The Warrior Vampire(87)
Maybe it was finally time for a damned change.
“Ronan’s sister and this relic she hunted is the key to the disruption. I’m sure of it. But I’m not going to find her without his help.”
Joaquin let out a derisive snort and folded his muscled arms across his chest. “Your judgment is clouded by lust, Naya. It can’t be trusted.”
Of course he’d choose to see it that way. “You’re making assumptions that aren’t based on the facts, Joaquin. You don’t know anything about him—”
“Tú mismo diste a él como una puta de mierda!” The words exploded from Joaquin’s mouth in an angry shout that left him shaking with rage. “You are mine!”
Accusing her of whoring herself off to Ronan wasn’t exactly the best way to win her favor. “I. Am. His.” Her gaze locked with Joaquin’s. Despite her and Ronan’s differences and the obstacles that still lay in their path, their bond was the one and only thing in Naya’s life that rang with truth. “The vampire is my mate.”
“Mentiras!” Paul shot out of his seat and pointed an accusing finger at Naya. A static charge thickened the air that caused the hairs to rise on her arms and the back of her neck. Wild drums echoed in Naya’s ears. Curious. The air was thick with magic. More than what should accompany the presence of shifters.
“I’m not lying.” Naya kept her composure. It wouldn’t do any of them any good to shout. “A mate bond is established through a tether. The vampire’s soul is tethered to mine.”
“Impossible!” Paul seethed.
“Is that what he told you?” Joaquin said with disdain. “And you believed him, no questions asked, just rolled over and spread your legs for the bebedor de sangre.”
Naya had officially reached her breaking point. “I get that your pride is hurt, Joaquin, and I’m sorry about that. But insult me one more time and I’ll be more than happy to show you how that makes me feel with the tip of my dagger.”
“Enough.” Paul’s hand sliced through the air with the word. “The vampire lies, Naya. There is no tether. Where is he? Turn him over now and you’ll receive no punishment for your decidedly foolish actions. We’ll take care of the blood drinker and you will return to your duties hunting the mapinquari until the blood moon, at which time you’ll be properly mated to Joaquin. Do you understand?”
Naya was past the point of blindly following. For centuries their traditions had been upheld without question. They’d lived in a bubble, a society within a society. Paul might not have understood her tether to Ronan, but that didn’t make it any less real. Change was inevitable. If not by Ronan’s appearance in her life, something else would have triggered it. “No, Paulo.” The use of his given name caused his lip to curl. “El vínculo es real.” The bond was real. She doubted that her words would sway him, but she had to try. There were far more important things to deal with than whom she chose to give herself to. “I can hear it. Our tether. It’s woven with magia. There is no doubt in my mind, my heart, my soul. I’m bound to the vampire.”
Paul’s dark eyes glistened with gold and his pupils elongated. His canines grew in his jaw, protruding past his lip. Once he shifted, their discussion would be officially over. No use in trying to win an argument with an angry jaguar.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Naya.” His voice was roughened by the onset of the change, an inhuman growl that shivered over her skin.
The door burst open and fifteen of Paul’s armed guards filtered into the room, their expressions fierce. Naya gathered her power in the pit of her stomach, ready to call on it if need be. The sound of something zinging through the air preceded a sharp sting at the back of her neck. What in the actual hell? One of them had shot her with a dart?
“You son of a … bitch.” Her words were thick, slurred as whatever drug they’d hit her with took effect. “Gods damn you,” she said to Paul as she crumpled to the floor. “You’ll never find him.”
A gold and black form leapt up onto the long table that lined the wall and a powerful tail flicked with annoyance. The jaguar hopped down to where she’d collapsed on the floor, her limbs all but useless. Naya called on her magic, but it wouldn’t respond. Darkness descended and the cat sniffed at her face, issuing an angry hiss before he ran from the room.
If they hurt Ronan, she’d make them all pay.
CHAPTER
26
Christian stared up at the night sky, the moon heavy and round above him. It would be full in two nights’ time, and after that he’d succumb to the change until it began to wane once again. Fuck the moon. Fuck this gods-damned curse that he couldn’t escape. And fuck the bloody fucking animal that squatted under his skin, always present in his mind no matter if the moon was full or nothing more than a sliver hung high above his head.