“What do I do?”
Taylor asked frantically.
“Who is he?”
“A very bad man. The very man I was trying to protect you two from coming into contact with.”
“He has a gun shoved into my side.”
“Oh, gods, Taylor!”
Justin whispered into Taylor’s mind.
“Do whatever he wants. Don’t let him shoot you!”
“I hadn’t planned on it, Justin.”
“Let’s cut to the chase,” the man said and then laughed, but it lacked any kind of humor. “No pun intended.”
“You don’t want to do this,” Chase warned. “You won’t like the outcome.”
Taylor felt the cold steel press harder into his side, making him wince. “Neither will you.”
“Why? Why are you doing this? I’ve never done anything to you,” Chase asked as he moved over to his right an inch. It was barely a movement, but Taylor caught it, and so did the man with the gun.
“Don’t fucking move,” he snarled. “You know exactly why. Germany, three years ago.”
“The Parkins case?” Chase asked, confusion apparent in his voice.
“That was my kill. That was my money to have. You had to go and warn the man!”
Taylor didn’t like the way the guy’s voice was growing in hysterics. It did not bode well for him. He wasn’t sure how to deal with a nut job, but he knew that Chase shouldn’t be pissing the guy off.
“Chase, you’re making him mad!”
“Just stay calm, Taylor,”
Chase replied, his eyes flickering to Taylor’s for a moment.
“He already has an agenda. The only thing I can do is try to get you away from him.”
“It was faulty intel. You would have shot an innocent man.”
The guy laughed, the sound making the hairs on Taylor’s body stand on end. The man was off his fucking rocker!
“No one is innocent, Chase. Everyone is expendable. That was always your problem. You thought you could save the world. You were a fool back then, and you are still a fool.”
Taylor cried out when the gun went off. He collapsed to the floor, feeling a pain so raw radiating in his right side that he turned to his left side and began to pull himself across the floor. He had to get to Justin. He had to save his lover.
A howl so loud that Taylor thought his ears would bleed erupted as Chase shifted. But then Taylor heard another gunshot. He pushed to his feet, swaying slightly as he crossed the room, pulling Justin into his arms, and keeping the smaller man away from harm.
“Taylor,” Justin cried as he clung to him. “He shot you!”
“I’ll be fine,” Taylor bit out between clenched teeth, feeling the room spin all around him. Maybe he needed to lie down for a minute.
* * * *
Chase backed up when Remington hit the floor, his eyes glazed over and staring at nothing. He didn’t have a gun, so Chase knew there was someone else in the apartment. His heart stopped beating when he looked over at his mates and saw Taylor lying on the floor, Justin clinging to him and crying.
“Go to them. Get help your mates.”
“Marc?” Chase’s mouth dropped as his friend, Marc Duggon walked down the stairs and headed straight for the dead body on the floor by the door.
“Hurry, Chase. I’ll take care of this piece of shit,” Marc said as he bent over the body.
Chase forgot all about Marc as he raced across the room, pulling Taylor from the floor. His heart dropped when he saw the massive amount of blood already on the floor underneath his mate.
“Help him!” Justin screamed.
“Call Devlin, Justin. Tell him to get here as fast as he can with his mate. Use my phone.” Chase handed his phone over to Justin as he pulled his shirt off and tried to stanch the bleeding. If Taylor lost too much blood, there could be irreversible damage. He applied heavy pressure to the wound as Justin practically screamed into the phone for Devlin to get his ass here now.
“Don’t you leave me, Taylor. Justin and I need you. We’re nothing without you with us.” Chase felt the hot, wet tears slide down his face as he prayed Zacarius and Devlin got here in time.
Sirens could be heard off in the distance, and Chase knew that Joe Nash more than likely was the one heading up the cavalry, but he didn’t have time to answer any questions. He had to save his mate.
“I’ll go talk to the cops,” Marc said as he walked back inside through the patio door. Chase didn’t even care what the man had done with Remington’s body. All he cared about was making sure Taylor stayed alive.
“They–They said that they are only twenty minutes away,” Justin said as another sob tore from his chest. He dropped down to his knees, setting Chase’s phone down as he cupped Taylor’s face. “Don’t leave me, Tay. I love you.”
“Not going anywhere,” Taylor bit out and then grimaced.
“No talking,” Chase said, turning his head to the side so he could wipe the tears onto his shoulder. “Lie perfectly still.”
“Why are we waiting on Zacarius and Devlin? We should be rushing him to the hospital!” Justin cried out.
Because Chase knew Taylor wouldn’t survive if he went to the hospital. He had seen this type of wound before, and it was almost always fatal. Devlin had told him what Zacarius had done for Danny when he was poisoned. Chase was desperately hoping that the prince could do the same thing for Taylor. He was only one hope of Taylor surviving this, and Chase was praying Zacarius could pull it off.
After twenty agonizing minutes of keeping the pressure on Taylor’s wound, and Taylor growing so pale that Chase feared that it would be too late, Zacarius and Devlin walked through the door.
“Oh, my,” Zacarius said as he hurried over. “How long has he been losing blood?”
“Since I called you,” Justin nearly shouted.
Even after twenty minutes, the man hadn’t calmed one bit. Chase didn’t blame his mate. If he wasn’t trying his best to keep Taylor alive, he would have fallen apart as well. Only by concentrating on Taylor had Chase been able to hold it together.
“Do you need my help?” Joe asked as he walked through the apartment door, his face grim, his brows furrowed.
“Yeah, can you keep everyone out?” Chase asked.
Joe nodded. “Consider it done.”
Chase glanced over at his brother-in-law. “Zacarius, can you save him?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?” Chase snapped. “What do you mean
maybe
?”
“I mean that I can perform the ritual, and it might save your mate’s life, but it could also cost him his life. I do not know if he is strong enough to survive the ritual.”
“He’s strong enough.” Chase glanced down at Taylor, smiling weakly when he saw Taylor’s eyes looking back up at him through the small slit in his eyelids. “He’s one of the strongest men I know.”
Chase looked up when he felt Zacarius’s hand on his arm.
“You need to be warned, if I perform this ritual, Taylor will no longer be as he is now. Not only is this ritual forbidden and never to be spoken of again, but it will transform Taylor into a vampire like Justin.”
Chase’s jaw dropped. Two vampire mates? Did he have that much blood inside of him? “Ho—how can I feed the two of them?”
Zacarius smiled for the first time since he walked through the door. “There are ways, my brother. Once Justin and Taylor are used to our ways, they will only need to feed a few times a week, and you have plenty of blood for that.”
“And until then?”
“Until then, they will need to feed from bagged blood as well as you.”
“Oh, Justin isn’t going to be happy about that. He doesn’t like that sight of blood.”
Zacarius chuckled. “He’ll get used to it.”
“I guess he’ll have to.” Chase sighed as he looked back down at Taylor. “I guess they both will.”
Justin was so scared that his insides actually ached. Taylor was shot and bleeding all over the place, possibly dying. And now, Chase was going on about some ancient vampire ritual that might or might not save Taylor, but would turn him into a vampire.
And they had to have sex…with witnesses.
And with Taylor injured as he was, Justin had no idea how in the hell that was going to happen. Taylor couldn’t even move. There was no way that he could endure the rigors of sex, especially with a wolf-shifter. Chase was a rough lover, but Justin loved every moment of having the man’s hands on him. He knew Taylor did, too.
But that still didn’t explain exactly how this was all supposed to take place.
Justin watched as Taylor was stripped naked and then lay out on the bed. His wound was wrapped, a sheet draped over his bits and pieces, and then Prince Zacarius helped Taylor drink something tinted red out of a cup. It had green leaves floating in it.
“What’s that?” Justin asked, gesturing to the cup with his chin.
“It is simply a drought that will help stem the flow of bleeding and take away some of Taylor’s pain.” Zacarius looked up as he pulled the cup away from Taylor’s lips. “Do not worry, little one. It will not harm him.”
Justin turned away and rubbed his hands down his face. This wasn’t going to work. There was no way that it could. He was going to lose Taylor, and there was nothing he could do. He was human, vampire, whatever, and he was totally useless.
“Justin!” Chase shouted, grabbing him by the face. “Stop, angel. This isn’t helping. You’re broadcasting your worry all over the place. Taylor is fighting as hard as he can to stay alive, and we need to believe that he can stay with us.”
“I know, I just—oh god, Chase!” Justin dropped his head against Chase’s broad chest. He felt the man’s arms wrap around him and hold him close. “I just need him so much. I don’t know what I’ll do if he dies.”
“He’s not going to die, angel. We’re going to save him and turn him into a vampire just like you, remember?”
“What if he doesn’t want to be a vampire?” Justin asked, a slight wobble in his voice. “What if he hates us for doing this?”
“Co–could n–never hate you.”
“Taylor!” Justin shouted as he spun around and dropped to his knees beside the bed. He grabbed Taylor’s hand between both of his, not knowing where else to touch his mate but needing to reach some part of him. “How do you feel?”
“Like I got shot.” Taylor snickered, and then he groaned and grabbed his stomach with his free hand. “Oh man, I need to not do that.”
“You need to not get shot!” Justin spat out.
Taylor smiled, squeezing Justin’s hand. “I’ll work on it, love.”
“Prince Zacarius said he can turn you into a vampire like me.” Taylor started snickering again. Justin bit his lip when Taylor pulled his arm away and wrapped both of them around his waist as he laughed. “Taylor?”
“All the way home I was wondering why I couldn’t be something cool like a vampire or wolf-shifter. I kept wondering why I got stuck being a human while the two of you had these wonderful abilities. I wanted to be what you were. I just never thought it would hurt so damn much to get there.”
“Well, see, that’s what you get for thinking.” Chase was trying for a bit of humor and saw it had worked when Taylor rolled his tired eyes. Justin wasn’t so amused. He drove his elbow into Chase’s side.
“Be nice,” Justin warned as he reached out for Taylor’s hand again. Just the feeling of Taylor’s warm flesh between his hands brought him some measure of comfort.
“Yeah.” Taylor fluttered his eyelashes wildly, drawing a laugh from Justin. “Be nice.”
“So, Taylor,” Chase said as he took one of Taylor’s hands, “about this ritual. How do you feel about it?”
“What’s involved in it?”
“Uh…” Chase glanced over his shoulder to Prince Zacarius. While Devlin had told him about the ritual that had transformed Danny, his brother hadn’t actually shared the details.
Prince Zacarius smiled as he stepped forward, his hands clasped together in front of him. “It’s kind of like a marriage ceremony. I will speak the ancient words of the ritual while you have sex with your mates and—”
“Wait!” Taylor’s eyes grew wide. “We have to have sex? How?”
Zacarius cocked an eyebrow. “I would have assumed that you had already worked out those details.”
Taylor snorted. “I know how to have sex. What I don’t know is how to have sex with a bullet hole in my side.”
“Yes, I can see where that would be a problem. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution. In order for the ritual to work, you have to be intimately connected to both of your mates. The ritual is based on three points, your mind, your heart, and your body. All three must be connected. There must also be an exchange of blood by all of you or you will end up only bonded to one of them.”
“No,” Justin whispered softly, burying his face in the hand he still held onto.
This was his worst nightmare come to life. There was always a part of him that never quite believed in the bond that had developed between the three of them in the last couple of days. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to keep that warm, safe feeling he got whenever he was with one or both of his mates.
“Justin, love,” Taylor said. “We’ll figure it out.”
“How?” Justin felt tears spring to his eyes as he lifted his head. “You’re in no condition to have sex. How are we going to do this?”