He sighed, the sound loud in my ear. “We have time, let’s not be reckless.”
“We donothave that much time,” I countered. “We agreed we were taking the long way around to reach the canyon from the other side. We need to get there before sunrise so we can find a small cave to rest for the day.”
There was some mumbling and shifting on his side before he grumbled.
“Sorry, the girls took out blood bags from their pack and it grossed me out.”
I chuckled, shaking my head. “You realize that tomorrow night might get bloody, right?”
“I don’t have anything againstblood. It’s just the act of—drinkingit.”
“Suck it up, you have Vampire roommates. And a Vampiremate—”
“Okay, I’m hanging up now.”
“You’re gonna have to talk about—”
“Bye.”
The line went silent and I turned my head to look at the car over my shoulder with a smile. After all, if anyone could understand being a reluctant mate, that was me.
I sighted the perfect spot and rode faster. The sun was starting to rise on the horizon and even though the windows of the car protected the girls, I’d rather not test them now. The quicker we’d get there, the quicker we’d all get some rest and time to form an actual plan.
Because we needed a plan, right? Heading inside headfirst and killing every hostile person on sight was only plan B. Maybe evenCif Marcus was to be listened to.
What a killjoy.
Priority was freeing everyone and finding out what happened to Arc. Enemy casualties didn’t matter.
I stopped the bike at the entrance of the cave and pushed it inside. While waiting for Marcus to catch up, I removed my helmet and stretched my sore limbs, enjoying the wind picking up more than I thought I would. We’d been on the road for nearly four hours now, and I had obviously pushed my body a lot these past few days. I might be a Succubus, but I was also over fifteen hundred years old. That girl was old and tired.
The car slowed down at the entrance and Marcus drove slowly inside, parking next to my bike, before stepping out and going back to the entrance, checking the perimeter with a focused gaze.
“The sun will be fully up in less than an hour,” he remarked. “The acid rain and clouds should cover most of it but let’s set up the camp at the far end of the cave, where the light shouldn’t reach.”
The girls quickly grabbed heavy packs from the trunk and went deeper in the small space.
“Let’s unpack,” he continued, turning to me. “I grabbed a bag of food, so we should eat something before we get some rest.”
It was going to be a long day. And waiting made me restless.
“So, what happened?” I asked the girls, stirring the instant coffee in my metal cup while Marcus rummaged through the bag in search of some junk food. “I’ve never met Vampiretwinsbefore.”
Savi placed her blood-filled cup on the dusty ground next to her before she signed, “It’s not a pretty story.”
“I’m sure I’ve heard worse.”
They exchanged a glance and shrugged. “We were adopted as babies in India. The family who took us in were Vampires.”
“Badones,”Francesca added.
“They adopted a lot of children and started feeding on them from a young age,” Savi continued.“Some eventually were turned, some died before they reached adulthood. One of their first ‘children’—or at least one of the first they turned—decided that both Francesca and I were too pretty to die as blood bags. When we turned eighteen, he forced himself on both of us and sliced our throats—our vocal chords—to ensure we kept quiet before he made us into Vampires, thinking that we could be his silent wives.”
My jaw dropped and Francesca’s eyes fell to the floor. Marcus had stopped hoping for any of his tasteful treats and settled on dried meat, watching Savi’s hands moving with a dark look. Something told me he understood more than he let on.
“The rest of the family approved. After all, it had happened before with some of the others. But by turning us, he made us strong. And we weren’t going to comply or submit to him.
“On our wedding night, he planned to take us both to his bed at the same time. Francesca stole a copper knife during our last night market trip. We started by slicing his throat the same way he did ours so he couldn’t scream for help. Then, we sliced other parts to leave for our adoptive family to find…”
