Page 28 of Bound By Blood

Landon took a step forward, and, in a flash, his fingers were tangled in her hair, angling her head back slightly. “Don’t thank me yet, Carly. The next time you kiss me like that, you better be prepared to follow through.”

Her lips parted, and she shivered with desire. “So, what now?”

For several moments, Landon’s eyes continue to search hers. “Now, I need to feed, and then I’ll start looking for a way for us both to meet Kata.”

“Then feed on me. Take me home, Landon. And then we can both look for a way together.” She wasn’t scared of him biting her. Under different circumstances than before, she was a little thrilled at the idea of what it might feel like this time.

Landon’s body went rigid, his fingers tightening in her hair, holding her against him. His pupils dilated again, this time for an entirely different reason. “You don’t know what you are asking of me.”

“You won’t hurt me. I know you won’t. Please, Landon. Don’t fight me on this. I . . . I can’t stand the thought of your lips on another woman.”

When he didn’t respond right away, she feared that she may have pushed him too far. After a few moments though, a soft sigh left his lips as he lowered his head, his nose brushing against hers. “Okay,” he whispered. “Okay, then let’s go home.”

Home. The word made her feel warm. Was his home now her home? Or was she reading too much into that? He took her hand in his and steered her back toward the bar. Lily would be pissed that she was leaving, but hopefully, she would understand. Hopefully.

Chapter 11

Landon Creed

Landon and Carly were sitting at his large dining room table surrounded by maps, various papers, and his laptop. As Carly requested, he had brought her back to his place, and the two of them began to try to come up with a way for them to leave the country. They had been struggling for the last two hours, trying to figure out how they could do so unnoticed. Landon had his private jet, but they still had his father to contend with, and that was what was proving to be difficult. They needed to find a way to disappear for a few days without Drayton finding out. The longer he kept Carly off his father’s radar, the better.

Amid their quest to figure out how to leave, Landon had told her a bit about who his father was as well. He explained the kind of hold Drayton had over him, how strict he was with the rules, and some of what could happen if he found out what the two of them were up to. Granted, he was still on the edge about whether or not she understood how bad it could get, but at least, she had a better understanding of how ruthless his father could be. However, his father was the least of their concerns at that moment.

Despite the fact that he rather enjoyed her company, the longer Landon spent around Carly, the harder it was beginning to get to keep his darkness in check. Even though she was sitting across the table from him, he still hadn’t fed as per her request. Not to mention the fact that he was also hard as hell. With her asking him not to fuck Irma that evening, he hadn’t been able to blow off that steam either, and now he was paying for it.

The darkness inside of him was struggling to gain control and take what it wanted. Which was Carly. It was a constant battle, and it was proving to be far more difficult than he realized to keep the monster at bay. She had no idea what she was doing to him, nor did he know why he was still allowing her to do so. He knew that he never should have brought her back to his place, but he seemed to be incapable of telling her ‘no.’ But now, at that moment, he was the one who was a danger to her.

“Do you always have to have a reason to leave the country?” Carly asked him curiously, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them and pulling him out of his dark and twisted thoughts.

Landon drummed his fingers against the table as he leaned back in the chair. He was staring unseeingly at the laptop screen in front of him, trying everything he could to distract himself from how vulnerable she was now that she was alone with him.

“Yes,” he replied curtly. “My father keeps close tabs on every member of the coven. I can’t just up and leave without a reason. Especially not with my being the second in command.”

“Control freak,” she mumbled under her breath.

Scoffing a laugh, Landon shook his head. “You have no idea.”

It was a trait that he had acquired himself, though he hadn’t felt much in control the last week or so. And that was all because of Carly. He briefly wondered if it was always going to be like this or if he was going to be able to get back to the way he was before she came crashing into his life and turned it upside down and ass-backward.

“What about taking a vacation? Do you ever take one? Or do you have to run it up the ladder before you do?”

He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at her lame suggestion. While he appreciated her help on the matter, she was still thinking the way a human would. That way of thinking didn’t work for his kind. “Vampires don’t take vacations, Carly.”

She huffed out a breath, flicking her knife open and closed in her hand. He noticed that she did it a lot, probably to help her think or to keep her hands busy. He had also figured out that she didn’t go anywhere without it, even if she was going out with her trusted friend.

“Immortality doesn’t sound like any fun.”

He decided against responding to her comment. She wasn’t immortal like he was, so she didn’t understand. The only reason the vampires weren’t running amok and mindlessly killing humans was because of the rules the leaders set out. Leaders like his father.

Instead of telling her this, he decided to keep to the task at hand. She didn’t need to concern herself with whether or not immortality was fun. She wasn’t, nor would she ever become immortal.

“I have been hoping that my father would send me on a job out of the country, and then I could just tell him that it took longer than expected. However, all his recent jobs have been local.”

Landon could see the questions burning in her eyes over that tidbit of information, but she thankfully didn’t ask anything further on the matter.

“There really is no way, is there?” she asked, her voice going quiet and hopeless.

“We may just have to be patient and wait for the right moment,” he told her with a shrug of his shoulders. “I don’t see how we can come up with an excuse for my sudden absence. I’m sorry that I wasted the last two hours of your short, human life.”