Read Online Desire by Blood by Melissa Schroeder - Free Book Online

of it, but Nico knew it had been painful and degrading.
    “Yes. It was a close thing, but I convinced her. It did not
help that her sister appeared almost as if out of air.”
    Malik stopped his actions and looked at him. “This is the
one who lives up north? She just showed up?”
    “Yes.”
    Malik frowned.
    “What?” Nico asked. In the several centuries they had known
each other, Nico had learned to respect Malik’s intuition.
    “From what I gather, she never comes to London.”
    “From what you gather?” Nico asked.
    His friend took a bite of toast and shrugged. After he
swallowed, he said, “I asked around. I did not want you going into this blindly
following your lust.”
    Even the idea had Nico irritated. It might be the fact that
he was doing that, but that did not mean he would accept it.
    “And you can get mad at me, but I wanted to protect you,
Nico. I have never seen you act this way with another woman.”
    He shrugged, trying to dispel the worry now settled on his
shoulders. “She’s a Carrier.”
    “No. That is not the reason. You have been around many other
Carriers without this visceral of a reaction.”
    “It does make me wonder who her birth father was. I had no
reaction to Diana this morning.”
    “Yes, the sister. What don’t you like about her?” He looked
at Malik, and he shrugged again. “I can tell by the way you talk about her you
do not like her at all, do you?”
    Nico rose and started to pace. It was the only way he could
work through his thoughts at times. “She’s…not a nice woman.”
    Malik chuckled. “That has never made you not like a woman
before.”
    “That is true enough. But this woman…I felt a reaction to
well…protect Cordelia.”
    “Of course.”
    “What do you mean by that?”
    “You might not have mated, but you have chosen to be her
mate. From what I can tell, her sister abandoned her to run off and get
married. And you know what the earl was like, and now his son. No woman in her
right mind would leave a young girl in that house. There was no come-out for
your bride-to-be, either, and her sister could have easily afforded it, but she
did not. It makes sense that you would not like her.”
    “But I didn’t know all of this.”
    Malik opened his mouth, then snapped it closed.
    “What?”
    “I think you might have an issue with that now."
    "Do tell me your thoughts, Malik."
    His friend rarely held anything back, but he could tell that
he was choosing his words wisely.
    "We have never been truly mated, either of us. We
definitely have not bound ourselves to anyone. But I do know others who have,
and they tend to be connected even before the binding."
    "What do you mean?"
    "You felt threatened by Diana because of what she had
done to Cordelia, although you did not know the entire story."
    "I still don't."
    And that had to be what was bothering him. He could not
understand how a woman of Cordelia's means had set out to London with little to
no support from her family. Not many women could do it, and he would wager
those who could were not of her class.
    "No, but you sensed it in Cordelia. She felt threatened
in some way by her sister, and thus, you did."
    He did not like that one bit, especially when he was even
wondering now if it were true. Feelings like that could trap him into binding
with her, and after watching what happened to his brother, he would not do
that. Could not.
    "Either way, her sister is a cold-hearted bitch."
    Malik gave him a knowing look but said nothing. "Yes, I
am sure she is. Not much warmth in that house after their mother died. But
there is one thing you need to worry about."
    "You mean other than a rogue Born running the streets
of London and making vamps?"
    "Yes. Your fiancée is a Carrier and so is her sister.
Her widowed sister. Who just happened to appear the night you compromised
Cordelia."
    "I did not compromise Cordelia."
    Malik let one eyebrow rise.
    "Well, not entirely."
    "That might explain why you are being such an