Page 87 of A Trial By Blood

Bram moved fast, hooking her around the waist, then he lifted my furious little sister off her feet, threw her over his shoulder, then strode out of the club.

I had no idea how they were going to sort out their differences, but I knew Magnolia was safe. No matter what, she was always safe with Bram.

I turned back to the male smirking beside me. “Let’s go.”

He punched a code into a keypad by the door. It opened and he led me down the stairs into the basement. There was another door down here, this one massive and round and made of steel. Like the door to a safe—or a vault.

He swung the thick steel rods sticking out of it, and the clunk of the door unlocking filled the small space, then he stepped back without opening the door. “You can let yourself in. Remember, I wasn’t here,” he said and turned, rushing back up the stairs and shutting me down here.

Grabbing the handle on the heavy steel door, I pulled. It swung open a lot easier than I thought it would. Dim light and music hit me first, slow, pulsing, sensual, so different than the frenetic beat in the club upstairs.

The room was large; the walls were red brick, and there was a lot of dark wood furniture and quite a few velvet couches in deep jewel tones scattered around as well.

I turned, searching for Ronan, and was confronted by a live sex show. Several male vampires, and it was hard to tell, but at least two females, were fucking and feeding. Most in the room were watching the show. And the smell of blood and sex filled the space.

Several people glanced my way, showing obvious interest. Some eyes were black, some different shades of purple, like Ronan’s. They thought I was prey. Had they sensed my fear? Or could they hear my pounding heart? There was only one thing for it, I smiled, flashing my fangs, hoping they’d believe my reaction was from excitement not terror.

A male broke from the crowd and strode toward me. “You’re new here,” he said, his gaze dipping to my mouth, then up.

“Yes,” I said, as I continued to scan the room.

“I’d like to offer myself to you. Let me feed you, pleasure you. It would be my honor,” he said, and I noted how his chest rose and fell rapidly. He was trying to play it cool, but he wanted it badly.

His words hit. Pleasure me, not just feed. That’s when I took in all the couples dotted around the club. All were being sexual while they fed. Using hands, mouths, and some openly having sex.

I spun, frantic. Was Ronan doing that? Was he pleasuring someone else or letting them touch him? No. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening.

I strode through the room, searching every dark corner. The male who’d approached was still following me like a lost puppy.

Then I spotted Ronan.

My heart smacked hard behind my ribs.

He stood beside a couch, a female at his side. She watched him with wide eyes, so desperate, so excited for him to feed from her. She had her hand between her legs, under her skirt, and was obviously touching herself. He hadn’t fed yet. Relief and fury roared through me at the same time. She was looking at my male. She wanted my mate.

I turned to the male behind me. “This way.” He followed as I strode toward them. Ronan had his head dipped, not looking at the female at his side but at the floor, so deep in his own thoughts, or hunger, I wasn’t sure. He didn’t even sense me closing in. “Is this a private party, or can anyone join in?” I said.

His head lifted and his expression was blank. He’d heard my voice, but he still didn’t expect it to be me. The look in his extremely pale eyes was desolate, quickly followed by surprise, then abject horror.

“Rose?” His voice sounded distorted, broken.

I closed the space between us. “You came here to feed.”

His Adam’s apple slid up and down his throat. “Yes, but you don’t understand—”

“No, I don’t. I don’t understand this at all. You want me, but not for this? Not to feed, is that it?” I choked out. “Did you even drink the blood I gave your sister for you? Or did you toss it down the drain and come here.”

His hands clenched and unclenched at his side. “No.”

“Do you fuck them?”

“No.”

He was shaking now, eyes wild, but I was too lost in my anger, my pain, to really take that in. “Do you let them touch you while you’re feeding? Do you touch them?”

“No,” he said, voice deep and impossibly low.

“She even looks like me. That’s why you chose her, right? You choose females that look like me, but you won’t actually drink from me, is that it?”