Page 69 of Stalked By Seduction and Shadows

Irritation flashed in her features. “No. Not since you gathered us here. I think we’re all a bit preoccupied now to watch your pet human.”

I didn’t have time to put Mason in her place. I left her in charge, my heavy stare carrying a wordless promise.

Fighting side by side in war created a bond between beings that no others would understand. But my patience for disrespect could only stretch so far.

None of that mattered right now.

Not when Scarlett was being drained of her blood.

33

SCARLETT

Snow and I were eating ice cream out of edible, sugary pastry bowls. It was an ingenious culinary invention that I was endlessly mesmerized by.

“I love food,” I said contentedly.

Snow nodded and groaned after swallowing a bite of her creamy chocolate dessert. “It’s the best.”

“Whoever invented edible bowls deserves to be the richest person in all of Ravenia.”

Snow snorted. “You’re easy to please, Scar.”

Our laughter came to a halt when we rounded a corner and came face to face with three born vampire men in a quiet alley.

It was becoming easier for me to recognize them in a split second. Their magick felt different, and of course, they were eternally young, beautiful, and unmarked.

Snow and I stopped, but before we could turn to head in a new direction, they’d planted themselves directly in front of us.

They didn’t look like the born who came into Odessa. Though their features were nothing short of entrancing, their clothing was worn and indicated poverty.

But that wasn’t what had me standing stock still, my every survival instinct surging with a heavy dose of adrenaline. It was the look in one of their eyes—the man in the middle with disheveled black hair—and the way his chest was rising and falling at an unnatural speed. He wasn’t grinning at us like the other two, arrogant but controlled, likely planning on toying with us.

No. The man with the rabid eyes was staring right at my jugular. I could feel his ravenous thirst as if it were my own, expanding out in the space between us in a powerful riptide of energy.

It was less desire and more of a sharp need, like a cornered, injured animal that was giving life just one last shot before facing death’s door.

He was entering bloodlust.

My dagger was strapped to my leg under my bulky black sweater dress. I would unfortunately need to drop my ice cream to reach it, which had me considerably annoyed.

Beside me, Snow was summoning power. From there, everything moved quickly. Ice cream splattered at our feet. Vampires laughed, and I awkwardly grabbed my weapon.

The one in bloodlust shot forward, but his friends held him back by either shoulder.

“Sorry about our friend, ladies,” the one on the left said, his grimy blond hair slick with oil. “This is what happens when you keep Lillian’s children starved and exiled.”

“Calm down, we’re just trying to chat, not rip into those sexy throats,” the one on the right said, eyeing my dagger and Snow’s raised hands glowing with white light. He had deep brown skin and a shaved head.

They strained against their friend’s growing fury, and I knew that no matter what they said, there was no way in hell they would be able to hold him back for much longer.

Which meant we either needed to run or fight. And outrunning a vampire on the hunt wasn’t even remotely possible.

Suddenly the one on the left was staring at me, but not with hunger. He cocked his head and peered over at the friend not currently in bloodlust.

“Mikey—what’s different about her?” he asked. “The human one. There’s something...” He squinted, and my heart pounded furiously in my chest. “I don’t know.”

His friend shook his head. “That she’s fuckin’ sexy as sin?”

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