Poking the Vamp (Knight Protectors #3) by Celia Kyle Read Free Book Online

be protected, not threatened.
    Tory eased into sight, red hair a beacon in the bright light. She held out a hand forestalling her mate’s approach, and Liam remained in place, his narrow-eyed gaze bouncing between Joce and the female.
    “It’s fine, Liam.”
    “You just said he’s feral ,” the male growled.
    “Maybe that wasn’t the right word.” Victoria rolled her eyes and Joce relaxed slightly. The female may not like him, but he knew others liked her. If she was standing up for him, perhaps he would live long enough to stop his fire from being stolen from him. “How about he’s gone back to his base nature, then?” Her gaze became intent, her attention sliding over him in a quick sweep. “What are you feeling, Joce?”
    “You don’t need to know how he’s feeling to know—”
    “No disrespect, Carac, but I’ve read the books in the library. Not you,” she snapped, baring her tiny teeth at the elder, and Joce found himself liking the ex-human even more.
    “Joce?” she barked out his name and he found himself answering.
    “My skin crawls. My fangs ache. My body screams.” The words were hard to say, difficult to push past his overriding need for Kate. He felt all of that and more.
    “What else?”
    What else?
    “What else changed? From when you came in here until Galla took Kate?”
    He snarled and curled his lip. “Galla,” he spat. He hated Galla. She took his fire from him. “She took mine.”
    “Why is she yours? Because you changed her?” Tory took a step toward him and he backed away. He didn’t want her near. She didn’t feel right. Her skin wasn’t warm like Katherine’s. It wouldn’t be sweet and soothing. Her blood wouldn’t…
    “My…” he shot a look to Carac. He should say the word. Liam was allowed to keep Tory after he did the same thing as Joce. Perhaps the fight could easily end and they would allow him to go to his fire . “My fire .”
    “You don’t like humans.” Tybalt pointed out the truth.
    “He obviously liked that human,” Trewe countered. Another truth.
    “If she was your fire , she wouldn’t have reacted as she did. The need for blood wouldn’t have been so fierce,” Carac murmured. “She would have done as Victoria did when she awoke after the Change.”
    Tory had craved vegan enchiladas.
    “I made the vow,” he growled, stepping toward the elder even if it meant getting closer to the female who left him cold. “I said the words.”
    The others spoke as one and Tory’s low growl silenced them in an instant. “What words?”
    Liam interrupted his fire . “Nothing would make a human—”
    Victoria turned a fierce glare on Liam and he was thankful the small female wasn’t his fire . “What words, Joce?”
    So he said them. He repeated them aloud for the gathered vampires.
    “May the fire in your soul burn away the midnight shadows. May the fire in your blood destroy all who threaten. May the fire in your heart tie us for eternity.”
    No one made a sound. All eyes wide and focused on him. Except for Tory. The ballsy ex-human’s eyes sparkled with laughter that remained locked by her lips. “When you go big, you go big, huh? Balls to the wall, right there.” She stepped closer and he backed away, causing her to raise her empty hands to show she was no threat. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
    She couldn’t hurt him. He was too strong, too fast, to be captured by the half-vamp female. But she could freeze him with her touch. “Cold.”
    “Huh.” She tilted her head, confusion marring her features.
    “Victoria?” Carac’s soft murmur had them both turning to him. “What do they mean?”
    “Oh! I forgot that you people don’t read, like, ever. And, as an FYI, reading is fundamental. There’s this whole big campaign about making sure our youth are literate and—”
    “Victoria,” the warning came from her mate once more, drawing a grumble from Joce.
    “Hush,” she waved at Joce. “He won’t hurt me. He’s just