“Master Niallan, tell her she can’t. A queen would never hunt her dinner. It’s—”
“I’m not the queen yet, am I?” I snapped.
“But you are the candidate.”
I slammed my hand on the desk. “I am not the queen yet. I don’t want to be fed. I want to hunt. I want to go out and find blood that will sustain me on my own.”
“Gwen has a point.” Nial yawned, bored with her argument.
Adelie looked at him. “She needs to stay here, safe.”
“Nowhere that creep Cato roams is safe.”
“Master Niallan!”
He sighed and held the book up, his tone full of false pleas. “Oh, Gwen, please don’t go out and find your own food—like the hunter you are.”
In a fleet movement, my best friend was in front of Nial’s chair and flipped him up and over in it. “You ass! If she goes out and hunts for her meal, who knows what will happen!”
“She might, I don’t know, eat?” He mocked, picking himself up off the floor and brushing off his pants. Then he took one step forward. Nial placed his intimidating body directly in front of hers, dwarfing Adelie’s tiny frame. His eyes narrowed to dangerous slits as his gaze ran over each of her features. On the quietest growl, he hissed, “And if you dare to touch me again, vampire, no one will find your remains. Understand?”
Sizzling energy crackled inside my apartments, his power trickling out.
I held still, locking my legs.
My lungs seized, no air flowing.
I wanted tobowdownto that power.
Uncontrollable. Untamable. Immense and raw.
Dark and disheveled. Hungry.Barbaric.
An Original’s power. Only a pin drop of it.
And I was ready to lick his feet. Lick each of his toes to clean off any filth.
I ground my jaws together, my frame vibrating.
Do not move. Do not move.
Adelie’s forehead hit the floor as she knelt, unable to do anything else.
She sputtered on a gasp, “My apologies, Original.”
Still…he stared down at her.
Contempt radiated from him.
I heaved in a lungful of oxygen by mere force of will, then I flipped the table next to me with shaking muscles. All to gain his attention. “Cut the shit, Nial.”
Smoldering eyes flicked in my direction.
One second. Two seconds.
Gradually, the power dissipated.
I breathed a wobbly sigh of relief.
