B Positive by Jewel Killian

Twenty-Three

“I’ve been waitingto see what you can do.”

The smile he wore pissed me the fuck off. “Why do you look so damn proud?”

“Because the power you’re so casually leaking everywhere is mine.” He licked his lips and gave me a heated once-over. “I suggest you put it away before you do something we both regret.”

I let waves of dominance roll off me, unbothered by his threat. “Maybe you should have thought about that before you dismissed someone I was still talking to.” And allowed that same someone to treat me like I was a silly, hysterical woman whose questions didn’t warrant replies.

I stepped closer, fangs bursting from my gums.

Julian didn’t bother stepping back. He didn’t seem the least bit affected by my fangs erupting in clear threat. Threatening the king, no less. “I believe you’re overlooking a crucial detail, Eden.” Julian’s tri-colored eyes shone with undiluted mirth. “You’re not just a mate, love. You’re my mate. And that makes you a queen, with all the vampire alpha powers the title entails.”

Queen?

Queen?

“How dare you?” I snarled, stalking closer. “And I suppose that title comes with an even stricter set of rules than a mere mate?”

Julian didn’t step away. He didn’t blink as I tossed another accusation at him, aiming every bit of frustration over my new circumstances directly at him.

“Maybe give up my whole life to be your pretty little pet queen, who does as she’s told and cracks whatever safes you need cracking, and doesn’t work or have friends, especially not wolf friends?”

Julian stiffened. But not at first. Only when I’d brought up the wolves again did his back go ramrod straight. “Clearly we have some discussions ahead about what’s expected of you in this new role. I’m certain we can come to an agreement.”

I closed the space between us, craning my neck to stare up at him. “And when do we discuss what’s expected of you?” I whispered.

Surprise flashed in his gaze. “I’m delighted to discuss any roles you think need adjusting, including myself or any of my staff.”

My eyes widened as Julian’s words stopped me in my tracks.

Exactly what I needed to hear was exactly the last thing I expected him to say. And yet, he had, stopping the momentum of my anger entirely.

I stared into his eyes a full minute before giving him a sharp nod and pulling in the dominance I’d let build in the room.

Except I couldn’t get that invisible force coating the air to go back where it belonged.

Julian stepped back, watchful gaze still on me. “Having a hard time?” he drawled, a half-smile on his lips. Like he’d expected it.

“No,” I grunted and tried harder. Julian’s smile grew even wider.

Dick.

“Are you sure you aren’t having a hard time there, Eden?”

“No! I—um, I just can’t seem to get your stupid alpha stuff back in its box.”

He came close once more, one finger lifting my chin to meet his sparkling gaze. “I warned you. Now, it’s too late for that, love.”

A zing of excitement at his nearness and the bass in his voice mixed with the fear of what his words meant, created one big tingly shiver that zipped up my spine, through my skull, and right to my lady cave. “What do you mean it’s too late? I got it together every other time I accidentally let it out.”

He nodded, finger sliding up my jawline, over my ear, and into my hair, where he gripped a fistful and pulled.

This time, I was ready-ish and didn’t make an embarrassing noise.

Fool me once, right?

I did, however, suck in a sharp gasp and let the tiniest moan pass my lips.

The low rumble of his satisfied laugh against my ear curled my toes and also turned me into Niagara Falls. “It means, you let too much escape. You can’t stuff it back, Eden. The only way to dissolve it is to let it have what it wants.”

His large, warm hand smoothed down my back and I melted against him.

“And what does it want?” I purred against him like a slutty cat as my body molded to his.

In the smallest partition of my mind, a tiny rational part that wasn’t overrun with desire, I chewed on what Julian said. What did the dominance want?

It wanted to smash him.

At least, it had. When he was being a dick and not letting me talk to the healer, I wanted to Hulk Smash the fuck out of him.

Now?

Now I wanted to smash different parts.

Smash them together with mine.

And while that sudden need, the intense, overwhelming sensation of being incredibly turned on felt incredible, it didn’t sit right with me.

First, the mate bond fucked with my head, telling me I wanted this man even though I knew fuck all about him. Now the alpha shit was getting in my head too?

I tried to pull away so I could get myself together and organize my thoughts on the matter, but Julian shifted so instead of his palm on my back, his forearm held me in place like a band of steel.

Plus, he still had a grip on my hair.

“Let me go,” I hissed.

“That won’t help, Eden. You have to give into this.”

I pushed against him, just enough to angle my knee upward. If he didn’t let me go, it wouldn’t be a warning this time.

I would jumble his jumblies.

Except the second I tried, he tilted his body away, remembering my trick.

I couldn’t blame him. I would remember someone trying to squish my bits, too. Except now, with his adjusted position, Julian’s exceptionally hard cock pressed into my belly.

Holy Bloody Mary mix. Focus, Eden.

“Give in to the power, Eden. There is no other way.”

The length of his body pressed against me, giving me a perfect mental image of what lay beneath that tailored suit. A broad and hard chest, tapered waist with impossibly defined abs. Strong hips for thrusting…

I shook my head, as much as his grip in my hair allowed, and dislodged my meandering thoughts.

“No, Julian. I don’t want magic influencing my choices. If I fuck you, I want it to happen because I want it. Not because the mate bond made your voice sound like a rumbly orgasm or because this alpha bullshit makes me want to smash your face in until I want to smash my face on yours. Okay? I need to work this out, logically, without you pressing all your considerable hardness against me.” I pushed against the muscle of his chest and this time, Julian released me.

I put three big steps between us.

Four.

Eh, one more.

“Look,” I sighed, running my hands down my sides to smooth away Julian’s lingering effects. The dominance remained thick in the air, but putting more distance between us made it somewhat bearable. “I realize there’s a lot about vampires I don’t know. But I think there’s a lot about humans you don’t know, and right now, despite the fangs and vamp powers, you need to consider me a human. Complete with a whole mess of cultural differences.”

Julian studied me but remained silent.

I continued. “You know what Ecstasy is, right?”

“If you mean the drug, then yes, I do. Titus likes to reward his loyal human followers with it. It’s why he has so many willing humans to feed from every night. He would never deign to go in public and take someone from the street so, he made a reward system. Thousands line up for the chance to get high and have their blood drained by the king.”

Gross. Another strike against that dude. What didn’t he have his dirty paws in?

Focus.

“Right, well, to me the mate bond is like rolling balls on Molly. Sure, it’s fun, and everything feels nice, but just because some guy’s voice does interesting things to my body and his touch feels like liquid pleasure, that shouldn’t mean I have to marry him.”

I waited a few moments, watching my analogy land in Julian’s headspace.

“Same with the alpha power. To me, it’s impairing my judgment. I don’t know if I, Eden, want to smash my body against yours until I see God, or if it’s just the drugs in my head talking.”

Julian let out a long breath and sank into his chair. It took me a few moments, but eventually, I did the same across the table, just to be safe. “I see that this has caused you problems. Allow me to apologize for my part. I shouldn’t have given you so much blood so quickly.”

No, I shouldn’t have accepted so much so often, but that was beside the point. “What does blood have to do with—”

“The more blood a pair drink during the first weeks of bonding, the faster the connection is formed and the better chance the bond has of setting.” He bowed his head before staring deep into my eyes and continuing. “I only had your safety in mind, Eden. I thought that if I gave you access to as much blood as you wanted, we’d be mated faster, and you’d be under my protection faster, immune to any of Titus’s normal methods of detecting made vampires. If I hadn’t, your alpha powers would have developed slowly enough for you to reconcile them and adapt.”

I flopped against the back of the chair.

I didn’t know what to do with that.

Should I thank him? Be mad? Fuck, I didn’t know anymore. Instead, I moved on. “I need to box that up and put it aside for the moment. Okay, you didn’t accidentally cause the initial draw. The mate thing that urges me to be close and sets my lady cave a-twitter when you get all low and growly.”

Julian leaned back in his chair, perfect face wearing a smug smile that I’d kill to smack right off. Then I’d kiss the red handprint.

“You’re talking about attraction, Eden. Normal, run-of-the-mill vampire attraction.”

“No. That can’t be.” Can it?

His smirk grew into a grin. “It’s no different than a human finding another sexually desirable. You’re simply experiencing the benefits of having enhanced senses.”

I gaped at him. “Are you fucking kidding me?” All this time, denying myself that gorgeous god-king vampire because I thought plain old vamp attraction was too close to a mind-altering substance?

“I wish you’d told me this sooner. I have a feeling we could have avoided a lot of—”

“Shush,” I cradled my head in my hand. “Just gimme a second, okay?”

The king fell silent.

I groaned out a long sigh. “Ugh! The magnetism and compulsion…it’s not such a stretch, right? We actually take away humans’ free will. And I guess I just naturally assumed that’s what was happening to me.”

When I found the courage to glance at him, Julian’s face was shrouded in darkness, turning the hard lines of his face menacingly magnificent. “What’s wrong?”

“None of this would have happened if that wretch of a king Titus hadn’t murdered your maker.”

For a second time, his words shocked me into open mouth gaping. My heart swelled, as much for Odette’s memory as for Julian’s fury at the one who took her from me.

“Who took you in afterward?” Julian’s question felt subsonic, rattling in me so that I couldn’t help but shift in my seat.

Jesus, these underwear were toast.

“Carisa, from Chester’s nest, found me after most of the damage had been done.”

Julian’s features became absolutely savage and the pine and cedar in his scent ticked up by about a thousandfold.

I couldn’t help the tiny smile lifting my lips. Julian. Protective? Of me?

“Damage? What damage are you speaking of?”

Right, because Julian didn’t know that bit.

“Stop chewing at your cheek. The scent of your spilled blood drives me insane.”

I stopped instantly.

“What damage, Eden?”

“Well, before I get into that, I just have to ask. As your potential new queen, I have something like immunity for past crimes, right?”

“Eden, for the Tzarina’s sake, just tell me.”

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.