Page 3 of Hell Storm

My posture straightened, and I locked eyes with Silas again.

“Mutual feeding … as in, not only do I have to let him take blood fromme, but … I’m expected to takehis?” I asked, seeking clarity.

There was a shrill tone to my voice that reminded me of my mother’s whenever she got worked up.

And ‘worked up’ I was.

Bigtime.

“Relax,” Silas insisted, standing from the couch when I did. “It’s not as bad as I’m sure you’re imagining it to be.”

I’d just begun to pace when his words stopped me dead in my tracks. “Easy for you to say.”

He lifted both hands shoulder-high as if he meant to surrender.

“Believe me, I’m not making light of the situation,” he insisted. “I know this has been a lot to absorb in such a short amount of time, but I assure you, if there was another way to go about this, we would have gladly taken it.”

Unmoving, I only stared as he spoke.

“You have to believe we took your feelings into consideration, Corina, as much as we did Julian’s. But unfortunately, this was the only solution that didn’t end with one of you being taken to the Butcher as a new, shiny toy to break.”

My skin crawled at the mention of that man. The savage who prided himself in breaking the will of the most steadfast humans on Earth.

I knew this to be true, because many of his victims had been intricate components of our network.

“Understood,” was the only response I could muster up for Silas.

This was all so messed up, how we’d been forced to surrender to one another because the world their kind created was so cruel, so unforgiving that even aprincecouldn’t be pardoned. But this was our reality now.

Theirs.

Mine.

Quickly, I came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t do any of us any good to stall, so…

“What needs to happen now?” I blurted. “What’s our next move?”

Silas, being incredibly perceptive, seemed to notice the sudden change in my mood. I’d gone from practically wearing my emotions on my sleeve, to hiding any trace of them behind a thick wall—a defense mechanism I developed at an early age.

“Well …,” he sighed, “Julian’s already administered the bite, so the next thing to take place should be the Claiming. He needs to feed from you while his venom is still co-mingling with your blood. And, seeing as how that should wear off by morning, that means it needs to happen tonight.”

The rims of my nostrils flared when I breathed deeply.

Tonight.

It wasn’t likely my face gave anything away, despite feeling so much.

“Well, there’s no sense in waiting, I suppose. Let’s get this show on the road.”

It was a bold move, but I started toward the door without being prompted.

“Corina.”

Hearing my name leave Silas’ lips so sweetly, I halted, peering over my shoulder simply because I hadn’t expected to hear it spoken in such a way.

“There’s still time if you’d like to finish discussing this first,” he offered.

Time. My thoughts snagged on that one word. It was a phrase that had so many strange meanings to me now.

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