Read Online Edie Spence (Book 5): Bloodshifted by Cassie Alexander - Free Book Online

you’re making so much extra work for him,” Wolf apologized, as though Jackson were incapable of speaking for himself.
    “Good. I would hate it if we no longer shared the same goals,” Raven said, thin lips pulling into a dangerous smile above Natasha’s head. He glanced at me again, then squeezed her, and pointed his chin at me. “Could you use the services of a nurse in your lab?”
    She shrugged. “I could use-use her,” she said, “and then lazy Jackson would only have to find me one more—”
    “No, I need her alive, for now. I meant to help you. I worry that you’re working too hard.”
    “Of course I am. I want to make things perfect for you,” she said without the slightest hint of guile.
    “I know. But maybe if she could help you some, you’d have more time to spend with me.”
    The look on her face was meltingly sweet. “I’d like that.”
    “It’s done then.” Raven looked over to me. “You will do whatever Natasha tells you to,” he commanded. I could feel the order go through my body, as if he’d just chiseled it into my bones.
    Natasha turned to regard me as my pulse began to race. I knew every vampire in the room could smell my fear—because I’d just been given over to a psychopath’s daughter like some baby bunny to a toddler on Easter. Fuck you very much, Jackson.
    She didn’t catch my horror, though—or perhaps, she was so used to seeing people afraid of her that she was oblivious to it, even taking it as some sort of tribute.
    Raven smiled indulgently at her, leaning forward, rubbing his cheek against her hair, before turning to regard the rest of us in the room. “We should be open already—unless there’s anything else to deal with tonight?” No one moved or made a sound. “Let’s get on with it then. And speaking of extra work, Jackson—I’ve left some trash at the crossroads for you to dispose of, although you should make sure to blame that on Lars.”
    Raven got up gracefully and offered his hand to Natasha, who took it to rise. He bowed deeply to her, kissing her hand in a formal fashion. “Soon,” he told her, then released her hand and walked out.
    The vampires left the room first, then Lars and Celine trailed after them toward the dance floors. Natasha watched Raven leave with a soft smile on her face. She looked young. Asher said she should have been my age—but if she’d been turned into a daytimer when Nathaniel’s blood-testing scheme had been found out, that would have been seven years ago. She’d first gotten vampire blood when she was what, nineteen? Twenty? But she didn’t look like she’d aged a day since sixteen.
    When she turned to look at me, though, her eyes were ancient—and I realized Raven’s command had given her utter power over me.
    Jackson stepped up quickly as we became the last people in the room. “She’ll help me tonight—she can be yours tomorrow,” he warned.
    “What, you don’t trust me?” Natasha teased, giving him a lopsided grin. “Does Jackson have a crush?”
    “What kind of lab is it?” I interrupted. Her father had been doing illegal research on humans for vampires when he’d gotten in trouble with the Consortium. If she’d continued it on her own and been successful where he’d failed—
    “Stem cell. Have you ever done anything like that before?” She sounded genuinely hopeful. I shook my head. “But you’re familiar with sterile procedures, yes?”
    “Yeah.”
    “And you can draw blood?”
    “Like a vampire,” I said flippantly.
    Natasha blinked, and then broke into a smile. “Good enough for me,” she said. She looked to Jackson next, much more business-like. “I’ll expect my subjects by dawn. I want a male and a female, and try to make sure they’re not addicted to anything. The last set—”
    “I’ll get them to you after my disposal run,” he said, cutting her off.
    Natasha nodded curtly at him, then smiled again at me and walked out of the room. I turned to Jackson once she was