Sweet Last Drop by Melody Johnson

didn’t care if he just wanted a taste or if he was only proving a point, he wasn’t drinking a single drop from me.
    “Rene Roland,” I said, and like butter, my mind melted around his, seeping into the cracks and crevices of his thoughts.
    I felt shock and fear sting his heart like bees.
    “Rene?” Bex asked sharply.
    “Stand in front of me, Rene Roland, and shield me from Bex with your body,” I commanded.
    Rene flew in front of me, shielding me from Bex. He didn’t even attempt to reflect my command.
    Bex gaped at me. “It’s true.”
    I would have smiled at her expression if I hadn’t been so terrified. Bex’s astonishment was my only upper hand. Before she could recover, I hooked my fingers around the vial of Dominic’s blood, snapped the necklace from my neck, and whipped the silver chain around Rene’s throat in a makeshift garrote. The moment the silver touched Rene’s skin, a noxious steam hissed from his burning flesh.
    Rene tensed, but because of my command to shield me from Bex with his own body, he couldn’t move.
    “You are full of surprises, little night blood,” Rene whispered.
    “I’m sorry.”
    Rene bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile. “Never apologize for surviving.”
    Bex recovered from her shock and released a growling roar. It blasted through us. I felt the compelling urge to bend to her power. Rene trembled to cede to her, but he remained firmly planted in front of me, as per my command. No matter her control over Rene as a member of her coven, I wasn’t hers to control. My grip on his mind was deeply rooted where Bex couldn’t reach, and until I chose to release him, my grip was unbreakable.
    I could taste the strength of my bond in the flavors of Rene’s kaleidoscope of emotions. His rage burned through my stomach. His fear spiked through my heart. And a swell of grudging respect filled him painfully, like a Thanksgiving feast. He thought I could be the wedge between Bex and her destructive pursuit of Walker. He hoped I could be his coven’s salvation.
    He’d have to get in line.
    Bex stepped closer.
    “Don’t.” I tightened the necklace around Rene’s throat. His skin gave easier than I would have expected; like a hot spoon through ice cream, I could have scooped the silver straight through to his spine. He hissed, but the sound was gargling and wet. I eased my grip before I decapitated him by mistake.
    “You will release Rene,” Bex growled.
    “You will step back,” I said. I tugged on the necklace for emphasis and it imbedded a little deeper into Rene’s charred flesh.
    Rene trembled. “Master, please.”
    Bex didn’t take another step closer, but she didn’t move back either. “You can’t cross into my territory and threaten my vampires without retribution. I thought Lysander wanted to prevent war, not start it.”
    “I’m not here to threaten you or your vampires. I’m protecting myself!” I could feel my hands trembling on the cold stillness of Rene’s neck. If I were really Dominic’s night blood in heart and not name alone, I thought, what would I do? I took a long, deep breath and spoke again. “Dominic is the only vampire who may drink from me. You are his ally, but he is my Master. My only Master.”
    Something flashed in Bex’s eyes, a bright, burning mix of longing and frustration and jealousy that I knew all too well. I’d looked at other couples that way after my breakup with Adam and felt that impossible, bitter longing for the love they had while simultaneously condemning their love to fail because mine had failed. In that moment, I knew that Dominic had been right about Bex.
    She wanted from Walker what she thought Dominic had achieved with me. She wanted a willing and loyal night blood. My relationship with Dominic was mostly illusion—I certainly wasn’t willing and I was only loyal enough to uphold my end of our deal for Nathan’s sake—but I’d delivered the impression Dominic had wanted, and Bex believed it.
    Bex