Dominic quickly held up his hand when Danny opened his mouth.
“But I never did anything to stop others from treating the blood donors that way either, and I should have. It won’t happen overnight, but I promise to do everything within my power to change it.”
Danny regarded Dominic carefully for several moments then leaned back until he was sitting up, straddling Dominic’s waist. “Fine, you can claim me.” Danny quickly wagged his finger at Dominic when the man started smiling. “But I swear to you if you don’t do something to fix it, I’ll kick your ass.”
Dominic arched an eyebrow. “You want a contract?”
“No.” Danny chuckled. “I trust you.”
“Do you, Danny?” Dominic suddenly grew serious. “Being my consort won’t be easy. It’s dangerous for one. You’ve already been poisoned once and—”
Danny blinked. “Wait, what? I was poisoned?”
Dominic started for a moment almost like he was caught in something and couldn’t move, and then his face flushed. “Did I forget to mention that part?”
“Huh, yeah.”
“I was trying to tell you, but then we kind of got off track and—”
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Danny waved his hand in a circle motion. “Back to the poisoning thing, Dominic.”
“That’s why you couldn’t keep anything down,” Dominic said.
“Someone put poison in your vitamins.”
Danny’s mouth dropped open. “Someone tried to kill me?”
“Well, actually, after talking with the doctor and Prince Zacarius, Sully and I kind of came to conclusion that someone was trying to kill me through you.”
Danny blinked in confusion.
“Through your blood, chéri. ”
“Oh,” Danny said as the light bulb suddenly went off in his head.
“So, they poisoned me with the hopes that you would get sick by drinking my blood?”
“Yes.”
“So, why didn’t you get sick?”
Dominic shook his head. “No one knows. The only thing we can think of is that my body had just repaired itself, and I had so much of your pure blood in my system that it fought off the poison.”
“So, you’re basically saying you owe me your life?” Danny smirked.
“You can have it.” Dominic grinned. “It’s yours.”
118
Stormy Glenn
Chapter 11
Dominic couldn’t have wiped the grin off his face if he tried. He felt like he had just won the lottery. Danny loved him. Danny had agreed to be his. “There is one last thing I need to explain to you, Danny.”
“I’m listening.”
“The poison is still in your system.”
Danny frowned. “But I don’t feel sick like I did.”
“That’s because the doctor gave you some sort of beta blocker thing that temporarily halted the poison going through your system. It won’t last long.”
Danny blanched. “I’m still going to die?”
“No, no!” Dominic could see tears starting to sparkle in Danny’s eyes. He quickly pulled Danny down to his chest. “No, chéri. I would never let you die. I would have taken care of this before you even woke up, but I wanted you to have a choice.”
“What is there to choose, Dominic? I don’t want to die.”
“And you’re not going to. But you need to decide how you get cured.”
Danny gave a slight shake of his head. “I don’t understand.”
“There is a medication that the doctor can give you. You would heal, but it would break the bond that has started between us.”
“No!”
“Or—”
“I’ll take or,” Danny said quickly.
Dominic chuckled. “Or, I can claim you using an ancient ritual.”
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Danny’s head cocked to one side. “Why an ancient ritual? Is that how vampires usually claim their mates?”
“No, usually it just takes an exchange of blood during sex but—”
Dominic chuckled when Danny held out his arm. He reached over and grabbed it, planting a small kiss against the soft skin of Danny’s wrist.
“But, with the poison in your system, the only way we can fully mate is by use of an ancient mating ritual.”
“Okay.” Danny shrugged. “So, we use an ancient ritual.”
“A forbidden ancient ritual, Danny.”
“Fo–forbidden?” Danny gulped. “How forbidden?”
“If we’re caught, our bond would be permanently severed.”
“That can happen?”
“It can. Most of the ancient rituals are forbidden to us because of how dangerous they are. And very few people know how to perform then anyway.”