Read Online Lisa Renee Jones by Hot Vampire Touch - Free Book Online Page B

try and bind the Red in Troy with a natural born wolf’s blood,” she said. “If it succeeds it will give him the kind of control Andres has.”
    “Why didn’t you say that before?” Cassie asked. “Do it. Do it now. Use my blood.”
    “She didn’t tell us,” Troy said, “because there’s a catch. Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?” Aylia licked her lips nervously. “There are risks. Cassie, or the wolf who completes the blood bond, could potentially be infected by the virus.”
    His hands tightened on Cassie’s shoulders. “So she could become a Red Wolf and end up on the chopping block with me.” It wasn’t a question.
    “Yes,” Aylia confirmed.
    “I don’t care,” Cassie said, facing him, her hands on his chest. “I’ll do it. I have to do it. We have to do this.”
    “No, you don’t,” Troy said. “We don’t. We aren’t.”
    “We are.”
    His hands framed her face, his expression tender. “You risked your life for me back in Reno and then again today by giving me your vein when I was out of my mind.  I owe you so much and I’ve done everything wrong with you. I can’t ever make those things up to you. I won’t allow you to risk yourself for me again.”
    “Yes,” she said. “You can make it all up to me because we’re doing the blood bond.”
    He shook his head. “No, Cass. No. Unless Aylia can come up with an option that doesn’t put you at risk, this is a closed subject.”
    Cassie turned to Aylia, and she immediately shook her head. “This is the best I can do without the original spell that is cast into the necklace.”
    “The necklace,” Cassie repeated. “You’re telling me you can undo this with the necklace?”
    “If I had the necklace, then yes, I could bind the Red virus in Troy and give him control without any risk to you or anyone else.”
    Cassie stood there as both hope and hell seemed to claim her at once. Nico was her brother, and she loved him. He was honorable, a warrior of warriors. But he had Aylia’s necklace. He’d met with Andres more than one time. Nico held Troy’s life in his hands and to save Troy, she had to face the fact that she might lose Nico. Or worse, she could lose them both.
    “I need… some air,” Cassie said, as a sudden rush of adrenaline overcame her. She shot for the living room and the front door.
    “Cassie!” Troy yelled and she heard him say something to Marcus, but she didn’t tune into what. Her thoughts were too loud, too consuming.
    Cassie was at the front door, and outside in seconds. She started to run, but didn’t know where to go. Thunder rolled overhead, no doubt, extending the darkness of night. But it didn’t matter – dark or light. The sun would rise soon, but the idea that vampires could not stand sunlight was a myth. Troy would follow her.
    Her mind raced with options she weeded through and discarded. She yearned to shift, to escape with her wolf, to run and work through her emotions. She could dash for Nico’s place and confront him, demand he give her the necklace, but knew that wasn’t a smart plan. Not if she objectively considered what she knew of his meetings with Andres, and of him holding the necklace in his possession. That meant she couldn’t go to her house, not when Nico would surely be looking for her there after Troy had carried her off from the hotel. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know where to go and she found herself at the back fence behind the apartment complex, thankful for the dark that hid her from watchful eyes. She fell against the wooden surface and slid down to the ground, letting her forehead rest on her knees.
    She felt Troy a moment before she knew he was standing over her. She had a decision to make that was tearing her up inside. Did she try to deal with Nico on her own, or did she tell Troy and trust him to give Nico the benefit of the doubt?
     

Chapter Eleven
    Troy bent down in front of Cassie, touching her hair. She lifted her eyes to his. “I