’t know where I stood with him. I still felt that hole inside of me. Would I need to mate with him too in order to really come back to Xander like he wanted me to?

I decided not to bring up Ronan because it was a huge step for Xan to accept Matias as another mate of mine, and I didn’t want to push him. But I hoped for the best and the possibility of what could be.

Kissing Xan one more time, I rose from the boulder and led him into the dining room where people were just sitting down to eat dinner. Xan and I sat in our usual seats and I waited for Matias, but he never showed. Disappointed, I ate and drank my meal in near silence.

Xan was in the middle of offering to walk me back to my room, knowing I still didn’t have a complete handle on feeding from the source, but then some of the other shifters talked to him about a wrestling match they were putting on. Apparently, it was a big thing in the shifter community, something they do for fun. I could see the merriment dance in my mate’s eyes, so I couldn’t let him miss out on it. With a kiss, I told him to go ahead and that I’d see him in the morning.

I grabbed a glass of blood from the kitchen counter and walked into the hall. I didn’t know where Matias would be, so I opened up my senses to give my hunting instincts a try and find him like he did for me when we first met.

I closed my eyes and tried to find him. It took almost a minute, but I could smell his unique scent coming from the hallway on the first floor. I opened my eyes and followed it to the indoor part of the indoor/outdoor pool.

I didn’t know what I was expecting to see when I found Matias, but it wasn’t Di draped all over him as a lover would. My vampire side flared and my fangs descended as the glass of blood slipped from my hand, crashing onto the concrete floor.

Both Di and Matias looked over toward the sound and immediately paled. She got up out of his lap and straightened her dress, smiling sweetly at me. Matias turned to stand up too, his expression more subdued, but I held him down with caster magic, deciding to deal with him later. He stared at me in horror and tried to wriggle free, but it was no use. He was held down tight.

I thought he was going to destroy her if he ever saw her again. I guessed that was just all talk, especially when he was horny and needed an outlet. Or maybe, he was playing me all along.

I didn’t realize they weren’t alone until three of Di’s minions sloshed up out of the pool and began making their way toward their leader in protection. I froze them in varying positions around the pool, making Di panic even more. If I could do