“Macrin you need to give me more details on this,” Declan said, his voice low. Macrin had stayed mostly quiet during the rest of the ride of home. The only time he spoke was to let him know that he needed to get some vampire blood into her system to tie her over for the remainder of the drive. Not wanting to argue, Declan had immediately opened his wrist with this fangs and let his blood drip down into the young woman’s mouth.

After a few drops, her mouth sealed around his wound, and she even arched her back to take in more. By the time Declan pulled her away, she was breathing more steadily, he was dealing with one of the biggest erections he’d ever had. He’d had shared blood with before, but it had never felt like this for him.

Back at the mansion, Macrin had avoided pulling the car into the vast garage and drove it to the back of the house. They had taken the woman up the servant’s quarters stairs and through a secret panel that led straight to Macrin’s bedroom compartments. The moment they were in, he ordered him to lay her down on the center of the bed while he rummaged through a hutch of possessions.

“Macrin,” Declan said again, his voice taking on an extra edge.

Finally he stopped, looked wildly around the room, and began to explain as he sat a number of objects on the bed.

“A Beloved is a vampire fairy tale,” he explained, slicing his wrist open over a bowl. “Many of us don’t believe they exist, but she’s proof. They are the Persephones to our Hades’, they balance everything out. They return our love, our emotions. They have the capability to become excellent healers, and on top of that, they can even help us develop our powers; even pull them out of us.” He handed the dagger to Declan.

“Here, add your blood to mine and crush those herbs into the bowl while I get her ready.”

He moved quickly to the head of the bed, checking her pulse. She was doing better with a few drops of Declan’s blood, but she wasn’t out of the woods yet.

“Okay, what does that have to do with what we’re doing now?” He asked, crushing the herbs.

“The ritual is for her safety and our sanity. When a Beloved is awakened they can draw dozens of vampires because she’s not aware of her power. Some of them are hers, but a lot are just desperate vampires looking for a shot of life. If we lay claim to her, only those that truly belong to her can come to her. They won’t feel jealousy, or insecurity of any kind. They’ll feel like we felt- that we needed to protect her.”

Declan nodded, trying to make sense of it all. He believed Macrin, knew he wouldn’t lie about such things. Though he didn’t understand everything, he understood that the woman was precious.

“Are you ready?” Macrin asked, reaching for the bowl. “We should do this together.”

Declan looked down at Aggie one more time, and the moment he did, he knew his answer.

“Damn right I am.”

A dull, aching thud was what brought Aggie out of her slumber. It pounded on the back of her skull like a hammer, slowly and methodically as if working to free something. When she tried to open her eyes, she saw fireworks go off in front of them. Not real ones, of that she was sure. These were pain fireworks, the kind you saw with your eyes closed when you got your block knocked off.

Pressing her hand to the back of her head she slowly lifted herself up into a sitting position. Her hair felt sticky and thick in her hand, and when she pulled her hand away she saw the flecks of half-dried blood sprinkled over her palm, like rust on an old piece of lawn furniture. She vaguely remembered the restaurant, and the man who had somehow come through the locked door as if it hadn’t been locked at all.

As her eyes became more focused, she realized that she was not in LeRoy’s bungalow at all, but somewhere far more refined. The room she was in was walled with dark wood panels and cobalt blue curtains. The four poster king sized bed she was tucked into had a matching blue velvet duvet and pillow shams. To her left sat a matching lounge chaise, and next to that a very old but very well taken care of stationary desk.

For a moment, she feared she was back in convent somehow, but then she relaxed. She’d been all over the grounds and even in the most secret of rooms there was no such finery as this. Wherever she was, it wasn’t somewhere she’d ever been before.

She was just throwing back the duvet cover when a sharp and loud knock came from the door. She froze, unsure what to do. But then the knock came once more, and she realized that whoever was on the other side of it was being genuinely polite. Wanting to at least see who could possibly have taken her from the restaurant, she told them to enter.

Surprise with just a touch of arousal blossomed in her chest when the door opened and she saw two incredibly fit, incredibly handsome young men stride into her room. They were both wearing black shirts with dark denim jeans and black boots, but the one with the hazel eyes was wearing a button-up while the brown-eyed man wore only a black v-neck T-shirt.

They both had dark brown hair, but while T-shirt guy wore his short and styled, Mr. Button-up wore his mess of curls in a ponytail at the base of his neck. On each of their right hands they wore a red and gold signet ring. And despite their intimidatingly large and well defined figures, she did not feel like she needed to be afraid of them.

“I thought you might be awake,” Mr. Button-up greeted with a smile.

“How are you feeling?” The other asked. In his hands he held a tray with a pitcher of water on it, a glass, and a bowl with what Aggie hoped was food. Her head was killing her, yes, but it didn’t stop her stomach from letting her know just how starved it felt. Aggie’s tongue shot out between her lips for only a moment before she dragged the flesh of her bottom one into her mouth. It was such a heavy question. How was she feeling?

“Okay,” she rasped, tucking her hair behind her ear needlessly as she looked over at them. “Thirsty, maybe?”

“Of course,” T-shirt replied. Together they both moved into the room, their gait awkward. They moved as if she were a frightened kitten, and they were trying their best not to scare her. She wasn’t sure whether it was cute, comical, or disturbing. Wanting to be on a more level playing field, she tried to get out of the bed. Her legs, much weaker than she realized, buckled beneath as she tried to put weight on them, and she went to the floor.

Before the hardwood floorboards could rise up and punish her however, the one not carrying a tray was under her in an instant, catching her in the safety net that was his arms. Immediately he asked if she was all right, and moved her back to the bed. His touch was intimate, but somehow respectful. It thrilled her, confused her. Then she remembered the restaurant.

“Oh my God,” she gasped, throwing back the covers. The small movement made her dizzy, but she still attempted to leave the bed. “Where’s LeRoy? Is he okay? Did someone catch the robbers?”

“Easy,” Macrin soothed, giving her a gentle look. “You were hurt, but we helped you. And as for your friend LeRoy he wasn’t there.”

Aggie eyed the both of them, but leaned back into the bed once more.

“Who are you guys?” She asked, feeling overwhelmed and small. She tucked the covers under her chin. “What do you want?”

“Oh, sweetheart,” said the guy carrying the tray. He moved to put it down by the bedside table while the other took a seat by her side. “We don’t want anything.”

“Except for maybe for you to listen,” Declan chimed in.

“Yes, that’s really all we want right now,” Macrin agreed, holding his hands up in the air to show her he meant no harm. “Let’s start this off right, yeah? I’m Macrin,” he explained, pointing to the center of his chest. “And that troublemaker over there is Declan.”

Declan, who had been pouring her a glass of water, handed it to her and flashed her a smile that showcased some rather sharp looking teeth.

“Hi there,” he greeted, taking another seat. “We’re happy to see you awake.”

Aggie’s eyes travelled back and forth between the two as she raised the glass to her lips. She took a sniff, checking for any chemical smells, then thanked them before tipping the glass back and draining its entire contents. The water made her feel replenished-if only slightly- immediately, and by the time she was ready to ask for refill she felt much more herself.

“I’m Lily,” she told them at last. She smiled at them, but then caught them look back at one another, as if they could sense she was lying. A slight wave of guilt washed over her as she watched them, but she stuck to her guns. If they wanted her real name they’d have to work for it. For all she knew they could be working for her father to take her back to the convent.

“Well, erm, Lily, was it?” Declan asked, looking at her pointedly. “We understand that you probably have a lot of questions.”

“And we have answers,” Macrin threw in, “but first, we need to tell you what happened. At the restaurant.”

Aggie’s eyes went wide with fear. “Something bad happened didn’t it? I can’t remember most of it, but I remember sensing the danger. It was making me sick to my stomach. LeRoy- he left, like he always does on Thursdays. I’m not usually alone like that.”

Macrin and Declan shared another long glance, as if recognizing something.

“There was no one but you at the restaurant,” Macrin confirmed. “We had pulled over to um, find something to eat, and we noticed something suspicious going on inside. You had already been injured by the time we got to you.”

“But we saved you,” Declan added. He had picked up the large wooden bowl from the tray and was now offering it to her. She could see that it was a Chinese noodle dish that had the delicious aroma of freshly grilled meats and vegetables wafting from it in puffs of steam. The very scent of them made her stomach growl and she took the offered bowl thankfully. As she ate, they told her the story.

As she listened, parts of what happened started to come back. The guy, the hit to her head, the yelling she’d heard faintly through her thick blanket of unconsciousness. Her stomach flopped uncomfortably when they got to the part about how much she was bleeding, and how close she was to death. She had known that running away from her father’s iron fist was going to be dangerous, but not once had she thought about danger coming to her after she found freedom. It made her feel foolish. Danger didn’t work like that. It could pop up at any time for anyone. She made a mental note to make herself more aware of her surroundings.

When they finished telling her the story, they sat in silence for a long moment before Aggie, finished with her now- empty bowl of noodles, sat it down and looked up at the two handsome strangers that saved her life.

“Thank you,” she said at last, trying her best to smile at them. “For saving my life. I highly doubt that many others would have done the same for a stranger.” She felt another sliver of arousal slide up between her legs again, and she blushed at it.

“I don’t want to inconvenience you,” she told them. “If you could just let me shower this blood out of my hair, I can get out of your way. Somebody has to tell LeRoy what happened or he’ll be worried sick.”

“Wait,” Declan said, sounding alarmed. “You can’t leave yet.”

Fear shivered through as she felt the pounding in her head return.

“Why not?” She rasped, feeling on the verge of tears. Flashes of her father flinging her into the convent room appeared before her eyes, and she shrunk away from them. Immediately she noticed a shift in their behavior.

“Oh, damn,” Declan cursed. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he said apologetically. “This isn’t a kidnapping situation.”

“Then why can’t I go?” She asked.

“Because,” Macrin told her, leaning forward, “the story gets much more complicated after that.” He gave her a small smile that made her feel slightly more at ease. “We have a lot to tell you, and we’d like you to keep an open mind.”

Macrin was sure he looked like a crazy person, waving around the book in his hand the way he did. With the way Lily, which, he was sure was a fake name, looked at him, she definitely thought he was crazy. But how could he blame her? Vampires were supposed to be fictitious creatures. Monsters under the bed that were meant to scare children, but nothing more. Throwing in that one, that there was a magical unicorn-like entity that could tame the inner demons of vampires, and two, that she was one of those creatures, he had spun her one hell of twisted story.

He sighed heavily as he saw her ever- widening eyes grow so large that he was concerned they’d pop right out of her incredibly angelic head. He had to back off, or he’d break her. But he needed her to understand. If she tried to run, the other members of the house would decide against her immediately, which could prove a little more than problematic. Not only were they forbidden to reveal themselves to humans, but they were doubly prohibited from bringing them back to the coven.

“So,” she said after a while, “You two are vampires. But you don’t want to hurt me. In fact, we’re meant to be part of each other’s lives. However, the reason why I’m more or less confined to this room is because your coven now knows that I’m here, and they must determine if I can stay. And if they don’t say yes, then what? They toss me out? Or do I get eaten?”

“We wouldn’t let you get eaten,” Declan said quickly. “We would never, ever let that happen. Macrin and I, well, you can consider us your own personal body guards now if you want.”

Aggie looked back and forth between the two men. By their body language and expressions, they were quite serious.

“I call bullshit.”

“Please,” Macrin implored, laying the book in her lap. “All of it’s true, and it’s right in here.”

He watched as she picked up the book, flipped through the pages, and then closed it calmly.

“I call bullshit,” she repeated, her tone mellow. Cursing so casually was new for her, and she had to admit that it was hard to follow the yarn they were spinning, but a spark of excitement tickled her every time said a ‘bad word.’

Beside her, Declan cracked up laughing while Macrin looked at both of them imploringly.

“Look,” she said, feeling caged. “I know you don’t know me or what I’ve been through lately, but I promise you; It’s a lot. I’m trying to keep an open mind, but I’m really not for having religious views shoved down my throat while being held against my will right now. That part of my life is over and done with.” She pointed to the book, shaking her head.

“Jeez, what you have been doing lately, kid?” Declan asked.

“This absolutely not about religion,” Macrin added.

Aggie let out a curt laugh.

“No? This book isn’t written in any language I understand, and it’s supposedly your only proof of what a Beloved is. And despite me not understanding, and not wanting to be a part of it, you’re expecting me to blindly follow it. Sounds like a religion to me.”

A noise came from the other side of the door, and the room stilled immediately. All eyes went to the door. For a full minute, they waited silently as sounds of scuffle and murmuring came from the other side. Finally they heard the sound of footsteps moving away, and sighed in relief.

“Please keep your voice down,” Declan whispered, looking at Aggie imploringly. “Whether you believe us or not about the Beloved, you need to understand that you’ve been caught up in a situation that has nothing to do with the human world.

“It’s not in any human language,” Macrin said, jumping right back in to their previous conversation. “But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t truth in it.”

“Sorry, but I don’t trust dusty old books. It’s been my experience that they’re misconstrued and used as instruments to hurt people.”

“Okay, seriously,” Declan asked, “what have you been through?”

“A lot,” she replied dryly.

“Okay, okay, forget the book,” Macrin said, taking it off the bed. “There are other ways we can show that what we’re saying is real.”

Taking a risk, he reached for her hand. The moment they touched, Aggie gasped, but didn’t pull away. Her reaction made him smile, and he moved his hand further. Slowly, he let his fingertips slide up her palm, tickling the delicate flesh there before their fingers locked perfectly together. She closed her hand over his, and as she looked at him with wide eyes, he gave her a gently squeeze before placing a kiss on her middle knuckle.

“Do you feel that?” He asked, his voice low, gentle.

Aggie nodded, and for the first time, looked into Macrin’s eyes. They were a true hazel, with shards of honey brown and forest green and copper red. They were gorgeous, but beyond that, they were also truthful.

“That little hum you feel? The one that’s passing from your body to mine? That’s a beloved connection. It’s my soul connecting to yours. Here, Declan has it with you too, see?”

His hand shot out, faster than humanly possible, and grabbed his forearm. He slid his friend’s hand into Aggie’s grasp, and watched as they two of them felt the connection that he had just shared with her moments before.

“I’ve never felt anything like this,” she admitted, still holding both of their hands. “It’s like…like being plugged in almost. Does that make sense? Or do I just sound crazy?”

“Not at all,” Declan responded, shaking his head. “That’s what I feel too.

“Me too,” Macrin agreed.

Aggie looked from one man to another, seeing the genuine wonder in their eyes, and her heart softened. It wasn’t an idea that she was one hundred percent on top of, but something was definitely happening between them.

“My real name’s Aggie,” she murmured finally. “Sorry I lied.”

They both smiled at her warmly.

“We knew you would tell us when you were ready,” Declan laughed.

“Thank you for telling us,” Macrin chipped in.

Aggie’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “You knew?”

“You’re kind of a bad liar,” Declan smirked.

“But that’s a good thing!” Macrin added.

“Look, we know that this is a lot to take on,” he continued, loosely reaching out to Declan so that they ended up in a hand holding triangle.

“There’s a lot even we don’t know. But this is certain. We are not going to hurt you. Ever. From now on, Macrin and I will be your protectors, your providers, your …erm, other things. You are in no danger as long as you are with us.”

“What other things?” She asked.

Declan suddenly looked up at the ceiling, as if something very interesting was there while Macrin winced at her side.

“There are um, urges, I guess would be the right way to put it. Of the sexual nature.”

Aggie blushed a deep red, and snuggled back down into the covers. That, she thought, explains so much.

“What happens if I leave you guys?” she asked. Something real was definitely forming between the three of them, but she wasn’t sure if she could handle one boyfriend, let alone two. Then again, as she looked back and forth between the two, she realized that there wasn’t one she was drawn to more than the other. Both of them felt equally right, which was both thrilling and confusing.

Macrin, calmer now, gave her hand a gentle squeeze so that she’d turn to look at him.

“You need to understand that you are in a coven of vampires. They are real. Can you at least accept that?”

She waited a beat to answer, then nodded her head.

“Good. That means that we need to keep you a secret for a while, until the others understand who you are and what you are. It may take some time, we’ll need to take it day by day.” He let his hand pull away from hers, and regretfully, left her side.

“ This room is a safe place for you, Aggie. The safest place you can be in this house right now. I’m quickly understanding that you’re not one to give ultimatums to, but please understand that you must stay here.”

“I thought that you two would protect me?” She asked.

Macrin let out a soft laugh, and nodded his head. “We can protect you as long as you’re smart. Now please, can you promise me that you won’t leave this room until we say it’s safe to?”

Several thoughts jumbled noisily and angrily in her head, but one that stuck out more than the others was that she needed to take a leap of faith, and stay in the room. Something was definitely happening. The worst thing she could do, she realized, was try to run. This would not be as easy as escaping the convent, and if what they were saying was true, then something far more dangerous than her father could be coming after her.

“Okay,” she said at last, nodding her head. “I’ll stay in here.”