Page 13 of Forced Bonds

He took the phone and while looking straight at me said, “I don’t think the hunter likes you.”

I heard the clear, “The feeling is mutual.” Before the alpha hung up.

Salizar wordlessly handed me my phone back, but I could tell his curiosity had peaked.

I groaned. “Don’t ask.”

He just shrugged. “Fine, but I will need answers once you feel better.”

I could agree to those terms. I would want to know who I was partnering up with as well if I was a nosy vampire. Not that I enjoyed the thought of telling a vampire that I was so unlovable that I was outright rejected from a mating bond.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, his tone concerned and once again it held a note of worry in it. Did he truly care about me? Or was this some kind of trick to lure me to drop my defenses? It was sadly working. Either the poison had made me too weak to fight it, or perhaps I was just tired of keeping everyone at bay. The fact he hadn’t eaten me after smelling my blood yesterday was proof enough that he wasn’t a mindless creature like the rogues. Perhaps I could fully trust him.

I nodded. “I could eat.”

Salizar handed me the room service menu and sat down next to me on the bed. I scanned the menu and rattled off everything I wanted to the vampire, who easily recited everything into the phone.

Maybe being bedridden for a little while wouldn’t be too bad. Then the thought hit me, as did the urgency. How the fuck would I pee with this damn leg?

Salizar, who could likely sense my inner turmoil, eyed me warily. “Is it the poison?” he asked, seemingly ready to either bolt or attack the poison. Whatever it was, he was ready.

“I have to pee,” I groaned, glaring at my useless leg.

I made a squeak as I was bridal carried into the bathroom. My leg hated the movements, but I would rather push through it than peeing in a bottle on the bed. Now that would’ve been mortifying.

“Was it a gunshot or arrow?” I asked once we were inside the bathroom.

“Gun,” he grumbled.

So, a bullet laced with poison was the reason I now had to show this vampire my dick.

Great.

Thankfully, Salizar left the bathroom once I was seated on the toilet with my dick and ass out. At least he hadn’t seen me pee. The fact he returned as soon as I was done peeing told me that he’d definitely heard it, though.

You win some, you lose some.

“Here, let me,” he said, helping me stand.

I tucked my own dick away with one hand while he tugged my sweatpants up. I tried not to focus too much on why he was even bothering with me. His coven had lots of money so he could’ve easily paid someone to care for me as I healed.

My food was delivered as soon as my ass was back on the bed. To my surprise, Salizar joined me, not eating, but he sat down again and kept me company. It was rather nice actually.

I’d picked a little bit of everything, not knowing how much my stomach could handle. I had a spicy tuna sandwich, one bacon cheeseburger, some fries, and a bowl of tomato soup. I decided to start with the soup, testing what I could handle first. It seemed my vampire companion deemed this the perfect bonding time, starting with a question that had me choking on the warm soup.

“Why did you become a hunter?”

He handed me a glass once my coughing had subsided. “Thank you,” I croaked, then decided to tell him the truth. “My family was killed by a group of rogue vampires when I was a child.” Salizar gave me his full attention, so I kept going. “I was saved by a werewolf pack who’d chased them to our house. I was the only survivor.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, sounding genuine.

“Me, too,” I sighed. “But the werewolf pack couldn’t do much other than bring me to an orphanage. I was adopted after two years and lived with my new family for four years before they were killed by rogues too. After that, I was on my own, determined to fight rogues so other kids wouldn’t be without families.”

We were both silent for a while as I continued to eat. Then he spoke, his tone soft. “My family was killed by rogues as well.”

I blinked at that. I knew logically that he would’ve once had a family, but knowing he was a vampire—and an ancient one at that—meant it was hard for me to see him as who he’d once been. A human.

“I was captured by the vampire who’d turned them. He wanted a coven, so he bit me and hoped I would survive the transition. I didn’t have a say in it.”