𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐎𝐋𝐅 ━━ LYDIA MARTIN

73

THE LAST THING Reid expected to find when he entered his home was his mother sitting on one of the couches as if she owned it with a very scared and confused Lydia beside her, fiddling with her fingers in her lap.

"What the fuck?" Reid was vivid at the sight. He clenched his jaw, all signs of calmness gone. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Genevieve visibly jumped at the sound of his voice and she was quick to stand up, "Reid, I can expla—"

"— I don't want to hear it." He pointed towards the door, "get out."

"No, no, wait, listen!" She exclaimed, raising her voice, "I just need money. Just a few—"

He scoffed, cutting her off with distaste and disgust in his tone, "you're really fuckin' pathetic coming here thinking that I would ever give you shit."

"You're going to have to," she gritted her teeth, her hand reaching out to wrap her fingers around Lydia's arm and pulled her up to her feet before roughly shoving her in front of her, her claws by the strawberry blonde's neck.

Lydia's breath hitched as she stared at Reid wide-eyed. He fisted his hands at his sides, his own claws having extended to dig in his skin to prevent himself from taking a rough decision that could end up in her getting hurt.

"I don't want to have to do this," Genevive spoke, "but if you don't give me what I want, I'm afraid I'll have no other choice. Come on, Reid. You're really going to choose money over your mate?"

"You're not gonna kill her," Reid muttered calmly but on the inside, he was nothing but.

"Oh?" Genevieve trailed her long claws across Lydia's neck, "what makes you say that?"

"You kill her, you lose your leverage," he shrugged, "you know damn well she's literally the only thing that's stopping me from killing you right now. So go on, kill her and see if you make it out of this place alive."

Genevieve was silent for a few seconds until she finally sighed, "all right, fine! I might not be able to kill her but I can hurt her. It would be a shame to hurt such a pretty face, wouldn't it?"

She continued trailing her claws on her neck, one rough move and it would dig in her skin. His breath caught in his throat at the sight. "Come on, Reid," Genevieve taunted, "you're really going to let me bruise this girl?"

"Fuck, fine!" He gave in, his eyes staying fixed on Lydia's face. She was visibly scared but at the same time she was not, knowing that he wouldn't let anything happen to her. "Fine. I'll give you what you want."

"Good boy," she grinned sadistically, "go get the money— at least a couple of hundred thousands, I know you have it. I'll be right here with your girlfriend."

With hesitancy, Reid walked away only to come back a few moments later holding a duffle bag in his hand. "Let go of her now."

"What, you think I'm stupid?" She let out a cold laugh, "no, you're going to slid that bag of money over to me and then I'll keep her with me till I get to the door then I'll let go of her. Are we clear?"

"Okay," he nodded with pursed lips, knowing that he wasn't letting that woman off easily. Tossing the bag towards her, Genevieve made Lydia grab it and hand it to her with shaky hands. The sight made Reid angry like no other.

"Good," Genevieve tutted, beginning to take slow cautious steps towards the door with Lydia still in front of her and her claws by her neck. Once she was standing just in front of the door, she smirked, "well, it wasn't that hard, was it?"

"Now let her go," he muttered, ignoring her previous words. Genevieve rolled her eyes, sighing, "as you wish. But I have to make sure you won't follow me. Sorry, sweetheart."

"What are you—" Reid cut himself off, his eyes widening when in one swift move, she dug her claws in Lydia's stomach resulting in a pained gasp from her. Before anyone could react, she roughly pushed Lydia away and ran out of the house with the bag.

"Shit," Reid rushed towards Lydia who was now clutching to her stomach where blood was gushing out, staining her clothes. "Hey, hey—" he got down to her level, placing his own hand to hers as an attempt to stop the blood from coming out, "you're gonna be okay."

She said nothing to that but only watched his face as his features contorted in both worry and guilt. He took off his jacket and placed it on her wound, "press this here. Keep it, all right?" She nodded in response, pressing his jacket over the five big holes in her stomach. Tears stung her eyes as her entire body was in pain.

Reid picked her up from the ground and walked over to the couch before carefully loweing her on it. His heart was threatening to beat out of his chest as he stared at her with blood filled clothes and tears filled eyes. Her lips were parted as she took small pained breaths.

"I'm gonna lift your shirt," he informed, getting down on a knee beside her as she lied on the couch. She hummed in response, her eyes fluttering shut at the pain. "Hey, no, no," he placed a hand on the side of her face, "keep your eyes open."

"I— I can't," she swallowed, letting out a shaky breath, "it– it hurts—" she cut herself off when she felt the pain subsiding. Opening her eyes, she stared at Reid's hand to see his veins all black as he took her pain away, "what are you doing?"

"Does it still hurt?" He asked, his voice soft to which she shook her head as he gripped her hand tight, "no, it doesn't... at all, actually."

"Good," he nodded, his eyes falling on her stomach to find that blood was still coming out, "keep that jacket there." Doing as she was told, she pressed it to the wound, wincing as she did so. "Okay, now what?"

"Now—" he cleared his throat, "— either I can treat your wound which would take time and cause you a lot of pain or I could do it the easy way which is kinda disgusting."

"What is the easy way?" She questioned, still awed by the fact that she wasn't feeling any pain. But that didn't mean her wound was healing, she wasn't a werewolf. She still needed the necessary treatments.

"Drink my blood," he muttered after having cleared his throat. Ignoring the shocked look that she was sending him, he clarified, "well, uh– legend has it that vampire blood has healing properties. I happen to have it running through my veins."

"But it's... a legend," Lydia spoke, "you're not sure if it's gonna work."

"It will," he assured, "it has to. You're my mate. If you touching me helps me heal faster then there's a way for me to heal you as well. Y'know balance and shit. So, what do you say?"

"This better work," she whispered, unable to believe that she was about to do. Reid gave her a smile in response as he placed his other hand near his lips, "trust me." He then cut his skin with his claw, "you're gonna have to hurry before I heal."

Lydia grabbed his wrist and brought it closer to her mouth. Her eyes closed as she began to suck on his the cut, his blood getting on her tongue as she hesitantly swallowed. She was surprised it didn't taste like she thought it would. In fact, it was rather sweet. Not realising what she was doing, she began sucking on his wrist harder with her eyes closed, her tongue darting out to lick the skin every now and then while he stared at her in amusement.

He then flickered his eyes to her wound, having taken off the jacket to find it healed. It was as if she was never hurt in the first place.

"Okay, you bloodsucker," he retracted his hand, the bite was already healed. "See," he directed his hand towards her stomach, the blood being the only proof that she was ever wounded. "It's all healed," he traced his fingers on her skin making her smile then chuckle, "I can't believe I drank your blood."