He started pulling fresh vegetables and seasonings out of the fridge and cabinets.
“Cole, talk to me, what did I start by doing this?”
He set down the vegetables and planted both hands on the counter. “I get that you were trying to help us. That’s understandable with you coming into more knowledge and accepting yourself as a Life Blood.” He pursed his lips, “But you have to understand, this is all new to us. Not only could Logan have somehow hurt you by drinking directly from you, but we honestly have no idea how this all works with us. How it will affect any of us.” He started chopping up a zucchini, keeping his eyes off me, “I guess we just learned how it will affect Logan. Now, the idiot has it in his puny little vampire brain that your blood is for him alone.” He shook his head, “I can feel our merged powers from long ago depleting because he’s on a different path now, so to speak.”
“I’m so sorry,” I dropped my face in my hands, unwilling to look at the pain on Cole’s face. “How do we fix this?”
“Right now,” Cole said with no emotion, “Logan needs to keep his cocky ass away from any of us. The easiest answer would be that we all drink from you and let that somehow determine where it all goes.” I heard him exhaled, “But that’s not going to happen.”
“Why not?” I urged, looking at him.
His beautiful green eyes bore through mine, “Elle,” he stopped chopping up the lettuce, “we’re still researching this whole thing. It’s bigger than justtestingthings out on you. There are journals about a Life Blood in a coven of vampire men. I’m going to search them out. We need to know how this works. Like I said, Logan took a chance by doing that with you. He didn’t know how it would go. He got fucking greedy for your blood,” he looked out to the area where Zac and I had that crazed moment together, “and it’s obvious he was thinking about other things too.”
“How do we find the journals?” I asked.
“The witch doctor that should have been here hours ago should have that answer. Until then, Logan is ordered to stay away from you. Braden is healed, but he’s acting differently too. I can sense he’s longing to be in your presence, and after what Logan pulled, I can’t trust Braden because he still has your blood in his system. He’s going to have to drink directly from Val whether he wants to or not.”
“No!” I practically yelled at Cole, “I can’t even think of him doing that.”
My jealousy over the thought of Braden with Val made me physically ill.
Cole’s eyes narrowed at me, “From what I’m picking up on, there is no other option but to water down your blood in him.”
“I can’t imagine him doing this with her,” I said.
Despite Logan freaking out after we had sex, I felt like the act alone drew me closer to all four of them. It was as if it had awakened more of my supernatural side, and I felt the bond intensify. The thought of Braden feeding on anyone else made my blood boil.
“Listen,” Cole placed a large sauté pan on the stove top, “I’m sorry you feel this way, and I’m sorry it pains you to know he has to do this. But right now, I can sense that Logan is going to pop off on Braden, and the two will get into it, and they’ll fight like goddamn animals to the death to claim you. Like I said, this is all new to us. Just as you are learning things and trying to accept it, so are we. For Logan to turn on us like this, it’s not in his nature. He wasn’t ready to feed on you, and he knew it.”
“This is a nightmare,” I said.
“It’s going to take time,” Cole said. “It may take weeks for this shit to get out of Logan’s system.” He looked at me with remorse, “I know you won’t like it, but he’ll have to feed directly from them just like Braden will have to do with Val. It’s the only way I know to get this blood out of their system. Your blood is a powerful force, and because we do not really know how to deal with it, I honestly think it could tear us apart instead of joining us together to make us all strong enough to get rid of Enzo once and for all.”
“I’m sorry I suggested Logan try this without knowing the consequences. I just felt the need to help all of you. I didn’t think it would have any negative effects.”
“You didn’t know. Logan did.” He forced a smile, “We’ll get it all resolved, but for now, I have a feeling you will be just as drawn to Logan as he is to you. From the way the rest of us are reacting to your blood without having drunk from you, that’s not going to sit well. So all I ask for now is if you can do it?” He looked at me hopefully.
“What? I’ll do anything to fix this.”
“No matter how hard the pull or desire,” his lips twisted, “and trust me, yourdesirefor him to drink and be with you again will grow stronger as your body senses the lifeblood depleting from him, don’t let him drink from you. Not until we can at least figure some of this shit out.”
“Got it,” I said confidently.
Cole chuckled, “We’ll keep Logan away from you; hopefully, that will make the pull to be with him less enticing when it hits you again.”
“And when you figure this all out, will I be able to finally help all of you?”
He pinched his lips, “I’m not sure. Like I said, feeding directly from you has already shown adverse effects in Logan. We may never be able to feed on you. If we lose the powers of our merge,” his face became lethal, “we’re fucked, to say the least. All four of us can’t turn on each other. Bottom line.”
“So I guess this whole Life Blood thing I’ve got in me could be a blessing or a curse for all of you?”
“Don’t overthink any of it. Just give us some time to get to the bottom of it, and try to avoid Logan if you can. If you can’t, none of us will fault you for it, it will just take longer and be much harder to keep our merged strength intact.”
“Should I live at my house or something, you know, to stay away from him?”
Cole laughed again, “No. Vampires are predators with acute senses, Logan will hunt for you and find you. We can’t have a lifeblood-lusting vampire sneaking in your bedroom window at night. You’re better off here. If it comes down to it, we may have to drain him and lock him up.”
“Oh my God!” I said in shock.
