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"Gwen, you have to know that I didn’t plan that Aaron ordered me to bite you"

"And you just had to? Lamest excuse ever"

"He has to do whatever Aaron tells him to do," Lauren added

"Of course you’d take his side; he’s paying you," Dorian accused

"Children cannot disobey their sires," Aiden said "I didn’t think they would order me to bite you God…if I had knohat they were up to…"

"What the hell is going on?" Dorian growled, sliding his ar me to the side of his body I admit I didn’t mind one little bit

With a deep breath, I said, "Aiden just bonded himself to me"

"What?" Lauren shrieked

"Son of a bitch," Dorian growled

"I didn’t know," Aiden murmured

"Wait," Lauren said "You would have had to drink fro how he offered his blood to me in the hospital to heal h this I would never accept a drop of blood froain I would rather lay broken and bloody than be linked to another vampire, even Aiden

"Aiden made sure to offer it when Iue to attack me so I wouldn’t be able to refuse the help of your blood?"

A look of disbelief fell over Aiden’s face "As ht now, I’m not Ian Despereaux I don’t have soers, direct the at his chest as he worked to fight off the invisible threat

"What’s happening?" Lauren yelled, her hands searching Aiden for a wound

White ishly I turned towards Dorian and kneas the cause of Aiden’s pain

"Dorian, stop!" Shrugging out from under his ar overthe bond," Dorian said in the calh my body

"Not like this, please"

Aiden fell to his knees, coughing His blue eyes ide and staring right at h I was beyond furious with him, I couldn’t watch him die More i to stop noI did My ar I senttowards hih to break his concentration Aiden stopped coughing but didn’t get up

"What the hell was that for?" Dorian growled

"You were going to kill hi to see if Aiden was okay The white ain

"Are you okay?"

Aiden scrubbed a hand over his face, getting to his feet obbly legs "Yeah"

"Good"

Smack

Aiden and Lauren’s eyes shot hen I smacked him across the face

"Just because I didn’t let Dorian kill you doesn’t er out and said, "You better find a way to break the bond, Aiden" Turning, I hopped in ainst the asphalt

Dorian stepped through the front door of the apart on the couch with a glass of wine and looked up when he entered the room He sat down in the chair adjacent to the sofa and rested his elbows on his knees I couldn’t appreciate how excited I was to see hier Had Aiden been fooling me since day one? As I eyed Dorian, I wondered if he had a plan too Was everyone out to getfar, far away tempted my mind Or maybe I was just paranoid