Page 90 of Club Blood

“I don’t take orders from you, Warren.”

My stomach sank at her response. She was cold and authoritative – her usual self – and all it took was a threat to Narcissa. That poisonous snake had decades on me, a bond with Mercy that I didn’t understand, not that I wanted to understand, anyway. Was Mercy going to let her away with almost killing me, for the sake of nostalgia? Something more?

The idea that Mercy still harbored feelings for Cissa left a sour taste in my mouth, and I didn’t want to delve deeper into it, though my mind was playing moments between them on a loop for me. If Mercy forgave Narcissa or let her go, I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Warren laughed. “Good to have you back, princess.”

Mercy’s growl was nothing short of posturing, a display of power to prove to herself as much as everyone else that she wasn’t weak. It hurt to know she thought she had to prove it; we already knew.

“He’s right, though. We do need to deal with her.”

Mercy looked at me, her demeanor changing to something softer. It took everything in me not to throw myself into her arms and feel the safety of her embrace. Giving into that right now would be dangerous, and I couldn’t afford the weakness of my heart clouding my judgment. We would deal with Narcissa, and then I would decide what was happening next.

The thing was, though, I was more conflicted than ever, and pushing my worries aside wouldn’t help me figure anything out. Finding out Mercy was going to kill herself nearly broke me, the hurt burning away most of my anger. I hadn’t forgiven her… but I wasn’t sure hatred was the right word to describe how I felt either.

“I know. But it is not for me to dispatch her.”

I stood then, pacing in frustration. “What? You can’t bring yourself to kill your little love-pet?”

Mercy leaped from her seat, grabbing me by the throat and pressing me against the fireplace. She leaned in, her breath a hot tingle against my lips as she smiled. I knew everyone would be able to smell the way my body reacted to her being so close, how I had to squeeze my thighs together as she gripped my throat tighter.

Mercy was my weakness… Did I really want to give that up?

“Are you jealous of Narcissa, my little flower?”

I growled, trying my best to mask just how true her words were. “I told you not to call me that. I’m not your anything.”

It was playing with fire to let her have hold of me like that. We both knew I could easily get out of her grip, but everything in me screamed to give into her.

“Just because you are one of our kind now doesn’t mean that I can’t still scent how you feel. And your jealousy, while incredibly misplaced, is a serious fucking turn-on.”

I groaned as she pressed her lips against mine, running her tongue along the seam of my mouth. I yearned to press into her, open up for her and let her pick me apart until forgiveness was all I knew.

But reality was a bitch, and so was Narcissa.

I pushed her off me, putting space between us. Henrik and Warren were watching us, amused smiles on their faces that made me want to scratch their eyes out.

Fuck, vampire emotions really were unregulated at the beginning.

“Why won’t you kill her, Mercy?” I asked, my voice doing little to hide the betrayal I felt.

Mercy tutted. “I told you, Cecelia, you have nothing to be jealous of. It’s not that I cannot or will not kill her; I want nothing more than to tear her head from her shoulders and put it on a spike. But alas, her death shouldn’t come from my hands.”

Warren furrowed his brows. “Then who?”

“The person she hurt most. If anyone should have the honor of killing her, it should be Cece.”

“Fuck that!” Warren yelled, curling his lip in fury. “You can’t ask her to do that, Mercy. It’s too much.”

“She is capable.”

“She’s also the most compassionate person we’ve ever known. Don’t make her lose that part of herself.”

“I’m notmakingher do anything!” Mercy growled, “But I am allowing her the option of deciding if shewantsto.”

Warren backed down at that, understanding what Mercy was trying to do. She turned to me again, closing the distance between us. “Cece?”

“Hm?”

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