The Turning-Blood Ties 1 by Jennifer Armintrout Read Free Book Online Page A

touched the scar Cyrus had left. “He really got you.”
    A chill raced up my spine at his touch. I leaned into his hand. I couldn’t help myself. Something changed in his eyes, as if an iron gate were slamming shut. He dropped his arm and turned away. “You’re going to have to make a choice, too. Whether you want to pledge your life to the Movement, or lose it.”
    I snorted. “Where do I sign in blood?”
    “This isn’t a joke.” He turned to face me, and I saw from his irritated countenance that it certainly was not. “I can’t guarantee the Movement will even accept you, but it’s your only shot at surviving. Your sire’s death sentence extends to you.”
    My heart pounded and my legs tensed in anticipation of running. I took a step back.

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    “You’d really kill me, wouldn’t you?”
    “Yes.” He looked away, then sank onto the couch. “It’s nothing personal. But I don’t know you well enough to tell whether you’re going to play loyal fledgling to Cyrus or not. You seem like a nice girl, but I’m not willing to take that chance.”
    “Nothing personal.” I laughed bitterly in disbelief. “You know, it is personal. When I get lured into a trap and almost get decapitated, it’s personal. When some guy I just met tells me he’s going to kill me, it’s personal. Because it’s my life. You’re out of your mind if you think I’m going down without a fight.”
    The corner of his mouth twitched and I thought he was going to laugh. I would have punched him in the face if he did.
    Good thing he didn’t. “I can respect that. But it doesn’t change my position. You need to make a decision. Ask the Movement for mercy and hope they grant it to you. You won’t get it from me.”
    “Why not just kill me now?” I asked, hoping he wouldn’t take this as an invitation. He merely shrugged and said, “Because without a kill order, I don’t get paid.”
    “A kill order?” How much more like a bad horror movie could this possibly get?
    “If you decide not to ask the Movement for membership, I’ll report you. You’ll be processed in their system and a kill order will be issued a few days later.” He shrugged again, as if he couldn’t care less about the conversation. “I suppose you could make a run for it, but until I have that order in my hand, I’m not going to do anything to you. I don’t work for free.”
    I was about to argue that he could just kill me, then report me. Luckily, the common sense which seemed to have deserted me in the past few weeks found its way back, and I held my tongue. “How very Han Solo of you.”
    He didn’t smile or laugh. In fact, he looked even more grave than before. “It’s up to you. Petition for membership or die. I can get them on the phone right now.”
    “Fine.” I ground my teeth over the words. “Can I make an informed decision at least?”
    He frowned and cocked his head, studying me from the corner of his eye, as if this were a trick. “What do you propose?”
    I chose my words carefully. “Give me a chance to read The Sanguinarius and have some time to let all this sink in. I didn’t believe in vampires or monsters before tonight, and I’m in what we in the medical field call ‘a state of shock.’ It’s only fair to know what I’m getting into. Besides, I’m a smart girl. I’m not going to join up with some organization just because you claim they’re the good guys.”
    “They are the good guys.” There was no amusement in his tone, just absolute conviction in the truth of his words.
    I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, well that’s what the Nazis said about themselves.”
    He slowly rose to his feet. Power, dark and barely leashed, emanated from him. And that, combined with his physical presence, made him more terrifying than John Doe had been as he’d sunk his claws into me.
    Of course, John Doe hadn’t been this hot. Somehow, my physical