I gulped and stared at him, paralyzed for a while. I realized that Sariel was sacrificing much more than a few drops of his blood. I was alive thanks to him, but he could lose his own life if anyone knew what he had done. I was certain that Will would tell no one about it. He had no reason to. The real problem was making sure no one else would ever find out about it. "I… I won't tell anyone. I will keep this a secret no matter what," I swore nervously. "Good," Will smirked and sat in a chair by my bed. I glanced at him suspiciously. I guessed that he was the only person who could tell me the truth, and I was more than willing to use the opportunity. "You know that I heard your conversation with Sariel when you told him to give me blood, right?" I started cautiously. "Yes, I assumed that you might have heard it." A sour smile appeared on his face. "When he asked if his blood would affect me, you told him that it hadn't affected me last

I was restless. I kept thinking that if I had to face Sariel now, I would become highly emotionally unstable. On the other hand, I wanted to ask him why he didn't tell me about the bond and played me instead. I had already known that he could act cruelly, but I had never imagined that he would be cruel to me. It was only my assumption, but I guess I had finally figured out why Sariel didn't want to mark anyone… A vampire giving blood created a bond, but what if it worked in both directions? Sariel mentioned that marking someone increases sexual desire, but what if it really was about losing control, and that was something that Sariel was really afraid of...? He deliberately used the fact that his blood bond was still working, enjoying the fact that I craved his bite-mark and the power he had over me. He wanted to be the only one in control, and he knew that leaving his mark would make him give up the total control he had. It was time to paint a true image of him, calculative

I leaned my back against the sofa, feeling weaker by the second. Until that moment, I thought that the only dangerous situation I could encounter was meeting those who got fired because of me. I had never thought that someone would target me just to mess up with Sariel. "I… I don't understand," I mumbled, "Why would someone attack me to get to the Duke?" "Isn't it obvious?" Gabriel chuckled, "Sariel used to be in love with a human. It's only natural for his enemies to think that you've become someone important in his life since you live in his castle and even helped him get revenge on the Adragnas." "I still don't get it. How is attacking me causing any harm to Sariel?!" I burst out in a panicked laugh. Gabriel looked at me with a slightly pitying expression, then sighed. "Do you think he would be running like a madman each time his employee was endangered? If you have any doubts about that question, then I will state it clearly to you: no, he

I could have sworn that the barista kept his eyes on me the entire time he was preparing our coffees. There was something in the way he acted. It was a predator-like behavior. He observed his prey - me. I decided to look the other way before that filled with panic spark, growing inside me, would take over my entire mind. As long as I could see Patrick standing right outside, my breathing rate slowly returned to normal. "Oh, here comes our coffee!" Colleen sang, seeing Jimmy carrying our two cups. He put them on the table, barely sparing a glance at Colleen. For some unknown reason, it seemed like I got most of his attention. There was something dangerous in the way Jimmy looked at me. His eyes were filled with a savage spark, just like the one, I saw in those golden pupils of the barista. I tried to avoid meeting Jimmy's devouring gaze, yet the sole awareness of his presence was enough to send chills down my spine. The thing I found even more uncomfortable was the in

Sariel pulled me out of the trunk. I couldn't stand on my two feet. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I fell straight into his arms. "Be careful." He chuckled, helping me lean against the car he pulled me out of. "H-how?" I mumbled while shivering from the cold. He looked me up and down, then took off his coat and covered me with it. "We have to go now. We're in the pack's territory, and more wolves will be coming here in no time," he stated, grabbing my hand and leading me somewhere. I looked at the coat he gave me; there were stains of blood on it, but Sariel wasn't the one injured. He looked as perfect as ever, wearing his black suit and dark grey shirt. I cautiously looked around. Only then did I see we were on the road in the middle of the forest. The path that we were walking down was painted in blood, wolf blood. There were four cars that were crushed into each other, and there were dead bodies all around them. It looked like slaug