The Bite That Binds (The Deep In Your Veins #2) (37 page)

I smiled. “Yeah, you would do that, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, because I love you. And Jared does as well.”

A knock at the apartment door had Fletcher bouncing to his feet. “This is going to be fabulous.”

“Why do I get the feeling that this is more for you than it is for me?”

He gave me a wounded look. “I can’t believe you’d even think that.”

“So I’m right then?”

“Possibly.” He opened the door, and a tall Keja with flowing sable hair and a large, silver cosmetics case strolled inside.

The Keja shook my hand. “Hi, my name’s Rayna. I’m here to do your Swarovski Pedicure. Are you both having one?”

“What’s a Swarovski Pedicure?” It turned out that it was when someone spent almost two hours applying individual Swarovski crystals to your toenails in a very intricate, beehive formation. And it was bloody great. I liked it so much that I even asked her to apply them to my fingernails as well.

Afterwards, Fletcher and I sat back and admired them with sighs of appreciation.

“These will look fabulous with your ceremony dress and shoes.”

“Am I allowed to see this dress yet?”

Hearing the apprehension in my voice, he shook his head at me sadly. “I’m hurt that you have so little faith in me. But, yes, you can see it now.” Obviously excited, he practically skipped to my bedroom.

I followed behind him, dreading what was about to happen. I would no doubt dislike it, and he would no doubt become upset, and then I would have offended my best mate. In the room, I found him standing before the bag that was hanging on my wardrobe door.

“Ready?” Without giving me a chance to answer, he tackled the zipper and pulled out the weirdest thing I’d ever seen. There wasn’t a word to describe it. A mix of pink and purple, the organza gown actually had fairy wings and a magic wand.

“What’s that?”

“A joke. Calm down.”

I sagged in relief. “Sod.”

“
This
is your dress.” He carefully withdrew another dress and held it out at arms’ length. Ducking under his arm in order to circle the garment, I literally couldn’t say a word. Technically, I shouldn’t like this dress. I mean, I’d envisioned myself in something reasonably simple but nice…maybe a white silk halter-neck that was just below knee-length, lacking even a hint of a train. This sleeveless, backless, floor-length dress was pretty much the opposite.

In the typical ‘fit n flare’ style, it was skin-tight all the way to mid-thigh before flaring out. It was definitely going to accentuate my already noticeable cleavage. And it was
decorated with girly things like crystals and beads, and even had a clump of rosettes on one hip. But I absolutely loved it. That must have shown on my face, because Fletcher hung up the dress and started jumping up and down, clapping like a performing seal.

“I knew you’d adore it! See, you should have a little more faith in your mates.”

“Is it satin?”

“Yep. Isn’t the court train gorgeous? I had a feeling you still wouldn’t want one, so I asked the designer to sew in a little loop.” If he hadn’t pointed it out to me, I never would have noticed it. “If you don’t want the train, or you just want it out of your way while you’re dancing, all you have to do is lift it by the loop and then hook it on one of the fake buttons near the small of your back.”

I did the only thing I could do right then. I practically wrapped myself around Fletcher, hugging the breath out of him. Then we were both jumping up and down, squealing in delight – something I wouldn’t normally do.

“Come on, you have to try it on. I’m convinced that it will fit, but it’s best to make sure.”

“Sam?”

Both mine and Fletcher’s eyes widened at the sound of Jared calling my name. “He must’ve teleported inside. Don’t come in! You’re not allowed to see my dress!”

“Okay, I’ll wait out here.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

Fletcher and I worked as a team to quickly, but still carefully, return the dress to the bag. We both breathed a sigh of relief when the zipper was closed.

“Can I come in now?”

“Yes,” I replied.

Opening the door, he went to walk inside, but then his eyes caught sight of something over my shoulder and he froze. “Whoa.”

Realising what he’d seen, I chuckled. “Don’t worry; that’s not the dress. Fletcher thought it would be funny to make me think I’d be dressed like a slutty fairy at my Binding Ceremony.”

Fletcher smirked. “You should’ve seen her expression, it was priceless.” His smirk was replaced by a frown as he folded his arms across his chest. “Hang on a minute. You’re not supposed to be here. You’re not allowed to see her the night before. It’s bad luck.”

Jared rolled his eyes. “That’s a human thing.”

“She hasn’t tried on her dress yet.”

A shrug. “She can do it after I’m gone.”

“She’s
supposed
to be relaxing.”

“You’re suggesting that I’m not a relaxing person to be around?” This was asked with all the innocence of a five year old.

Fletcher sighed tiredly. “I won’t get you to leave, will I?”

“No.”

Adjusting his glasses on his nose, Fletcher sighed again. “I’ll leave you two alone, then. Try not to bonk, all right? It’ll all add to the anticipation for tomorrow evening.”

As Fletcher dashed out of the room, Jared snatched my hand and tugged me to him before landing a very disorientating kiss on me. “Hey baby.”

“I didn’t expect you to come here. Aren’t you supposed to be getting hammered with the boys?” That had sounded a lot more fun than a pamper party, but everyone was determined to keep us separated for this one night.

“You’re more appealing.”

“But that’s not why you’re here,” I sensed, knowing him well.

“I guess I just wanted to check that you’re okay…and that you’re not having second thoughts.”

“I told you last night that I wasn’t.”

“Yeah. But that was last night.”

There was a glimmer of vulnerability in his eyes that I’d only seen once before – that night that I’d learned the truth about the bitch that gave birth to him. A vulnerability that
she’d
put there. Despite all his confidence, there was a lack of self-worth lurking deep, and it was clearly making him doubt that I truly loved him. I kind of wished she was alive just so that I could kill her. “I have
not
had an overnight change of heart.”

“Even though you know everything about me, even though you know that I’m pretty damaged? It can’t be an attractive idea to Bind yourself to someone with this many issues.”

I slapped his arm. “Hey, I’m taking offense to that – I have issues of my own. But so what? I think it would be pretty boring to be one-dimensional anyway.”

He smiled against my mouth. “Good, it means I don’t have to tie you to the bed and hold you here against your will.”

“You’re not even joking, are you?”

“No. I can’t let you go.”

“Does this mean I can relax in the knowledge that you’ll turn up to the ceremony?”

His all-too-perceptive eyes narrowed. “So I wasn’t the only one worrying.” When I shook my head in admission, he dabbed a drugging kiss on my mouth. “That’s just dumb. I need you in more ways than you know. You were right in what you said; when I came here I forget who I was and where I came from because I wanted to. You brought me back from that. If you go, I’ll be tempted to forget again, because it’s easier that way. I need you to keep me grounded. It sounds corny, I know, but you’re like my personal little refuge. You can’t leave.”

“I won’t. But note, for the record, that if you don’t show up, I’ll gut you like a fish.”

His smile took over his face. “There’s my girl.” He nipped my bottom lip. “Open for me.” When I did, his tongue immediately shot inside to find mine. In a dominant move that could have landed him in trouble if I wasn’t in such a good mood, he tangled a hand in my hair and angled my head how he wanted – holding it there while he literally devastated my mouth.

When he pulled back to nuzzle my neck and lick at my pulse, I groaned. “You need to go, or we’ll end up bonking.”

“And that would be bad because…?”

“Fletcher’s right; it’ll add to the anticipation and stuff if we hold off tonight.”

“You’re mean to me.”

“I won’t be mean to you tomorrow night. Although...I will be biting you in some very interesting places.”

His eyes were shining with humour and interest when he looked at me. “Oh I really hope you do.” Having smacked one last kiss on my mouth, he released me. “Oh and Sam…I’ll be doing the same.” With a devilish smirk, he teleported away, leaving me tingling in all kinds of places. The sod.

A cold shower. That sounded like the best idea.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work. I came out of the shower feeling more sexually frustrated than I had before I got in it.

I was just slipping my robe on over my underwear when there was a knock on my apartment door. Clearly Fletcher was back to help me try on the dress. I quickly scuttled through the apartment and opened the door – and growled at my two visitors. Before I could say a word, Brook grabbed my arm, and there was a very familiar sensation in my stomach as he – oh fuck a duck – teleported me, him, and Magda to a strange living room.

I had no idea where the hell I was, but I had a very strong feeling that I was no longer at The Hollow. Confirming that, the door opened and five male vampires entered. I recognised three of them. Two were the Trent brothers, and the other was Blake. Fucking great.

Abruptly, Brook shoved me into an armchair, holding me there by my shoulder. I had barely shrugged him away, fully intending to whip the crap out of these people, when I was suddenly paralysed. Literally. I couldn’t move at all. Recalling what Orrin had said about one of the brothers having the gift of freezing things, I quickly realised what had happened.

“You’ll have to do it quickly,” Magda told the brothers, sounding desperate and anxious. “Jared will sense her fear, and he’ll come to her.”

“Do not worry,” said the tallest brother. “It will not come to that. Blake.”

The ex-Handler stepped forward, grinning mischievously. If I hadn’t been frozen in place, I’d have snarled at him. “How much do you want gone?”

“Everything up until the day that she was recruited,” the tallest brother told him. “I do not want her to remember anything after that day.”

Oh shit.

Magda shot me an evil smile. “I should be getting back. I don’t want anyone to notice that I was missing at the same time that she disappeared. Plus, Jared is going to need me to be there for him.” She left with her consort, wearing a smug, devious smirk. Oh the bitch.

Blake put his index finger to my temple. Then, there was only blackness.

(Jared)

I felt like someone had punched me in the head – there was a heavy impact, there was a momentary disorientation, and then there was pain as my connection to Sam abruptly vanished. Not physical pain, but a crushing, overwhelming, agonising emotional pain as suddenly I could no longer feel her.

I should have been rushing out of the bar in a panic, but that same sense of panic seemed to be stopping me from moving. I was expecting to feel her again any second now, for the ‘glitch’ to fix itself.

“What’s wrong?” Evan asked.

“Sam.”

Concern was plastered across his face. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t know.”

“Go to her.”

“I can’t.” Without our link, I couldn’t take myself to her unless I could see her.

“What do you mean, you can’t? Don’t tell me
your
gifts are now acting up, too.”

Shaking myself out of my shocked state, I teleported to our apartment, right in the spot that I’d left her only half an hour ago. The room was empty. “Sam! Sam!” In vampire speed, I raced through the apartment, coming to an abrupt halt when I saw that the door was open. I dashed into the hallway, but there was no sign of her whatsoever. “Sam!”

Frantic, confused, and scared-fucking-shitless, I went to the one person I believed could fix just about anything. Antonio double-blinked as I, suddenly, appeared directly in front of him on the veranda. “Sam…I can’t feel her.”

He stiffened in his seat. “How can you not feel her?”

“I don’t know. But our connection…it’s not like it
broke
. It’s just like she’s not on the other end of it anymore. Like she fell off the face of the Earth or something. I can’t sense her at all – not what she’s feeling, not where she is.”

He shot to his feet, looking almost as anxious as I was. “Did you feel anything from her just before this happened? Fear?”

“There was a little anxiety, but before I even had a chance to
think
about acting, she was gone. Just like that.” I clicked my fingers.

“Have you been to your apartment?”

So distracted by the panic circulating through me, I hadn’t even realised that Wes was behind me until I heard his voice. I spun around to face him. “She’s not there.”