"You understand this arrangement doesn't end when we find Brandon? That I can't just pardon you when I'd kill any of my vamps for anything similar?"

She didn't answer for a long moment. She had purposely not been thinking about what happened when they found Brandon. She wanted him safe. What happened to her was of less concern. Although, she began to reconsider whether a normal life was so bad.

"I think so," she mumbled at last. "I think it means I'm stuck with you."

"Yeah. It does."

She swallowed hard.

Rather than take her throat, Jonny lifted her wrist. "All my vamps bear this as a reminder and warning." He touched his palm to hers lightly. A flash of fire went through her hand, and she jerked it back to see the fading glow of a brand on her palm. The symbol was simple, a half moon with a fang. "It's permanent, until I release you from your service."

"You mean when you decide to kill off someone."

"Something like that. Are we on the same page?" he lifted her hand again to display the blackened outline of his mark.

"Yeah," she replied unhappily. With Brandon in danger, she had no choice but to accept whatever it was Jonny wanted to do to her.

He gripped her throat with one hand next. She gasped, not expecting the touch quite yet. His lean strength was at her back. She waited to feel the sense of losing control, of him forcing her muscles to obey his commands.

Being helpless was the worst part, maybe even worse than the pain of his bite.

"If you promise not to fight me, I won't do it this time."

She didn't feel him in her head and chalked it up to his godlike powers. She was accustomed to not always being alone mentally after so many years with Xander and Brandon. Still, she didn't like knowing Jonny was able to access her thoughts. "You can read minds?"

"Not all the time. Usually I have to be in physical contact," he replied.

I'm doing this for Brandon. Her fear was growing, along with the strange warmth that always invaded her body when he touched her. "I won't fight you," she said and tilted her head to expose her neck.

Ashley squeezed her eyes closed and braced herself for the pain. When his fangs sank into her neck, she felt …

Nothing. Not even a pinch. The tension within her started to release, and she realized he wasn't trying to hurt her this time. The fire in her system wasn't from pain, and the sensation of his warm lips against her neck reminded her of how it'd felt to kiss him the other day. She was quiet and still, unable to fathom spending her life doing this every night yet also unwilling to risk Brandon's life by opposing Jonny's plan. For now, she was trapped with him.




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