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

side, as if it hurt him to tell me the rest. “If you decide to make the journey to the place you lost your heart, don’t go alone. Never alone. You’re at your weakest when you are alone, remember that, please. Be smart. Be safe. But always do what your heart tells you is right.”

My dad gave me another kiss to the temple and released me, standing up and turning around toward me.

“Time’s almost up.” He smiled as if weary and shrugged his shoulders.

I jumped up off the log and ran toward him. He caught me in his giant arms and held me close as a father would. Every time I was near him, I felt like a little girl. I just couldn’t help it. He had that effect on me.

“I love you, dad.”

He squeezed me tighter as the world around me began to tingle.

“I love you too, sweetheart. Forever and always.”

* * *

My eyes opened slowly, as if I could will my mind to stay in the dreamscape just a little bit longer. Maybe it was because I never knew him as my dad when I was younger and the fact I didn’t have a dad at all for so many years, but I missed him when I wasn’t dreaming. I wished I could see him all the time, to hear his voice and be enveloped in his warm hugs.

Matias’ hand moved over my hip and pulled me toward him. He knew I was awake and was helping me extract myself from a still sleeping Xander. My dragon mate slightly stirred as I slid away from his chest, but then went back to snoozing.

Matias got off of the bed and held his hand out to me, helping me do the same. Without a word, I walked over to my backpack and dug out some clean clothes and got dressed. I indicated to my vampire I wanted him to meet me in the hall. He then got dressed himself and followed me out on quiet feet.

“Is everything okay?” He asked me, as we closed the bedroom door behind us.

I sighed. “Yes. No. I don’t know.”

He nodded, not really understanding what I was going through, but was intuitive enough to know I needed to work it out in my head before talking about it. “Come with me,” he said and took my hand in his.

We ran down the stairs and out the back door with vampire speed. We kept going until we reached the beach where we first met, where I sat down in the sand and looked out over the crashing waves. Matias sat behind me, bringing me into his body and began humming a tune I wasn’t familiar with. It was beautiful, whatever the song was.

This beach was where I went any time I needed to think and Matias knew that. People knew my mate as the Butcher, a ruthless vampire when that wasn’t really who he was. I mean, he could be if he was pushed to that point, but we all can be vicious when our backs are to the wall. To me though, he was quiet and observant, caring and kind. He knew what I needed before I did, just like that very moment of us sitting on the beach in the early morning’s darkness. Not many people got to see the real Matias because they never got close enough.

As we sat there, I replayed my father’s words over and over in my head, and Matias didn’t move a muscle other than to hug me closer to his body from time to time.

It was time to make a move. I had no other choice but to move forward and I needed my mates, all of them if I was going to survive. Even my own body was telling me that every time I messed up my magic. I needed all three of them, and I needed to figure out how to do that.

To find the answers I needed to go to the place I lost my heart. Lost my heart? The first place I could think of was Devlin and Ainsley’s cabin, but could it be that easy?

I didn’t know how long we actually sat there, but when I felt the warm rays of the sun rising behind us, I knew it was time to go home. The rest of the mansion would be stirring from their night’s sleep and there were a couple of shifters I needed to talk to as well as the vampire behind me. He had been so patient, sitting there while I tried to work it out.

I patted his shin and stood up. He rose off the sand with me and draped his arms over my shoulders. Our faces were inches apart as we stared up at each other.

“Were you able to solve all your problems?” he asked.

I rose up on my tippy toes, crossing the distance between our mouths and kissed him once. “Not even close,” I replied, “but I’m ready to talk about it. We need to get Xander up and track down my grandfather.”

He kissed me the next time and nodded. “Let’s go then.”

Matias took my hand in his once again and the two of us ran back to the mansion, stopping in the backyard. We then walked at a normal pace through the backdoor and up the stairs to the room we shared with Xander. He was just slipping a shirt on after a shower when we walked into the room, pausing when he saw us come in.

“What’s going on?” Xan asked, taking in my expression. “Are you okay?”

“I dreamed of my father last night,” I told my mates. Xander knew what that meant but Matias didn’t have a clue, so I filled him in. “Dragons are a rare breed of shifter because of the magic they possess. One of the most special things about them is the ability to talk to their ancestors in their dreams. I talk to my dad.”

“That’s wonderful,” he told