Silence.
Sobek stiffens in shock, before tightening his hold on me. “I caught this one. I’m claiming him.”
“Your fangs aren’t in his neck yet,” Lanlin replies, silkily.
Sobek slowly stands to face Lanlin. “You’d fight me over a fae whore?”
“You’d fight yourKingat all?” Lanlin cocks his head.
“Why do you want him?”
“How can a puppy understand the ambitions of a wolf?”
“How can a little monster understand anything?”
“Fight me then,” Lanlin snarls, circling Sobek. “One shot only. If I win, I win the fae in the Hunt.”
I attempt to push myself onto my side.
I don’t know if I should be running from Lanlin as well, but I’ve made my choice.
Better the monster you know.
I can’t see more than a blur of fight moves and growls between the pyramids, as both vampires move at lightning-fast speeds. I wince at the tearing of flesh and the crashes that sound like stone blocks being turned to sand.
How much was Lanlin holding back when he sparred with me?
He’s not holding back now.
Finally, there is an eerie silence.
I strain to hear anything.
My fingers brush against Barnabas’, which are already cooling. I wish that I had something to lay over his body.
I wrap my arms around myself. “Lanlin?”
Nothing.
With difficulty, I struggle around onto my stomach and with a grunt of pain begin to crawl down the path away from the pyramids.
At this point, meeting any Blood but Sobek would be preferable, and if he has won in the fight, then I’m not just going to wait around for him to claim me as his Blood Lover.
I yell out, as suddenly someone is pinning me down with a firm hand on my neck. “Where are you going, Little Dove?”
Lanlin.
I let out a sigh of relief.
“Is Sobek dead?” I demand.
“By law, any Alpha who harms an Omega warrants death. Sobek is from the House of Crocodile, my kingdom’s top warrior, and my half-brother,” Lanlin replies. “Was.”
“Shame.”
“Now,” Lanlin drops in a seductive sprawl in the sand next to me. His face is close, and I can see that it is as busted and bruised as mine is, “my turn.”
He pushes the curls back from my neck with his delicate fingers; they are shaking.
