“That sly bastard.” I shook my head. “That was his plan.”
Vincent hiked a dubious brow. “What plan?”
“To get your head out of your bloody ass.” I reached up, clutching the sharp edge of Vin’s jaw, losing myself in his rich, viridian eyes. “Vincent. Your monster, your chaos, it’s out of control. Pull it the fuck back.”
I tensed, ready for the black to cloud over his eyes and for him to pull away. Instead, he sighed, tugged me closer, and pushed his face against my neck to breathe me in.
“I need to stay like this so I can protect you,” he whispered.
Goosebumps covered every inch of my body when I caught something I wasn’t used to hearing in his voice.
Fear.
Maybe there was more to Feral’s motive for kidnapping me. Maybe it was less about not having to compete with Sterling for my womb and more about keeping me safe from the vampire king.
“You can protect me back home.”
“I won’t survive if I lose you.”
“I’m not so fucking helpless. You’ve seen what I’m capable of.”
The dark fae fell quiet. I could see the conflict warring inside him as his two halves went to war. Taking the opportunity to keep this part of him present, I pressed my mouth to his. He was rigid at first, but then his lips softened, yielding to my kiss.
“Ru. You don’t know what he’s capable of. Hearing stories isn’t the same thing as seeing it with your own eyes.”
“But the coven. Kenzie and the blood donors. Lavinia. Tau, and Isa. Everyone… They’ll be in danger.” My eyes burned with the tears that threatened to spill. “And your brothers. They'll die at the hands of the vampire king. And it makes me sick to think what he’ll make them do with Dagon’s necromancy power at his disposal. If he could force you to hurt me at the Boston Coven, imagine what he could make them do.”
Vin’s demeanor turned suffocating as he loomed over me, the shadows from the treetops stark over his face.
“None of that would compare to their suffering if you die.”
Chapter fourteen
Ancient Rites
Iwasnostrangerto anger. My rage wasn’t just the result of a childhood built on lies.
I was born from it. It was every bit a part of me as the blood in my veins and the breath in my lungs. After all this time, it had almost become a comfort to me, something I could count on while the world around me went to shit. With that anger, I could summon my most powerful, animalistic nature that would get me through damn near anything.
With my chaos, I could weather the darkest of storms. I could rebuild the vampire kingdom from the ruins of my father’s reign. So the very least I could do was trust it not to prioritize Feral’s dick for a second time in a row.
She was more than a weapon. She was power. True strength.
She was me.
And if I couldn’t trust myself to get through this cluster fuck, Vincent wouldn’t either.
It was just scary because, well, that part of me was what got me into this mess.
Now it was up to my crazy-bitch side to get us out.
“Whatever you do, just keep your goddamn legs closed around this male,” I whispered to myself under my breath.
Vincent’s arms flexed around me, lifting me closer and angling his ear toward me to hear me better. “What are you saying, woman?”
I didn’t have to give him a verbal answer. No sooner than the question had left his mouth, I knew he felt the shift coming. Power pulsated around me as I drew on every drop of magic I could muster. My monster was hard to wrangle at the current moment because Sterling and Corry’s mating marks were so frozen and cold, but I drew on all the warmth from Eros’ and Vincent’s bonds, which were warm and buzzing.
Whether it was out of a sense of duty for her kingdom or just the promise of dick, she came exploding to the surface.
