Fatal Cravings: Immortal Keeper Vampire Paranormal Romance Series by Daniella Starre (affordable ebook reader txt) 📕

also was the reason why the love of her life had to bury her, and I most likely couldn’t show my face at the funeral.

To save my parents, to save my aunt and brother-in-law, I had no choice. I had to go back to Maxwell and grovel and beg for him to take me.

With slow, resigned steps, I made my way back to the fence. I’d almost hoped that Maxwell wouldn’t have returned to the ball, that he would have lingered, that he could have overheard the conversation so I wouldn’t have to utter the words out loud.

But he wasn't, and there was nothing for me to do but continue along the path all the way to the front door. The same servant from earlier opened the door and granted me entrance, a good sign, I hoped. After all, he could have been instructed to bar me from the door, considering I had been thrown out for my outburst.

Which, honestly, had been a bit ridiculous. Had Maxwell done that so we would be removed enough from the vampires that we could talk without being overheard?

Who knew what went on in his head?

Maxwell was talking to a group of vampires. As I approached, they all as one turned to stare at me. Maxwell nodded, and the others left. The female vampire from earlier was nowhere to be seen.

“You’ve returned,” he commented.

“I reconsidered,” I said stiffly.

“What happened?”

I glared at him, hating him for making me say this, but it was necessary. As before, I wished for him to hold all the cards. Considering how vile and dangerous Viktor was already proving to be, it would be foolish and just plain wrong for me to withhold information from Maxwell.

“My sister… was…” I didn’t realize I was crying and had been crying before until now when I wiped my face and felt the tracks from earlier and the fresh tears.

“Killed?” he supplied.

“Yes,” I mumbled.

“Drained?”

I nodded, unable to speak.

“I told you so.”

If I thought I would get away with it, I would slap him, shove him, scream, rant, rave. He wanted a scene? He deserved one after saying that.

But the insufferable vampire was right.

Not that our getting married would’ve changed what happened to Amber. There wouldn’t have been time for Viktor to learn what I had been up to, although it did seem as the vampire was all up in my grill.

How could he go after Amber? She had been good and kind. Although she never learned what I had done for her—not even about the tutor because I asked for her to say that someone had sponsored Amber—my sister went out of her way to help as many people as she could. That was just who Amber was. She’d been walking around the neighborhood one day, trying to find a stray cat that she had been feeding with some of her food, when there had been a car accident. A terrible one. It had only been a few weeks after I’d left home to try to make money. Amber had rushed over to the wreck and tried to stop the boy’s bleeding. The driver had been killed, and the boy in the backseat had a serious gash. He ended up needing fifty-two stitches, and the doctors said that Amber had saved his life. If not for her pressure, he would’ve bled out because of the location of the bleed.

That was when Amber let me know that she wanted to become a doctor. It didn’t take her long to jump from that to the idea of a surgeon and then open-heart surgery. It helped that the father of the boy she’d saved was that, and once I discreetly let him know about Amber’s ambitions to become a surgeon, he allowed her to watch a surgery from the gallery.

She was goodness and hope and love.

I missed her so much. My heart ached, torn apart.

“Whatever I have to do to save my family,” I said. “If that means marrying you, then let’s get married.” I swallowed hard as I appraised the emotionless mask of the striking vampire before me who would soon become my husband. I felt so utterly innocent and vulnerable. He knew me so well. Clearly, he did, but I knew nothing about him at all. “When?”

“Why not now?” he suggested. His devilish grin left me breathless. “This…” He spread out his arms to encompass the ball. “Could be our reception.”

Was he serious?

Yes, yes, he was.

6

“Wha… What exactly does a vampire wedding entail?” I asked, wincing at my naivety. “Do you… You don’t have to… I mean, we can’t really vow until death do us part.”

He lifted his eyebrows. “And why can’t we? After all, you know firsthand that vampires…”

My eyes widened, and I grew stricken, glancing around to see if any of the vampires had overheard what he had insinuated. The last thing I wanted was for the others to decide I didn’t deserve Maxwell’s protection. Just because the people were here for his ball didn’t mean they were all allies. I just hoped that no one here was under Viktor’s thumb, but surely Maxwell would know and recognize them by sight, right?

None of them had smelled the blood on me. It had to still be there. I could feel it on my hands whenever I wrung them, like I was right now.

“We don’t need to make formal vows,” I said weakly.

“Ah, but that is what a wedding is, after all, isn’t it?” he asked, his accent growing slightly thicker.

I swallowed hard. “Do we need…”

Maxwell raised his arm and snapped his fingers. “Senna!” he called.

The female from before approached with a cocky smile. She leered at me, openly staring at my throat to the point that I brought a hand up to cover it from sight.

“I have a request to make,” Maxwell uttered in a tone I hadn’t heard from him yet. Was it… Was he flirting with her? Toying with her? Teasing her? I couldn’t quite tell, but I did know that