blood 03 - blood chosen Read Free Page B

thought they'd die and it would be a non-issue?”
    He nodded, not bothering to lie.
    Julia got off the bed, feeling like she'd been had, the bond tightening uncomfortably around her, responding to her emotions.
    “This is all sorts of disgusting... just sayin'.”
    Scott stood as well, hands on his hips. “You don't think I hate the idea of anyone...” He paced, tearing his hand through his hair... “God, being with you?” He turned to face her. “I do. I can't effing stand it. However, the warrior in me wants to keep you safe. You're basically immortal if you take the vampire and Were as mates,” he finished in a low, distressed voice, the words torn out from his soul, chunks of himself falling to the ground, irrevocably broken like crystal being shattered as she watched.
    Julia crossed her arms, her eyes momentarily flicking to sounds that were bursting around them in the yard, then returning to his. “I thought the Combatant was my contingency?”
    Scott hung his head, his chin nearly grazing his chest and exhaled sharply. “They are. But we are mortal . We have flaws and weaknesses. We're long-lived but not infallible.”
    Julia stared at him.
    He moved toward her and like a sunflower seeking that great ball of fire in the sky, Julia unerringly moved to meet him. She could be mad about it all, but she was tied to Scott and he to her.
    They met in the middle and Scott pressed her head against his chest. “I won't lie, I want you to be with only me. But it isn't my call. It's yours.”
    He tilted her chin so their eyes met, her cheeks wet with tears of anger... and resignation. Julia realized that she had the illusion of choice but it wasn't true choice as one thought of it.
    Actual choice meant the implication of freedom... liberty. What was being offered here were two choices, one of ultimate safety and unification as foretold in the Book of Singers, the other was a gamble about unifying the species as foretold but being with her one true soulmate and having the Combatant with no life but safeguarding hers. As Julia saw it, they were suck ass choices. Pretty consistent as her life went.
    Scott's head swiveled away from hers, his eyes scanning the yard. They widened. “What is this?” he asked in a voice laced with soft menace. Julia came to stand behind him, her hand on his back. No matter what happened in their future, she was grateful for Scott. And it was no small matter that when he took a breath, she knew it. Felt it.
    “Vampires,” Scott hissed.
    Julia peeked around his torso and saw bodies swarming with one kind of speed: vampiric.
    Julia backed away from the window that captured the scene just as Victor slammed the door open, the glass knob striking the wall and shattering like a torpedo meeting its target.
    “We have been infiltrated with Vampire... again,” Victor said, his eyes roving Julia's form, ascertaining harm meted. Finding none, his eyes sought Scott's.
    “How many?” Scott asked in a terse reply.
    Victor hesitated and Scott snorted. “Can't take back the pause, pal.”
    Right, Julia thought. Already she felt that prickling heat on her skin, adrenaline replacing her jumbled emotions from moments before. The static of the vampire's minds was a harsh white noise. Wherever Paul was, it was too far away; her mind buzzed with them like an angry hive of wasps.
    “Too many,” Victor answered softly as glass shattered in the lower floor. Julia jumped when she heard the falling pieces, as many feet carried themselves over the glass in a dismissive rush.
    Vampires felt pain but healed so quickly it didn't matter.
    They were coming for her.
    “Where are the others?” Scott asked, subtly moving Julia even further away from the window. She was so close behind him, her nose was practically planted in the valley between his shoulder blades.
    “They are below, fortifying the ranks of Region One.”
    Scott's eyes flew to Victor's. “It's just you and me, then?”
    “It would appear so.”
    The