“I would be boundlessly honoured to even be considered as a candidate for your friendship!” she gushed, rushing forward to embrace my sister. Darcy patted her on the back a little awkwardly and I failed to stifle a laugh.
“Perfect,” I said through a grin. “Now that we’re all friends, I’m just going to go for a little explore.”
I backed out of the circle as the rest of the group pressed forward to join the hugathon and smirked at Darcy as she remained trapped in the centre of it. She rolled her eyes at me but her face was set with amusement so I knew I’d be forgiven for abandoning her to the masses.
I crossed the cavern and let my magic simmer to the surface of my skin, trying to do as Professor Rockford had suggested and give it the chance to pick what it wanted to become.
One of the side tunnels drew my attention as a sense of warmth emanated from it and I headed inside to explore.
It was darker down here than in the main cavern, the glowing lights reduced to pin pricks of blue which twinkled intermittently along the high roof. I followed the trail, the warmth growing stronger as I went and my magic rose up inside my chest as though it was soaking it in.
A hand landed on my shoulder and I flinched as Seth Capella pushed his face into my hair, inhaling deeply.
“Where have you been hiding, little Vega?” he asked, the arm around me tightening as I tried to push him off.
“I think we’ve established I’m not of your Order,” I growled as I shoved him away more firmly. “So how about you cut the touchy-feely stuff with me?”
“You know, I could take offence to that,” he said, catching the hand which I was using to push him back and linking his fingers through mine for a moment. “Order shaming isn’t cool.”
I extracted my fingers and managed to pull out of his grip as I offered him a scowl in the dim light. “It’s not Order shaming. I just prefer to keep my body to myself unless I’m the one choosing to share it.”
“Is that an offer?” Caleb purred behind me and I didn’t quite manage to hide my flinch as his cool fingers brushed down my arm.
“No, it wasn’t,” I snapped, sidestepping so that I was no longer stuck between the two Heirs.
They moved to stand side by side, Seth brushing his arm against Caleb’s as the pair of them towered over me.
“What do you want?” I asked, taking a step back warily.
“We’ve been looking for you,” Seth said. “Poor Caleb has practically starved to death without his little lunchbox on tap. You really should have come begging for his forgiveness after letting Orion put his mouth all over you like that.”
“Forgiveness?” I scoffed shifting my gaze to Caleb as he waited expectantly. Did he really think I was going to apologise? “You can be assured that I have zero interest in any Vampire feeding from me but if I do decide to let a man put his mouth on me, I won’t be asking permission from you for it. You don’t own me.”
“Wrong,” Caleb said darkly. “I claimed you. Which makes you mine, we’re bonded you and I. It’s your responsibility to remind any lesser Vampires of that fact if they try to feed from you again. And if you don’t want to agree to that then we could always try out the old fashioned way of marking you as my Source.”
Seth chuckled as my brow furrowed in confusion. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Years ago Vampires would mark their Sources with a tattoo right in the centre of their forehead.” He reached out to poke me between my eyes and I flinched. “It helped them to avoid little accidents like your run-in with Orion. If I can’t trust you to make other Vampires aware of my claim then maybe I should consider it,” Caleb said thoughtfully.
“If you come anywhere near me with a needle I’ll drive it through your fucking eye,” I snarled.
“So can I assume that I have your word to announce my claim to any other Vampires who show an interest?” Caleb pressed, his gaze lighting excitedly.
“Fine. So long as you keep any ideas about permanently marking my body off of the table I’ll tell all your little buddies that my blood is spoken for.” At least until I figure out how to fight you off.
“You do realise that there are a lot of people who would kill for your position, don’t you?” Seth asked as he seemed to sense my continued disgust for this situation. “Being the Source of Caleb Altair is an honour.”
“Well they’re welcome to have it. By all means, find another girl or guy to suck on and I’ll be on my way.” I made a half-assed attempt to sidestep them but they closed ranks, stopping me.
“I own you. I wanna hear you say it, Tory,” Caleb said, his voice rough. “Who do you belong to?”
“Go screw yourself, I don’t belong to you.” I considered the dark look in his eyes for a moment and decided to throw him a bone in the hopes of saving myself some grief. “But the Tory blood-bar is closed for all other business and I’ll pass the message on to any parasites who come my way.”
Caleb grinned at me and I sighed as I resigned myself to where this was going.
“Fine. Bite me then if you have to,” I said, holding out my wrist with the faint idea that he might take it rather than biting my neck again.
“It’s not as much fun if you just accept it willingly,” Caleb complained.
“Well why don’t you find someone else to suck on if you’re looking to get your kicks from fear? And I can assure you I’m not willing, I’m just practical. I can’t stop you so I just have to endure it.”
“You’re making it sound so boring,” Caleb muttered. “But you are right about one thing. You can’t stop me.”
“Yet,” I replied icily and the word hung between the three of us in the silence of the cave for a moment.
“Confident little thing aren’t you?” Seth murmured as he took a step towards me.
I held my ground despite the fact that every fibre of my being was urging me to run. The green glow of the central cavern was still visible beyond them and I couldn’t help but glance that way, wondering if I could make it back.
“I think this little Vega needs reminding who she’s up against,” Seth purred, running his hand down Caleb’s back.
Caleb’s deep blue eyes sparkled with excitement and I half considered yelling for help. Geraldine and the others were still out there with Darcy and the Heirs had waited for me to isolate myself from them before they’d pounced. Perhaps The A.S.S would be able to help me escape this situation but I hesitated before I could form the word. Screaming for help like a damsel in distress was just so not me. I wanted to face off against these assholes and come out on top, I just couldn’t figure out how.
Before I could decide on how much my pride meant to me, Caleb shot forward and wrenched me off of my feet. He tossed me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and raced further into the tunnel as if I didn’t weigh a thing.
I cursed and hit him, trying to make him put me down as he shot along with the unnatural speed of his Order.
We made it into a wide space that glowed with blue and silver light and Caleb came to a halt. I could hear Seth howling with excitement back in the tunnel we’d left behind but Caleb’s speed had separated us from him.