“The necromancy spell that Ruby's half-brother used to animate their father was supposed to be a temporary one. However, Master's able to remain animated so long as he's able to keep up his own spell, the one that allows him to use people's abilities by literally wearing them. Thomas Knight is nothing but a husk being held together by magic, but Dagon is still alive. And what keeps vampires alive?”
“Blood,” Corry said, his mouth slowly curving into a dastardly grin, dimple and all. “I see where you're going. If I can take control of Dagon's blood and drain him dry—”
“He won't be able to wear Dagon!” I said, bouncing up and down in my chair like a little kid on Christmas. “That's it! Then he won't be able to use Dagon's magic.”
“Exactly. Then you can use your Helsing abilities to stake him so that he can never be resurrected again.” Sterling smiled—a soft and serene smile that had a little flame igniting in my soul. “Killing him for good.”
Sterling had figured out a way to kill the vampire king for good. It almost seemed too good to be true. But... I believed it would work. That smile on his lips was magical like that. I had faith in that victorious look lighting up his moonstone eyes. How could I not? He'd been my father's victim for a thousand years. It was hard to fathom how many times Sterling had to rebuild his spirit, only for the vampire king to shatter it again. Someone like him, who'd suffered for so long, was probably careful with how they let their heart hope again.
So, when I saw it there, lighting up his face brighter than the sunset's golden blow, I held onto it for dear life like the lifeline it was.
I thrust to my feet and flung my arms around Sterling's shoulders. “We're going to kill that bastard, Sterling. I promise.”
The ancient priest held me so tenderly in his arms, tilting me back to look at him, sunlight lighting up his moon-pale hair as he dipped me for a kiss. I canted my head, pursing my lips. But instead, his lips kissed the marks over my throat, meandering slowly, sensually. It was the kind of kiss you saw in G-rated old black-and-white movies, but somehow it still felt intensely intimate.
“I'm so happy. You have no idea.”
I smoothed my hands over the hard sinew of his bare chest, grinning like an idiot. “How about you give me an idea, Priest?”
His lips parted with an impish smile that lanced my lungs, making me gasp for air. “I'm so happy that I'd like to have a pre-mature celebration of our success. That's how sure I am of our pending victory.”
Corry leaned across the table, almost like he, too, was affected by Sterling's magnetism. “What kind of celebration?”
“The kind where I fill our queen to be with an heir, Brother,” Sterling said without taking his attention off me. My head suddenly felt so weightless little electric sparks zipped through my veins, sending a heady adrenaline cocktail sweeping through me. My silver prince bowed his spine, bringing his lips a kiss away from mine so that his breath tangled with mine, teasing me with the taste of sinful promises.
“And I think I'll let my brothers watch.”
He closed the final space between us with a kiss that consumed me, body, mind, and soul. He kissed me with a desperate hunger I'd never felt to this degree before. It stretched down to the deepest, darkest parts of me. My monster awakened, rushing to the surface.
She was dangerously ravenous. Not for blood, though. Not this time. For something else her two mates could offer her.
Sterling pulled back, finally looking up at Corry with a wolfish grin fitting the devil himself. “Well, well, brother. It appears that our mate has gone into heat.”
Chapter twenty-eight
Run Little Red
Sterlingheldmetightin his arms through my shift, lustful red shadows roiling behind his eyes as he watched my monster emerge. I thrashed in the prison of his embrace, not trying to get away exactly, but this time my shift wasn’t as quick and painless as usual.
Maybe it was because my monster knew this was a dream. As much as she wanted us knocked up, no amount of fucking would get us pregnant. It might sate us all for now, but when I arrived home, Sterling would be especially ravenous for me.
So we’d put on a good show. We’d milk the mating hunt, then we’d milk them for every drop they had to give.
Sterling remained bowed over me, making a cage over me with his own body. Even with my monstrous nature fully formed, he held me painfully tight.
“Let me go,” I clawed at his chest, raking dark ribbons that oozed black over his pectorals. He didn’t so much as twitch an eyelash.
I was so desperate for the chase, to hear that guttural word roll past their lips.Run.
I wanted to run. And more than anything, I wanted to be caught.
I opened my mouth to unleash another protest, this one more savage than the last, but I froze when I saw Sterling’s paper-thin pupils were fixed on the youngblood.
Corry was barely keeping it together. His eyes had bled red, and the sinew and fine tendons in his neck and shoulders were pulled tight. A lump swelled in my throat when it occurred to me I’d seen him like this before. Not when I’d gone into heat last, but when he’d nearly killed his family, driven to the edge of madness. Only it wasn’t blood he was desperate for.
“What do you think, love? Do you think I should restrain your youngblood? Calm him down?” Sterling’s hazy pupils slid back to me, and they expanded slightly when they took me in. “Hmm. No, I think not. If this were reality, then I wouldn’t let this feral male be in the same room as you until he came down from his youngblood state. But here, where dreams are of little consequence? Why hold him back?”
My heart clenched, and my pussy ached with unhinged desire.
