24: Blood Oath

24: Blood Oath

Isabella’s POV

The Taste of Deception

I didn’t speak.

I couldn’t.

Luca’s words still clung to the air between us, thick and suffocating.

"Your blood. And your loyalty."

That should have been my cue to leave. That should have been the moment I stepped back, put space between us, and reminded myself that Luca wasn’t just the man who had saved me—he was the monster who had claimed me.

But I didn’t move.

I didn’t run.

And the worst part?

I didn’t want to.

Despite the lies, despite the danger that loomed over us like a noose tightening around my throat, despite everything inside me screaming that he was just as much my captor as he was my protector—I still wanted him.

Maybe that made me a fool.

Or maybe it made me just as much of a monster as he was.

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The silence between us stretched, each second pressing heavier against my chest.

I forced myself to lift my chin, to meet his gaze head-on. “What does the blood oath mean?”

Luca’s silver eyes darkened, flashing with something unreadable. Without answering, he moved toward me, slow and deliberate, lowering himself until he was crouched in front of me.

His hands slid up my thighs, parting them just enough to make my breath hitch. His fingers dug into my skin, firm but unhurried, as if savoring the way my body responded to him.

“It means I’m the only one who can feed you,” he said, his voice a low, possessive growl. “Your power—your body—will belong to me alone.”

A shiver ran through me, coiling tight in my stomach.

I wanted to tell myself it was fear.

But it wasn’t.

"You already own me," I whispered, my voice barely more than a breath.

Luca smirked, his lips curving into something dark and knowing. "Not like this."

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He didn’t give me time to second-guess my answer.

Without another word, his hands slid beneath my robe, his fingers spreading me wider as he knelt between my legs.

My heart pounded in my chest, every nerve in my body igniting under his touch.

"You’re trembling," he murmured, his breath warm against the sensitive skin of my inner thighs.

I tried to fight the reaction, but it was useless. My body knew him too well.

I gasped when his tongue flicked out, teasing me with just a taste before his teeth scraped lightly against my skin. Not hard enough to pierce, but enough to remind me of what he was, what he could do.

What I was about to give him.

“Say yes, Isabella,” he demanded, his fingers slipping lower, teasing me, spreading slick heat over my aching skin.

I clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palms, but it did nothing to stop the slow, pulsing need consuming me.

"Yes," I gasped, the word leaving my lips before I could stop it.

The second the word fell, he struck.

Pain and pleasure collided in a sharp, blinding instant as his fangs pierced the delicate skin at the apex of my thigh. My body jerked at the shock of it, the white-hot sensation sending waves of something unbearable through me.

I should have been afraid.

I should have fought.

But I didn’t.

Instead, I let my head fall back against the pillows, a soft moan escaping me as he fed, his mouth working me open, taking deep, slow pulls of my blood.

It was intimate in a way I hadn’t expected—deeper than a kiss, more consuming than any touch.

Luca groaned against my skin, his voice thick with hunger. “You taste like power.”

His tongue flicked over the wound, sealing it shut, but the mark was still there. The bond between us, seared into my blood.

"And now, dolcezza," he murmured, his voice laced with wicked satisfaction, "you’ll never escape me."

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Luca’s POV

The Lies We Tell

I should have felt victorious.

The blood oath was complete. I had her now, in every way that mattered.

And no one—not the Elders, not Dante—could break the bond.

But as I stood, wiping the last trace of her blood from my lips, a cold, unshakable truth settled in my gut.

I hadn’t told her everything.

I hadn’t told her that the oath wasn’t just about binding her to me—it was about controlling the part of her I feared the most.

The part that was still waking up inside her.

If she ever found out the truth…

She would never forgive me.

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The sound of the shower filled the room, steam curling from beneath the bathroom door.

Isabella was inside, her body still trembling from the power of the bond.

And I—

I reached for my phone.

A single message from Gregor waited on the screen.

The blood will do. For now.

My fingers tightened around the device, the rage curling through me sharp and suffocating.

The Elders wanted a piece of her.

And I had just given them exactly that.

I had convinced myself that this was the only way to keep her safe.

That the blood oath would protect her, that binding her to me would shield her from the things that lurked in the shadows, waiting to claim her.

But deep down, I knew the truth.

I wasn’t saving her.

I was breaking her.

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I slid the phone into my pocket just as I heard it—

A voice.

Low. Smooth.

Too familiar.

"You didn’t think I’d let you have her all to yourself, did you?"

I spun around, my senses sharpening, fangs already extending—

But the room was empty.

Still, his voice lingered.

Dante.

If he could already reach us this easily…

It meant the blood oath wouldn’t be enough to keep him out.

And soon—

He would come for her.