Her Brother, Her Mate

Vincent POV

I let Stephan drive back to the packhouse, not trusting myself behind the wheel right now. My emotions are all over the place and I’m barely holding myself together at the thought of the damage I just did to my and Simone’s bond. I mistakenly insulted her before she left, and then attacked and poisoned her brother the first time meeting him. Not only that, the man remembers me from the time I was trying to seduce Simone’s best friend.

I remember that night and seeing Simone’s brother glued to Carli’s side. I remember that irritant under my skin watching her grinding on his body. The second he slipped away from her, I slipped into her presence, with the intention of taking her home with me.

Those minor jealous feelings I felt back then watching Simone’s brother dance with Carli don’t compare to the raging jealousy that filled me seeing him hug Simone. I lost all reason and attacked him without conscious thought. I just wanted to tear him to pieces for touching what was mine. Simone is mine. She is overwhelmingly mine, and I became carnal trying to defend our bond.

Our bond was becoming stronger every day. I could feel her emotions and I think she could read mine now. I was becoming feral in my desire for her and it was starting to scare me. I’m not the type of person to attack someone without warning. I don’t attack people at all. I trained like all adolescent vampires to use our skills in elementary school, but vampires use emotions and stealth more than brute strength so it’s not something covens practice as werewolf packs do. Muscle strength and the ability to fight hand-to-hand really aren’t needed for a vampire. When we need to fight, it’s instinct. Our strength comes from the b***d we drink; through its owner’s vitality, not our muscle mass.

Simon trains with Laura every day and keeps up, even excels at the training. I was hoping to grow closer to Simone’s pack by doing the same, but instead, I attacked her brother. I want to just crawl in a hole and die right now. I attacked her brother. Her twin brother. I bit the man and poisoned him.

I could feel Simone’s panic and terror the whole time but ignored it to exert my dominance over her f*****g brother. How horrible can I be?

“Back to the packhouse, boss?” Stephan asks as we pull out of the lot.

I know told them that’s where I was going, but my embarrassment is consuming me right now. I can face the condemnation of the entire pack, but I can’t stand to see the disappointment in Simone’s teary eyes again. I should give her and her brother time together without the drama of me being there.

He hates me. I was so mortified to hear he was the one at Carli’s side all those years ago. I didn’t want my past relationship with Carli to interfere with my present relationship with Simone. That’s why I was honest and upfront with her about it. I don’t think honesty will win over her brother. The look he gave me just now is the same look he gave me all those years ago. Like I was scum.

“Take me to the club,” I order my men.

They both look between each other then Stephan looks in the rear-view mirror back at me. “Are you sure? Mr. Johnson said-”

“I am your employer, not Simon. Take me to my club,” I hiss.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

“Yes sir,” he responds professionally, straightening in the driver’s seat.

I am good to my employees, but don’t allow backtalk. If he questions me again I will fire him. In a human heartbeat.

My manager is receiving the liquor delivery when we get there. He does a double-take taking in my disheveled appearance and my casual attire. I nod curtly and make my way up to my office, waving Stephan and Carlos away to wait at the bottom of the stairs. I was intending to shower in the small ensuite bathroom and slip into one of the backup suits I keep here for emergencies, like when a customer spills a drink on me or I don’t have time to shower and clean up at home after a trip to the b***d bank.

Maybe the constant feeding on b***d at the packhouse is the reason for my more aggressive and feral actions? I had a never-ending supply at the packhouse thanks to Elena’s friendship with Delilah. In our coven, the b***d bank is monitored strictly to ensure we were not excessively feeding, leading to illnesses among our kind in the lower generations, or feeding so little that it became clear we were finding our b***d source elsewhere. In the packhouse, Elena came and filled the wine fridge almost every day.

My power is growing beyond what it has ever been before. Simon is monitoring Stephan and Carlos’s intake, but I’m a 2nd generation and am allowed much more b***d. The closer you are to pureblood the more b***d you usually need. I can make do with every other week with a couple of bags but am allotted much more. I never felt the need to take more, but now having Simone to protect I want to be as strong as can be.

When I step into my office, I’m lost in my thoughts and slip into a warded force field, the icy screen waving over my body before I realized what I had just done. I can enter my office, but I can’t walk back out. Not easily, anyway. I hold my hand in front of me, pressed against the screen, and faintly mist my fingers. They easily pass to the other side. My whole body can’t exit but my misted form can.

I push my consciousness, opening it fully to everything around me so I can take everything in with all my senses all at once, much like the sensation of misting but with just my conscious mind instead of my entire body. I’m alone, but I feel the faint trace of a foreign presence that left not long ago. My icy skin is quickly able to sense the trailing heat left by a warm body.

I examine every inch of my office, noting any slight changes, like the position of my mother’s picture on my desk and the files that were left slightly askew. Someone was digging around in my office, but why leave it and ward it?

Approaching my desk I notice the bathroom door was open, and I always leave it closed. No one wants a view of their toilet while sitting at their desk. I can’t call Stephan and Carlos in here. They’re both 9th generations or lower so are unable to mist. They could be stuck here until Cathal could come and unward it.

If this was Aiden, I hope the bastard was in that bathroom. I could kill the monster on my own. Save the day, win the girl, get in her brother’s good graces, and take my aggression and anger at myself out on him. It would be perfect if he was in there. Everything would end and I would be free to take my love back home with me where we belong.

I walk towards the bathroom silently, keeping my senses fully open. I still don’t sense anyone in there, but if he can ward the room, he may be able to ward his presence. I mist swiftly into the room and through the air, touching everything as I take the entire room in at once. It’s empty.

When I become whole again, I’m standing right in front of the mirror. In the reflection, I see my backup suit, the tailored Armani, is in tatters and my Tom Ford shoes are clogging my toilet. That’s not what shocks me most. On the bathroom wall, smeared in b***d, is the message ‘SHE IS MINE’.