“Yes, Taylor, I am positive.” Prince Dominic sat forward, once again resting his hands on the desk in front of him. He looked like a man that had news to share and didn’t want to. “When Justin arrived, he had been without his medication long enough for the effects to wear off.”
“Oh no!” Taylor turned to Chase and then jumped to his feet when Chase didn’t seem to have the anxious feelings that he had. He had to get to Justin. Taylor had to make sure that his lover was all right. Justin got really sick when he didn’t take his medication. Why on earth had this man allowed Justin to go without? Taylor knew for a fact that Justin carried his kit with him. Maybe Justin had lost it. “I have spare medication with me in the truck. Justin needs—”
“Taylor,” Chase said sternly, “sit down.”
Taylor stared at Chase like he had lost his entire mind, and Taylor wondered if he had. Justin needed his medication. Why didn’t Chase understand that? Justin could die without it.
“Chase, I know you don’t understand,” Taylor said as he tried to keep his temper in check as he talked to his mate, but it wasn’t easy. Chase didn’t understand how sick Justin really was. “You haven’t been around that long, and let’s face it, you’ve avoided Justin and me like we had the plague. But Justin needs his medication. If he doesn’t have his insulin shot and his blood sugar—”
“Taylor, you’re not listening.”
Taylor rolled his eyes and dropped back down into his chair. “Fine, explain it to me then.” He could have cared less what either man had to say but apparently, he wasn’t going to get any help from Chase or be allowed to see Justin until he listened.
“Taylor is not sick,” Prince Dominic said. “In fact, the medication he is taking is making him worse. It is simply masking his vampire genetics, suppressing them, nothing more. The longer it continues, the sicker he will become.”
Taylor pressed his lips together. He knew better than to argue with the prince, but he didn’t believe a word the man said. Justin was not a vampire. Taylor was pretty sure he would have noticed fangs and Justin drinking blood. Those two things would have been hard to miss.
“After tasting his blood, I also believe there is a connection between my mate and Justin.”
Taylor’s mouth dropped open. “You tasted his blood?” Taylor pressed his hand over his stomach as it began to roll, threatening to rebel. How disgusting. “Why would you—” Taylor inhaled sharply when the why suddenly became glaringly apparent. “You’re a vampire, aren’t you?”
Dominic chuckled. “You know, Justin asked the very same thing.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Yes, Taylor, I am a vampire.”
Fuck!
How had he not known that? Looking at the sveltely dressed man, it seemed clear as day now. Even with his deeply tanned skin, Dominic screamed vampire. There was just an air of power about him, a presence that screamed danger.
The sharp-looking fangs were a dead giveaway, too.
“Okay, so you’re a vampire.” Wow, talk about an understatement. “That doesn’t mean that Justin is a vampire as well.”
“Normally, I would say that is true, Taylor,” Dominic said, “but in this case, it does. Because Justin allowed his medication to wear off, his vampire genetics had a chance to come out. My second-in-command, Sully, was able to detect them when he rescued Justin. He brought him here as we are the only coven in the area.”
Taylor frowned. “I don’t understand. Assuming I believe you, which at this point, I don’t, but explain it to me anyway. What does Justin’s medication have to do with him being a vampire?”
“Fair enough.”
Taylor was really glad when the vampire prince smiled instead of having his head chopped off. Wasn’t that what royalty did when someone disagreed with them?
“Vampires, much like shifters and humans, give off a scent. It helps others of our kind tell each other apart. With each of us, there is a general scent that says vampire or wolf or whatever. After that, we each have our own unique scent that separates us from others of our kind.”
“Does Chase have a scent?”
“Yes, he does. You also have a scent that tells me that Chase is your mate.”
Taylor’s eyebrows shot up in shock. “I have a scent that tells you we’re mates?” Gods, he prayed the prince couldn’t smell sex on him. Wouldn’t that be totally embarrassing? Taylor’s eyes slid to Chase, and he felt the heat creep across his face. But if either man noticed, they didn’t say anything.
“Yes.” Dominic nodded. “When your mate claims you, you retain some of his scent. It’s what tells others of our kind that you have been claimed and to keep their hands off. Vampires have the very same thing.”
Taylor mulled this over in his head, wondering if Chase could tell the difference in his scent. He also wondered if anyone else could. Would Nate or Joe smell the difference in him now that he had mated with Chase? Would Justin?
“Did someone bite Justin and make him a vampire?” he asked. “Could something have happened to him that made him this way?”
“No, Taylor, I do not believe so. Most of my people are born vampires. However there is a virus in our bloodstream that can transform someone into a vampire, but only if they have the vampire gene. Every vampire has it. It’s what makes us vampires. For humans, if they have the gene and are bitten by a vampire, it transforms them into a vampire. If they don’t have the gene, it doesn’t affect them.”
“So, someone could have bitten him?” It was the only explanation Taylor could think of. There just couldn’t be any way that his sweet little Justin was a vampire. They drank blood and stuff, icky stuff. Justin got nauseous at a cut on his finger. He’d never survive if he had to drink blood.
“I do not believe that is the case where Justin is concerned.” Dominic
