Marked by Blood: Book 2 of The Marked Series

by Ford, Rinna

  My mates were concerned about my crazy casting and one day, a little after three weeks since my magic started messing up, they brought me to Amos’ office for an intervention of sorts. It seemed they were getting along better than I thought, because they worked together effortlessly to trick me into going to the meeting with my grandfather.

  “What? What’s going on?” I asked. Matias, Camille, and Amos were all there looking serious, standing in different places around the room. Xander brought me to Amos’ office under the guise he wanted to show me some stuff about my dad. I knew it was a hoax when I saw their somber faces.

  No one spoke up right away. Camille must have expected my mates to tell me what the deal was, or even my grandfather because she grunted and rolled her eyes at their cowardice.

  “Emelia, your caster side is fucked up,” she blurted out. “We want to help you fix it.”

  “Sounds great,” I deadpanned and flopped into a nearby chair. “Don’t you think I’ve tried?”

  “We know you have, little one, but we have a theory as to why it’s happening now.” Matias looked at Xan then to Amos and back to me. I opened my eyes wide, silently encouraging him to continue, because I was out of ideas as to what was going on.

  It wasn’t Matias who continued though, it was Xander. “When you mated with Matias, your vampire side calmed down, didn’t it?” I nodded my head. “You have impeccable control over your shifter side too, right?”

  Soleil didn’t exactly like the way he said it, but she didn’t deny it either.

  “Yeah, I guess. What are you trying to say?”

  “Baby, you and I are bonded mates and you have control over your shifter side. You are also bonded with Matias and you can control your vampire.”

  Xan clenched his jaw and looked out the window, refusing to say the rest and I understood why. They believed because I wasn’t bonded with Ronan, my caster side was rebelling in a sense. I had considered it once after I mated with Matias, but the thought hadn’t crossed my mind since then.

  Could it be true? After I was turned, I thought I had trouble with all of my supernatural parts, not just my vampire. But the more I thought about it, I realized I never had issues with my dragon side. That was because I was already bonded with Xan. He grounded me. The other two parts of me were wild, frantic as they looked for their other half.

  I took a deep breath in and exhaled, then looked at Xander. He was taking this the hardest, I knew. He hated Ronan and for good reason. They had a past and it wasn’t a good one. Xan’s opinion of Ronan was that he was entitled and selfish, a social climber only interested in bettering himself in the eyes of his superiors. I saw a bit of it in the few interactions I had with my fated mate, but I didn’t believe he was as awful as Xander did.

  However, I wasn’t sure being with Ronan was ever a real option. He was a part of the Council and worked directly under the same man who was after my head. Right there was a conflict of interest if I’d ever seen one.

  “I don’t think mating with Ronan is a good idea,” I told them. Xander looked relieved but worried, and the rest of them just looked alarmed. “I know what you’re saying and it makes sense, but I’m just not sure it would work out. He works for the Council!”

  “You can fuck him under the guise of being with him, then after you’re bonded you can leave him to burn. What?” Camille looked around at the men in the room as they glared at her. “I don’t see anyone else coming up with ideas.”

  “Camille, that’s not an option. It, it’s just not possible. Being anywhere near Ronan is a bad idea. Okay?” I gulped back the tears that swelled in my throat and stood. “I’m heading to bed. Alone. I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

  The sun was beginning to set in the western sky, but I was completely done with the day. I was exhausted, mentally, physically, and emotionally. I needed a break. Every night since bonding with Matias, I alternated nights between the two of my guys, but as I left Amos’ office, I just wanted to be alone. I wasn’t trying to punish any of them, I just needed to wallow. I didn’t want to do that in front of my mates.

  On one hand, my life was perfect with my two mates who somehow got along. On the other hand, my magic was fucked up, as Camille had said, and the only solution was one I longed for but I knew I could never have.

  And then there was the fact I missed my uncles. I was almost to the point of giving up hope I’d find them alive, not that I’d done much searching for them in the previous two months. I was beginning to beat myself up about how complacent I’d become about the whole thing.

  As much as the good was really fucking good, the bad seemed to outweigh it. I needed help, but how did I get it? Especially when I wasn’t sure if anyone could help me.

  I got up to my room and stripped off my jeans and bra, leaving me only in a shirt and panties and sat down on the big bed. I smoothed my hand over the comforter before pulling the sheets down and crawling underneath them.

  Before my head had the chance to hit the pillow, there was a light knock on the bedroom door. Matias, my sweet, savage vampire peeked his head inside then opened it wider to reveal my strong, protective dragon was standing right behind him. Neither one looked angry or hurt by my dismissal, but hopeful and understanding.

  I sighed and pulled the sheets back on both sides of me and laid all the way down. They both walked in, taking their clothes off, down to their boxers and climbed in. Matias was on my right and Xan on my left. It was the first time I had both of my mates in the same bed with me, but sex was far from my mind. I just needed the men I loved to hold me.

  I turned toward Xander, who was staring at me with his bright sable-colored eyes and I curled into him. Reaching behind me, I grabbed Matias’ arm and pulled him closer. He wrapped himself around my waist and settled in.

  This. This was heaven. Having them both hold me was almost enough to make me forget everything that troubled me.

  Almost.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “Dad?”

  I was in the dreamscape I shared with my father, but like the last time I visited with him, he was nowhere to be seen when I first arrived. After I was changed to a vampire, I worried I wouldn’t be able to communicate with my father anymore. So, when I arrived in the field of wildflowers that was my father’s heaven, I felt relief for the first time in weeks.

  “Over here, Emelia,” he said, and I turned around toward the sound of his voice.

  He was sitting on a fallen tree which wasn’t there before, at least not that I could remember.

  When he smiled, I couldn’t help but think how much he looked like Amos. They could have passed for brothers. They were nearly the same height and body size. They both had kind blue eyes and thick facial hair, but where my dad was dark, his father was light. I smiled at the comparison and moved to sit next to my dad. He left me plenty of room on the large log, so I didn’t hesitate to rest myself next to him.

  “So you met your grandfather?” he asked.

  “You knew I would,” I replied and bumped his arm with mine. “And you were right. He isn’t as bad as he seems at first. He misses you though.”

  My dad sighed. “I know. Sweetheart, he needs you as much as you need him. Be good to each other and I promise, you won’t be sorry. He’s an amazing dragon and an even better man.”

  I nodded my head and looked down at my toes swirling in the grass beneath me. I had come to that conclusion about Amos on my own over the last several weeks, but it was reassuring to hear it from my dad.

  “I know you have a lot of things troubling you,” Dad then said to me. I looked up from the grass to see him staring out over the field. “I told you your troubles were just getting started the last time we spoke, and now you’re in the middle of them. But to find the answers you need, you have to go to where you lost your heart. It’ll be dangerous, but danger is the only way forward for you, I’m sorry to say. Keep your mates close to you for they give you strength, all of them.”

  “But I don’t have
all of them.”

  “Don’t lose hope, Emelia. Hope is all we have.” He leaned over and kissed my temple and hugged me to his side, as if it hurt him to tell me the rest. “If you decide to make the journey to the place you lost your heart, don’t go alone. Never alone. You’re at your weakest when you are alone, remember that, please. Be smart. Be safe. But always do what your heart tells you is right.”

  My dad gave me another kiss to the temple and released me, standing up and turning around toward me.

  “Time’s almost up.” He smiled as if weary and shrugged his shoulders.

  I jumped up off the log and ran toward him. He caught me in his giant arms and held me close as a father would. Every time I was near him, I felt like a little girl. I just couldn’t help it. He had that effect on me.

  “I love you, dad.”

  He squeezed me tighter as the world around me began to tingle.

  “I love you too, sweetheart. Forever and always.”

  * * *

  My eyes opened slowly, as if I could will my mind to stay in the dreamscape just a little bit longer. Maybe it was because I never knew him as my dad when I was younger and the fact I didn’t have a dad at all for so many years, but I missed him when I wasn’t dreaming. I wished I could see him all the time, to hear his voice and be enveloped in his warm hugs.

  Matias’ hand moved over my hip and pulled me toward him. He knew I was awake and was helping me extract myself from a still sleeping Xander. My dragon mate slightly stirred as I slid away from his chest, but then went back to snoozing.

  Matias got off of the bed and held his hand out to me, helping me do the same. Without a word, I walked over to my backpack and dug out some clean clothes and got dressed. I indicated to my vampire I wanted him to meet me in the hall. He then got dressed himself and followed me out on quiet feet.

  “Is everything okay?” He asked me, as we closed the bedroom door behind us.

  I sighed. “Yes. No. I don’t know.”

  He nodded, not really understanding what I was going through, but was intuitive enough to know I needed to work it out in my head before talking about it. “Come with me,” he said and took my hand in his.

  We ran down the stairs and out the back door with vampire speed. We kept going until we reached the beach where we first met, where I sat down in the sand and looked out over the crashing waves. Matias sat behind me, bringing me into his body and began humming a tune I wasn’t familiar with. It was beautiful, whatever the song was.

  This beach was where I went any time I needed to think and Matias knew that. People knew my mate as the Butcher, a ruthless vampire when that wasn’t really who he was. I mean, he could be if he was pushed to that point, but we all can be vicious when our backs are to the wall. To me though, he was quiet and observant, caring and kind. He knew what I needed before I did, just like that very moment of us sitting on the beach in the early morning’s darkness. Not many people got to see the real Matias because they never got close enough.

  As we sat there, I replayed my father’s words over and over in my head, and Matias didn’t move a muscle other than to hug me closer to his body from time to time.

  It was time to make a move. I had no other choice but to move forward and I needed my mates, all of them if I was going to survive. Even my own body was telling me that every time I messed up my magic. I needed all three of them, and I needed to figure out how to do that.

  To find the answers I needed to go to the place I lost my heart. Lost my heart? The first place I could think of was Devlin and Ainsley’s cabin, but could it be that easy?

  I didn’t know how long we actually sat there, but when I felt the warm rays of the sun rising behind us, I knew it was time to go home. The rest of the mansion would be stirring from their night’s sleep and there were a couple of shifters I needed to talk to as well as the vampire behind me. He had been so patient, sitting there while I tried to work it out.

  I patted his shin and stood up. He rose off the sand with me and draped his arms over my shoulders. Our faces were inches apart as we stared up at each other.

  “Were you able to solve all your problems?” he asked.

  I rose up on my tippy toes, crossing the distance between our mouths and kissed him once. “Not even close,” I replied, “but I’m ready to talk about it. We need to get Xander up and track down my grandfather.”

  He kissed me the next time and nodded. “Let’s go then.”

  Matias took my hand in his once again and the two of us ran back to the mansion, stopping in the backyard. We then walked at a normal pace through the backdoor and up the stairs to the room we shared with Xander. He was just slipping a shirt on after a shower when we walked into the room, pausing when he saw us come in.

  “What’s going on?” Xan asked, taking in my expression. “Are you okay?”

  “I dreamed of my father last night,” I told my mates. Xander knew what that meant but Matias didn’t have a clue, so I filled him in. “Dragons are a rare breed of shifter because of the magic they possess. One of the most special things about them is the ability to talk to their ancestors in their dreams. I talk to my dad.”

  “That’s wonderful,” he told me, knowing how much I missed my family.

  “It is,” I replied, “but it’s more than just a family visit. My father gives me messages, sort of a glimpse of what is to come and how I can get through the trials ahead. He gives me advice, but it’s never straightforward.”

  “But it all comes to pass,” Xander continued for me. “Dreamscapes are always to be taken seriously. Emi, what did he tell you?”

  “I..” I looked between my two mates. “I think we should include Amos in this and I really only want to say it once.”

  They both nodded their understanding and the three of us walked out of the room and straight to Amos’ office. He was walking out the door, probably going to breakfast when he saw us approach. He sighed and opened the door back up, and held out his arm allowing us to enter inside.

  When we were all inside the room and Amos closed the door behind us, he leaned against it and sighed again, as if exhausted already with the day.

  I felt bad for bothering him with this because he had enough on his plate already, but it felt as if I should include him. Like he’d want to be included.

  “I talked to my father last night,” I blurted out loud. Amos quickly pushed himself off the door, standing up straight and walked toward me.

  “Eric? What did he say?”

  “Well, he said I needed to go somewhere to find the answers to the questions I have. It’ll be filled with danger but it’s the only way forward for me and I’ll need all of my mates.”

  My eyes slid to Xander and he shut his eyes tightly in anger and pain. He, himself said everything an ancestor told us in a dreamscape should be taken seriously.

  “Where do we need to go?” Matias asked. He was trying to keep the conversation moving.

  “The place where I lost my heart, wherever that is. Xan, do you think it could be Dev’s cabin? That was where you and I reconnected. It was where Dev and Anisley first made me feel loved. It’s the only place I can think of.”

  I slid over to Xander and wrapped my arms around his waist.

  “Yeah, I guess,” he breathed out and rubbed his forehead. “I mean, it’s the only logical place. But what answers can we get there?”

  “Your uncle was a caster right?” Amos asked, joining in on the conversation. “There could be spellbooks and other artifacts left behind.”

  “Yeah, maybe. But the cabin was on its way to being destroyed when Xan and I ran from there. I would think not much of it still stands. The Council…”

  My throat caught and I couldn’t finish my sentence. Xander held me tighter, knowing how I was feeling about it. It had been too long since I thought about that night and what fate may have fallen upon Dev and Ainsley. Devlin told me not to look for them and I’d been trying hard to do as he asked, but I ended up feeling like I failed him instead o
f honoring his wishes. My uncle who looked after me my entire life in one way or another. He didn’t keep me from all harm, no one could, but he tried his best. And Ainsley. He made me laugh after not being able to for so long. I felt like I had failed them both.

  “Tell me again what happened that night,” Amos said, pulling me toward the armchairs in front of the fireplace.

  I sat down and did just that. I left out the part about Xander drugging me to get me away, but other than that, I told him and Matias everything I could remember. Even about Ronan and how he led the Council to us. To me.

  “Emelia, I think your uncle’s cabin is exactly where you’re supposed to go. You left your heart there. I can tell by the way to talk about it. You haven’t gotten over it and who would blame you? I, of all people, know the feeling.”

  We all sat in silence, absorbing the conclusion my grandfather came to after hearing my story. I was right to include him. Amos was so incredibly wise and caring, like I always imagined a grandfather to be.

  “Did your dad tell you anything else?” Xander asked, breaking through the quietness of the room.

  I turned my attention away from Amos and looked at my dragon mate as I tried to recall the exact wording my father used. The way he told me things seemed to be as important as the message itself, so I wanted to get it right.

  “He said to never lose hope because hope is all we have.” I looked back at my grandfather. “If I decide to go to the place where I lost my heart, to not go alone. Never go alone. I’m at my weakest when I’m alone. He also told me to follow my heart, wherever it leads me.”

  I decided to leave out the stuff my dad said about Amos, at least until I could talk to him in private. He needed to know how his son felt about him, but I didn’t think Amos would appreciate it being said in front of others.