Chase’s jaw dropped. Two vampire mates? Did he have that much blood inside of him? “Ho—how can I feed the two of them?”
Zacarius smiled for the first time since he walked through the door. “There are ways, my brother. Once Justin and Taylor are used to our ways, they will only need to feed a few times a week, and you have plenty of blood for that.”
“And until then?”
“Until then, they will need to feed from bagged blood as well as you.”
“Oh, Justin isn’t going to be happy about that. He doesn’t like that sight of blood.”
Zacarius chuckled. “He’ll get used to it.”
“I guess he’ll have to.” Chase sighed as he looked back down at Taylor. “I guess they both will.”
Chapter 16
Justin was so scared that his insides actually ached. Taylor was shot and bleeding all over the place, possibly dying. And now, Chase was going on about some ancient vampire ritual that might or might not save Taylor, but would turn him into a vampire.
And they had to have sex…with witnesses.
And with Taylor injured as he was, Justin had no idea how in the hell that was going to happen. Taylor couldn’t even move. There was no way that he could endure the rigors of sex, especially with a wolf-shifter. Chase was a rough lover, but Justin loved every moment of having the man’s hands on him. He knew Taylor did, too.
But that still didn’t explain exactly how this was all supposed to take place.
Justin watched as Taylor was stripped naked and then lay out on the bed. His wound was wrapped, a sheet draped over his bits and pieces, and then Prince Zacarius helped Taylor drink something tinted red out of a cup. It had green leaves floating in it.
“What’s that?” Justin asked, gesturing to the cup with his chin.
“It is simply a drought that will help stem the flow of bleeding and take away some of Taylor’s pain.” Zacarius looked up as he pulled the cup away from Taylor’s lips. “Do not worry, little one. It will not harm him.”
Justin turned away and rubbed his hands down his face. This wasn’t going to work. There was no way that it could. He was going to lose Taylor, and there was nothing he could do. He was human, vampire, whatever, and he was totally useless.
“Justin!” Chase shouted, grabbing him by the face. “Stop, angel. This isn’t helping. You’re broadcasting your worry all over the place. Taylor is fighting as hard as he can to stay alive, and we need to believe that he can stay with us.”
“I know, I just—oh god, Chase!” Justin dropped his head against Chase’s broad chest. He felt the man’s arms wrap around him and hold him close. “I just need him so much. I don’t know what I’ll do if he dies.”
“He’s not going to die, angel. We’re going to save him and turn him into a vampire just like you, remember?”
“What if he doesn’t want to be a vampire?” Justin asked, a slight wobble in his voice. “What if he hates us for doing this?”
“Co–could n–never hate you.”
“Taylor!” Justin shouted as he spun around and dropped to his knees beside the bed. He grabbed Taylor’s hand between both of his, not knowing where else to touch his mate but needing to reach some part of him. “How do you feel?”
“Like I got shot.” Taylor snickered, and then he groaned and grabbed his stomach with his free hand. “Oh man, I need to not do that.”
“You need to not get shot!” Justin spat out.
Taylor smiled, squeezing Justin’s hand. “I’ll work on it, love.”
“Prince Zacarius said he can turn you into a vampire like me.” Taylor started snickering again. Justin bit his lip when Taylor pulled his arm away and wrapped both of them around his waist as he laughed. “Taylor?”
“All the way home I was wondering why I couldn’t be something cool like a vampire or wolf-shifter. I kept wondering why I got stuck being a human while the two of you had these wonderful abilities. I wanted to be what you were. I just never thought it would hurt so damn much to get there.”
“Well, see, that’s what you get for thinking.” Chase was trying for a bit of humor and saw it had worked when Taylor rolled his tired eyes. Justin wasn’t so amused. He drove his elbow into Chase’s side.
“Be nice,” Justin warned as he reached out for Taylor’s hand again. Just the feeling of Taylor’s warm flesh between his hands brought him some measure of comfort.
“Yeah.” Taylor fluttered his eyelashes wildly, drawing a laugh from Justin. “Be nice.”
“So, Taylor,” Chase said as he took one of Taylor’s hands, “about this ritual. How do you feel about it?”
“What’s involved in it?”
“Uh…” Chase glanced over his shoulder to Prince Zacarius. While Devlin had told him about the ritual that had transformed Danny, his brother hadn’t actually shared the details.
Prince Zacarius smiled as he stepped forward, his hands clasped together in front of him. “It’s kind of like a marriage ceremony. I will speak the ancient words of the ritual while you have sex with your mates and—”
“Wait!” Taylor’s eyes grew wide. “We have to have sex? How?”
Zacarius cocked an eyebrow. “I would have assumed that you had already worked out those details.”
Taylor snorted. “I know how to have sex. What I don’t know is how to have sex with a bullet hole in my side.”
“Yes, I can see where that would be a problem. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution. In order for the ritual to work, you have to be intimately connected to both of your mates. The ritual is based on three points, your mind, your heart, and your body. All three must be connected. There must also be an exchange of blood by all
