Page 63 of First Bite

“I can see now why she wanted you to have children with us. I can’t imagine anything would infuriate Enzo more than knowing the four vampires he hates more than anything would be the ones to have children with the daughter he didn’t know he had,” Cole said.

“That’s why she wanted this. She’s dead set on making him suffer,” I said.

“Well, she’s a fucking idiot to go about it the way she did. That’s allwehave ever wanted,” Logan said.

“After what we all witnessed, it’s safe to say this won’t be her last attempt,” Cole said. “I don’t know what she’s planning for the next time she tries this, but I’m not crazy about having to worry about ancient witches.”

“Ditto,” Zac agreed.

“She said she wasn’t able to track me once I started to bond with you guys, but she knows we’re here. What are we going to do?” I asked.

“I don’t get the feeling she’s going to try anything any time soon, but I’ve put some wards up to keep her away until we figure out what our next move is. Don’t worry, Ellie-doll, you’re safe.”

I felt a dull ache in my throat and the faint sound of throbbing in my ears.

“Is something wrong?” Logan asked.

“No, I’m okay,” I said. “I think I’m probably a bit off from whatever spell that witch used to put me to sleep.”

“I’m going to make you some food,” Cole said, standing and coming around to the side of my bed. He bent down and placed a tender kiss on my forehead. “I’ll bring it to you when it’s done.”

“Thank you, Cole,” I said. “I’d love to take a shower right now. I think that’ll make me feel much better.”

“You do that,” Braden said as he and Logan stood from my bed. “Go freshen up.”

As the guys walked out of my room, I walked to my closet and pulled my bathrobe off of the hook on the other side of the door. The burning in my throat seemed to stretch farther down my throat down to my stomach, and the throbbing in my ears turned into ringing before it suddenly stopped, leaving a handful of sounds that I could hear distinctly and very loudly. The first sound was the ocean crashing into the shore, the second sound was four separate sets of heartbeats, and the third was the sound of blood pumping through my vampires’ veins. The sounds were so loud that I wanted to cover my ears, but before I could do so, they were gone.

A chill ran down my spine as I began to wonder if the witch had cursed me with much more than sleep. Something about how she left us made me feel very uneasy, regardless of whatever wards Zac had put in place.

I knew that the best thing for me to do would be to continue to try to tap into the magic Morgana seemed to ignite within me. I needed to see what I was capable of. I owed it to myself. I owed it to my vampires. After what that woman told me, I got the feeling that there was a lot more coming for us, and I would do everything in my power to help my guys stop it.