Free Eternal Beast: Mark of the Vampire by Laura Wright

He was the lesser of all evils, wasn’t he? And she could handle it—handle him. She could handle anything. Fuck—she already had.
    “All right, Impure,” she said. “Until I have control over my shift again, I will give it to you.”
    “Good,” he said, his voice dark, his jaw tight. “And we’ll begin with you calling me Gray.”
    She sniffed. “And if I don’t?”
    He stepped closer. “There is always a reaction to any action. Disrespect, disobedience, will always end with punishment.”
    Dillon’s muzzle dropped open and she just stared at him.
    “Now, follow me,” he said. “Your family waits.”

4
    “F  
uck no! This is not happening!”
    “The
veana
needs our protection!”
    “Christ! In an Impure safe house. She doesn’t belong here!”
    “She’s coming home with us!”
    As Lucian, Alexander, and Sara stood there in thoughtful silence, Gray listened inside his head to Dillon’s four Beast brothers lose their shit, one after the other, over the news that their sister would be remaining with him at the Impure Resistance headquarters. He cared little for their response or their opinions on the matter, and yet he understood their confusion and frustration in the lack of details given. That being said, Gray wasn’t about to reveal what he and Dillon now shared—this strange power he had over her jaguar. That was Dillon’s choice to share—if she wanted to.
    “What is your true concern, Lycos?” Dillon spokethen, fully returned to her jaguar state now. “Because I’m guessing it’s not about my well-being.”
    “It was,” the wolf said, his blue eyes pure ice as he looked at her. “Long ago, it was, my sister. But you severed that feeling when you abandoned us.”
    “Abandoned you,” she repeated caustically. “What should I have done? I wasn’t your caretaker. I wasn’t your mother.”
    “No,” Phane put in with deadly quiet. “But you were our sister. We deserved better.”
    Beside him, Gray felt Dillon’s anxiety swell, her confusion riddled with anger. “What are you all looking for from me? A reason?” She glanced quickly at Helo, then looked away. “I’ve given you one. It wasn’t the life I wanted, so I left.”
    “Without a word,” Phane sneered, his mismatched eyes flaring with heat. “Without a good-bye.”
    Dillon’s ears twitched. “It wasn’t possible.”
    “Maybe you couldn’t tell us then,” Helo said, his expression calm, though Gray heard the deep rumble of hurt inside the
paven
’s highly intelligent mind. “For whatever the reason, maybe you had to leave, but what about tonight, Dilly? Attacking your own blood.”
    Her growl was so fierce Gray almost put his hand on her back. Almost. “I did what I had to do, Helo,” she spat at him. “I’m sorry, okay? Fuck! I needed to get out of there, out of that cage.”
    Helo nodded to Gray. “You think he will be your savior? An Impure?”
    “Watch yourself,” Gray warned the
paven
calmly. “Remember where you are. Whose home you’re in.”
    “You think your weak, diluted blood frightens me?” Helo returned icily.
    A slow, terrible smile crossed Gray’s face. “No, but having all those thoughts about Nicholas Roman’s mate shared with our group here might.” He lifted his brow.
    The
paven
’s eyes bugged and his lips curled. Behind him, Lucian said, “What the fuck,
Mutore
? You having dreams about my brother’s
veana
?”
    A few of the
paven
s chuckled softly, but Gray kept his gaze locked on the one before him, the one who looked ready to kill, his eyes black holes of rage.
    “Gray.” Sara, who stood in the curve of her
paven
’s arm, redirected the conversation. “I’m not making suggestions on where to put Dillon. But from what little you’ve told us, this arrangement sounds unhealthy for the both of you.”
    Leave it to his sister to go clinical on the situation. Gray lifted his brow. Where to put Dillon? As if she were a creature, a thing. “Living here in this home, with a