The Bite That Binds (The Deep In Your Veins #2) (10 page)

My mood improved somewhat when the squad, as a whole, arrived. Of course, each of them passed on genuine congratulations before heading for the champagne. I noticed that Jared had been a little stiff with Max, who found it as amusing as always. I doubted that I’d ever be able to convince him that Max no longer had any interest in me. But, then, I’d probably never be totally comfortable around someone who’d once pursued Jared, so who was I to judge?

Evan then entered with the last of the High Masters, Bran, and one of Bran’s consorts. Immediately Evan enfolded me in a hug. I saw that Bran’s consort, Alora, stiffened at that and I knew it was jealousy. Her body went even more rigid when Evan very subtly moved close to her. Although she wanted him, she had been resisting him. Maybe Evan would have let the matter go if this was just any woman. But the redhead wasn’t just any woman. She was the vampire that he’d seen in the vision he’d had through Luther; she was the one he had been waiting for – and it had been a fairly long wait – she simply had no idea of that.

Despite all of the female attention Evan received on a daily basis, he had always been indifferent to it. Well, not always. Apparently he had seriously enjoyed himself in his first years as a vampire, but it had come to an abrupt halt when he saw her in the vision.

There was utter determination in his eyes whenever he looked at her. He fully intended to have Alora and he was ensuring that she knew it. If the way she was averting her gaze was anything to go by, she did know it, and she was a little uncomfortable with his attention. Of course she was uncomfortable. Evan was pretty easy-going, centred, and even-tempered, but he had a presence about him that made people take notice. He could be very focused and persistent, and if that focus and persistence was directed at a woman, it would undoubtedly have her squirming.

Bran had obviously noticed Evan’s interest in her, but he didn’t care. From what I’d heard via another of Bran’s consorts, he actually batted for Fletcher’s team. Whereas Fletcher was open about it, Bran – a very reserved, private, quiet man – clearly had no intention of being so open. Having female consorts was merely a smoke screen. I knew that was the only thing stopping Evan from taking Alora away from the High Master.

Considering that Bran wouldn’t object to leaving her with Evan, I had to conclude that if there was some kind of resistance, it was coming from Alora. Apparently Evan was intent on crushing her defences. See, persistent.

“I haven’t put my gift on the table.” Evan’s hazel eyes – so like Jared’s, yet not – were twinkling in amusement as he spoke to me. “You’ll get it soon.”

Jared frowned. “The Binding gift is supposed to be for both of us.”

Evan waved his hand dismissively, making Jared snort. But a smile quickly appeared on Jared’s face when two more guests entered. A very tall, silver-haired Keja with a very regal air had strolled into the room with an elegant platinum-blonde on his arm. I didn’t have to ask who they were. I’d heard that Antonio’s Sire, Wes – who was also Bran’s Sire – was attending with his life-partner, and I knew that Jared cared about Wes and was looking forward to seeing him. He basically thought of him as a grandfather. As such, he was the only person who I particularly wanted to accept me.

He was also the only person who had a snake draped over his shoulders. I mean, come on, what was that about?

Wearing the hugest smile that was filled with pride and affection, he patted Jared’s upper arm. “It has been a while. Too long.”

“That’s your fault for not visiting more.” Jared regarded the snake warily, making me smile. He then went to introduce me, but Wes dived into a conversation with him about
something or other. Oh, nice. I chose to believe that it hadn’t been a snub, but I still couldn’t help feeling a little awkward just standing there.

As if sensing my awkwardness, the Pagori female on his arm untangled herself from him and came to my side. “I can only apologise for Wes’ awful manners. He’s simply very excited to see Jared again. He’s just as excited to see you…although you wouldn’t think so,” she grumbled, shooting him an impatient but playful scowl that he didn’t see. “I’m Lena.”

I shook the hand she offered me, glad when she didn’t bow her head. It freaked me out whenever people did that. The way I saw it, I was just little old me − powerful vampire or not, the Heir’s chosen or not. “Sam.”

Her eyes flickered between Jared and me. “The bond between you both…it is very strong.”

“You have a gift that allows you to measure bonds?” I knew I sounded confused; I’d heard from Antonio that she was genekinetic.

Lena shook her head. “One doesn’t need such a gift to see that your bond is solid. In fact, it’s almost feral in its intensity. That is a very good thing. If you are going to spend centuries with someone, it is important that there are no doubts.”

I totally agreed with her on that one, which was why I still had my concerns about Jared; the more he persisted in freezing me out, the more I feared he would back out.

He gripped my elbow gently. “So you’ve met Lena. Good.” After exchanging smiles with the beautiful blonde, he gestured at the tall man beside him. “Sam, this is Wes. Wes—”

“I’m glad to see that this one has some cushion, as opposed to your past consorts,” laughed Wes as he assessed me in my lavender sleeveless dress.

Cushion? I wasn’t sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult wrapped in charm. I didn’t particularly like that he had spoken of me in the same context as a consort. As the female that Jared intended to Bind with, I was a hell of a lot more than that. Jared, however, didn’t look like he thought it was anything I should be offended by. On the contrary, he was laughing along with Wes. Maybe, then, I was being a little sensitive.

“Nice to meet you,” I said as we shook hands, making sure my handshake was firm.

“Likewise. Antonio has told me much about you. From the way he spoke of you and your presence, I imagined you to be much taller. Just how small – sorry,
tall
– are you?”

Ah, I was dealing with a master of backhanded compliments. I didn’t think I was particularly small at all, but naturally I looked that way when stood next to this lanky bugger. “I see myself as the right height for kicking overgrown plonkers in some seriously interesting places.” I said all this with the friendliest smile. Again, Jared hadn’t seemed to notice the insults beneath Wes’ words, or mine for that matter.

Wes’ smile faltered only slightly. With a slight tip of his head toward the grey snake that was staring right at me, he said, “This is Toto.”

Toto? He had to be kidding. He’d called a slithering killer
Toto?

“Would you like to hold him?”

Of course I wouldn’t like to hold him. What, did he think I was stupid? Hey, I had nothing against snakes. In fact, as someone who had been brought up by their snake-obsessed father to admire and respect them, I was able to appreciate each and every species.
However
, appreciating them when there was a glass wall between you and the snake was one thing. Holding an eight-foot long fucker was another thing altogether.

I was ready to tell Wes no; that he had succeeded in freaking me out like he’d obviously been aiming to do. But then I saw something in his expression that made me pause. Instinct told me that he wasn’t trying to freak me out at all. This was some sort of test. Yes, yes, I knew he, like everyone else, would want to know that I was strong enough to one day rule and that I was good enough for Jared, blah, blah, blah. But how the act of holding a snake would answer either of those questions for him, I wasn’t sure.

What I
was
certain of was that I had no intention of failing
any
test.

Pasting a fake smile on my face, I nodded. “Why not.” I felt Jared stiffen slightly, and Wes clearly noticed because he gave him a reassuring smile. Remaining still, I allowed him to drape the grey snake over my shoulders. A pair of black eyes met mine, and then the snake stuck its forked tongue out at me, lightly flicking my cheek. ‘Tasting’ me, smelling me, I knew.

It was then that I noticed the inky-black colouration on the inside of his mouth. My eyes widened. “A black mamba. I’m holding a black mamba?” Oh shit.

“Did Antonio tell you about my gift?”

“No.”

Very proudly, he explained, “My gift is to make pictures that I have drawn come to life. Amazingly, this can even apply to tattoos. Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated with snakes. My four favourite breeds have always been
spitting cobras, rattlesnakes, garter snakes, and black mambas. So…I decided to create a breed that blended the four together by tattooing an image of this snake on my chest.”

Interesting and impressive, but also freaky.

“Toto has the narrow, elongated head typical of a black mamba, as well as the black colouration you see inside his mouth. He also has the tail of a rattlesnake, the ability to spit venom like a spitting cobra, and he can secrete a rather foul-smelling fluid from his post anal glands much like a garter snake.”

Well that was just fantastic. He was going to fart on me, wasn’t he? That was if he didn’t spit at me…or maybe sink those lethal fangs into me. Yeah, it was probably a little hypocritical for a vampire to talk about fangs like that, but in my defence, Sventés didn’t have fangs like Kejas did.

My nervousness increased when he suddenly began slinking down my body. And then something occurred to me. “He isn’t poisonous, right?” I kind of got the feeling that Wes didn’t like me, so it wouldn’t have been surprising to find that he was hoping his pet would bite and kill me.

Wes’ devious smile didn’t put me at ease
what
soever.

“Is that thing going to hurt her?” Jared demanded.

With a ‘pfft’, Wes waved a hand. “It is merely a serpent, Jared.”

That wasn’t exactly an answer, was it? And I didn’t trust this vampire as far as I could throw him. My nervousness rocketed to extreme levels when Toto’s colour abruptly changed from grey to a brilliant blue that was typical of a blue racer snake. “What the—”

“He appears to like you.” Wes sounded surprised, but pleasantly surprised.

“I’m flattered.” If the hissing bastard went under my dress, I’d kill him.

“Something very fascinating about this breed I have created is that their colour changes with their moods – even while in tattoo form.”

“Tattoo
form?”

“Oh yes, I can turn him back to a tattoo whenever I wish to, just as I can summon him to appear in this form whenever I wish to. I find that when Toto is grey or black, he is alert and wary. I also find that when he is the blue shade that you see now, he is relaxed and content. I am indeed surprised as he is generally antisocial toward anyone other than myself.”

“And yet you put him on me?” I said through my teeth. Wes merely smiled, but it was a genuine smile this time, and I realised that I had passed the test. That was great and all, but there was an antisocial, poisonous killer wrapped around my body. “Look, not to offend Toto or anything, but could you take him back? He’s getting a little too close to my crotch than I’m comfortable with.”

Wes’ mouth twitched in a way that indicated he was holding back a laugh as he returned the snake to his shoulders. “I think I shall greet Antonio and Bran. It has been some time since we were all together.” With that, he turned and walked away with Lena.

“I think that’s everyone,” I said to Jared, sighing in relief that I was alive and un-bit. “Can we go sit down now?”

“What about Fletcher and Norm?”

“Apparently they’re intent on being fashionably late, so sod them.”

Smiling, he dabbed my lips with his. “Sure, baby.” But that smile disappeared as something over my shoulder caught his attention. Of course I’d known that there was an additional guest left to arrive. Well, ‘guest’ wasn’t quite the right word. More like ‘gate-crasher’. But I’d kind of hoped she’d fallen off a cliff or something. Clearly, there was no such luck.

Bracing myself, I slowly turned. So
this
was quite possibly one of the reasons Jared was so guarded. The cow had to be beautiful, didn’t she? She couldn’t just be a hideous heifer with oozing zits, overgrown hairy moles, and a big fat pimply arse. Instead, with her flawless pale skin, her long tumbling red hair, and curvaceous body, she was like a real-life Jessica Rabbit.

Her gaze – a heated, inviting gaze – didn’t move from Jared even once as she approached, as if he was standing here all alone. It was a snub, and I knew it. Maybe, in addition to being a devious manipulator, she was a silly little mare who was curious to know what it would feel like to have my fist crashing into her face.

Even when she stopped in front of us, she didn’t look at me. What cheesed me off most was that she actually reached out to cup Jared’s cheek. He didn’t back away. He did something even better. He growled so menacingly that everyone within hearing range froze. Just like that, most of the squad were gathered behind me.

She dropped her hand, but she didn’t drop her sultry smile. “It’s been so long, Jared. I’ve been so looking forward to seeing you again.” Her consort didn’t appear to like that, going by the scowl he was wearing and the jealousy shining from his eyes. It would seem that she had this one totally enamoured.