“What do you want, Bianca?” he gritted out, despising her inane rambling yet needing to keep her talking until he could figure out howto save Cora. His options were getting slimmer by the second, and he was about to start praying to Lilith for a miracle.
“Now you care about what I want? So fickle, Saiden.” She clucked her tongue at him. “At first I just wanted to kill your girl in front of you so you’d suffer a bit before I ended your miserable existence, but now…” Bianca leaned down and sniffed Cora’s hair. “I think I’ll keep this one. She’s just too pretty to pass up. Don’t worry, I’ll take excellent care of her. She’ll never miss you for a second, will you, Cora?”
“No, Bianca,” his mate replied in that dazed robotic voice.
“Delightful. Now how about a little kiss. Let Saiden see how little you’ll care when he’s gone.”
Saiden’s stomach dropped out when Cora started to move on command. She shifted forward, pressing her chest up against the evil vampire and tilting her head back.
Keeping nearly black eyes locked on Saiden, Bianca leaned down to press her lips against Cora’s.
It made him want to vomit, the sight of his mate in the grip of that damned harpy.
“Mmmm,” Bianca sighed, pulling back a second later. “I see why you like her, Saiden. She is absolutely—”
There was no mistaking the squelching sound that filled the air. A dagger sinking into flesh, sliding past bone to bury itself into a heart.
Bianca’s heart.
The deranged vampire’s eyes grew wide, and she released Cora to step back, staring down at the jeweled hilt sticking out of her. A crimson stain quickly spread out from the wound like a deadly rose blooming among the cheery sunflower pattern of her dress.
Cora straightened and smoothed down the front of the black dress that had to be one of Raven’s. Turning, she grinned at him. “You know, I think I could get used to long flowy skirts with pockets. Easyto hide things in the folds.”
Saiden opened his mouth to say something—he had no idea what he might say since he was still in shock—but Bianca beat him to the punch.
Leaping forward, she crashed to the ground on top of Cora and pummeled his mate’s face repeatedly before yanking the knife from her own heart and plunging it into Cora’s stomach. “You will pay for that,” she hissed. “If I die, you die.”
Saiden jolted forward, prepared to tackle Bianca and potentially set off the bomb early if she killed Cora.
Before he could make the call, Cora held up a hand, and it stopped him in his tracks. It took less than a heartbeat to see the determination in her eyes. His mate wanted to claim the kill, and if anyone deserved revenge, it was her.
Cora wrenched the knife from her own stomach as if it hurt no more than plucking a speck of lint off her shirt and slammed the dagger into the side of Bianca’s head.
The blonde vamp collapsed to the ground, blood pooling around her adorable curls as her life seeped out all over the concrete floor.
“But… you were mine,” Bianca wheezed, and Saiden could hear her ruptured heart slowing down as it pulsed out its final beats. “You were m-mine.”
“No, Bianca. I wasn’t,” Cora replied, standing up and pulling out a pair of long black earplugs. Definitely not the thin orange ones Eliana had given her earlier. “I was never under your spell.” Cora glanced back to Saiden and added, “Who knew I could ever be such a good actor? Maybe I’ve been wasting my time with directing.”
Saiden couldn’t believe it. His mate, his perfect mate, had fooled them both. And now she was cracking jokes seconds after stabbing someone when she should be doubled over in pain from her ownwounds.
He truly did not deserve her.
Blood burbled up out of Bianca’s mouth. “You think this ends with me?” the dying vampire choked out. “She might overlook you killing her rabid children, but she’ll never let my death go unpunished. You think all the new rogues are just coincidence? You have no idea what’s coming for you now.”
Saiden was tempted to try to save Bianca. Stabilize her just enough to take her prisoner and find out what she knew. But the fading thumps in her chest told him it was too late for that. They would have to deal with any other threats when the time came.
If it ever came.
Awkwardly nudging a piece of glass aside, Saiden resisted the urge to run to Cora, wrap her up in his arms, and never let her go.
She had come for him. She saved him. Did that mean…?
He was too afraid to say anything, so they both silently watched as Bianca succumbed to her wounds. It was only after he could no longer discern even the faintest of heartbeats that he turned to face his mate. His future. However short it may be.
Cora stepped over to him shyly, her small feet crunching in the glass that still coated much of the warehouse floor.
She looked up at him, and he would have given anything to be able to read her mind. To know what she was thinking. Did his family force her to come? Did she want to be here? How did she pull it all off? Did her showing up mean that things had…?
