Page 60 of Bound By Blood

He raised an eyebrow. “If you know who I am, then you surely know I’m above the law. I can keep you for as long as I want, and no authority is going to tell me otherwise.”

She glared at him. “What could you possibly want with me?”

“Simple. My son.”

Shrugging instead of showing him what mentioning Landon did to her, she asked, “What about him.”

“He has a decision to make. He either has to remain loyal to me or loyal to you.”

She almost choked on a laugh but raised her eyebrows instead. “He won’t choose you.”

He chuckled, and it sounded rich and chilling at the same time. “Normally, I like my women more obedient and silent. Clearly, my son has different tastes.”

She didn’t care what his tastes were. She had more important things to worry about. “And what happens to me if he chooses me?”

He cocked his head to the side slightly. “That has yet to be decided, but I bet your fate will not be pleasant.”

Fear seized her muscles, and she stiffened. He wouldn’t choose her. All Landon had ever wanted was to keep her safe and alive. He would choose his father to make sure she kept breathing. It was certainly not a good feeling.

She sneered at him. “I don’t know how anyone follows such an asshole as you.”’

The silent vampire looked down at the tray, but Carly could practically smell his fear over the topic.

Drayton shrugged indifferently. “They do, or they die. There is no other option. Under my rule, it is the way it always has been and the way it always will be.”

Landon had been right about his father all along. He was evil, far worse than Landon was. She didn’t know how she was supposed to deal with someone like that. She knew there was no way she could overpower him.

Carly looked away and gritted her teeth. “How long does he have to decide?”

“That’s up to Landon, but I warned him. If he takes too long, I will kill you both.” He tipped his head in her direction. “You better hope your lover doesn’t make me impatient.”

She flexed her jaw. This was an impossible situation, one she couldn’t see herself crawling out of. She had been a survivor before, but now that experience was taken from her. What the hell was she going to do against vampires? She may be immortal, but she wasn’t like them. She didn’t have strength and stealth. Hell, without her knife, she was nothing at all.

“Can I see him?” she asked, looking back at Drayton.

“No,” he said, quick and firm. “I may have promised my son that we would take care of you, but you’re not leaving this room.”

Unless I’m dead, she thought to herself.

“Where are you keeping him?” Because there was no way he was roaming the halls. He would have already come for her.

Drayton tsked, and the other vampire shifted his weight. “Telling you would make you more disobedient,” Drayton said. “More than you already are. I don’t reward disobedience.

She wanted to figure out a way out of this. She couldn’t just sit here and do nothing, leaving the impossible decision to Landon. She wondered if she could maybe try and reason with his father, prove that she was not a threat to him, but she also didn’t want to piss him off enough to cause him to prematurely kill them both, either.

“Look,” she began tentatively. “I know you think I’m a threat to you, but I’m not. I just want to be with Landon.”

Drayton shook his head. “Landon cannot have both. As I told him, if you ever disagree with me, he will likely choose your side, and I can’t have that. If one domino falls, the rest will follow.”

“And if I promised not to mess with your affairs?”

He jabbed a finger in her direction and looked at her in disgust. She wanted to shrink away, but she kept her spine straight as he hissed, “You’re human. Humans can’t help themselves.”

And here she thought he knew everything. He had no idea that she was immortal, which worked in her favor. She didn’t know how, but his not knowing felt like power. She hid her smirk well.

“You don’t know anything about me. I’ve kept the secret about vampires. That should make me trustworthy enough.”

She could tell by his tone that she was pissing him off when his next words came out close to a growl. “Any vampire would have killed you the moment you found out.”