Page 93 of Fated In Blood

Only long enough to work up the energy to get myself out of here.

Then I’d go back to Thorndale, kill Tyrell, and save my sister.

But first…first I had to close my eyes.

38

RIORDAN

Irubbed my aching head, hardly able to concentrate on the problem before me—and Malachi Draven was a big fucking problem—with Silver missing.

Gone for two days after she’d slipped out, right under our noses.

We’d searched the house, the grounds, the town…the entire fucking state. Nothing. Other than locking Vincent in his own beer cooler to freeze to death, she hadn’t left so much as a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow, and she’d been smart, getting out of town so fast.

Now she was too far away for either of us to track reliably.

I was equal parts pissed off and impressed.

Mostly pissed off right now, though not as pissed as Blake.

“I thought I’d be able to locate heranywheresince I fed her,” he grumbled for the fiftieth time, rubbing his chest with that methodic, circular motion. “This blood bond is for shit.”

I didn’t bother reminding him that I was the one who’d fucking Made her, and I was having no better luck.

Blake had been the one to locate Vincent, after our fight, and after we’d wasted hours searching Crimson House, convincedSilver was avoiding us. The slippery bar owner had been a worrying shade of blue when Blake dragged him out of the freezer, teeth chattering, going on and on about what he’d do to Evangeline once he found her.

I shut the bastard up fast, fighting the urge to shove him back and finish the job Silver started. We traced Valentine’s Mercedes to a chop shop in Philly. She’d swapped the tricked-out, fully loaded luxury sedan for a shit green 1977 Plymouth.

No electronics, no GPS, no way for us to track her any further by our usual means. As far as finding her, locating Silver through the blood bond wasn’t impossible, but the process would take time and manpower, neither of which we could spare right now.

Evangeline Silverwood was a bloodthirsty thing, and the primal, vampire part of me craved that savageness as much as I craved her obedience. I rubbed my head again, well aware Blake was staring. I went to great lengths to camouflage myself beneath expensive watches and tailored suits, but some urges could only be controlled, never erased.

“I Made her, not you. The bond is brand new, and you haven’t been feeding her, I have, which means your bond with her is fading.” My cock jumped the second I relived how eagerly her soft lips moved against my throat and the taste of her when I’d licked her juices off my fingers.

“I fucked myself, is that what you’re saying?”

“God, you are such a miserable bastard. I’m explaining basic facts, but if you want to make this all personal, be my guest.”

“Just saying…what good is this blood hierarchy shit if it doesn’t work?”

Blood hierarchydidwork. Basic vampire biology hadalwaysworked, for two thousand fucking years without a hitch, and it was working now. This had to do with me turning her and me feeding her and both of us fucking her, which just…confused the bond.

It sure as fuck was confusing me.

“One hour, Blake. Give me one fucking hour to deal with Malachi, then we go back to searching for her. He can’t sense anything’s wrong, or everything we’ve been working toward falls apart.”

“She’s still south of here.”

“I know, and I’ll remind you, there are twelve states south of here, plus an entire continent. The smart move would be to deal with our own shit and have everything in place when she returns.”I’d relied on Blake’s level head for a hundred years, now was not the time for the bastard to fall apart.

“How can you be so sure she’ll come back for her sister? She’s reckless and selfish. I doubt she’d risk her life to come back here.”

“She infiltrated Tyrell’s castle on one of the most important nights of the year, blew up the entire west wing, and if Tyrell wasn’t so powerful, probably would have succeeded in leaving Darkmore with her sister. She’s not selfish. Silver wouldn’t abandon her family. She’ll be back.” This was a fact, like the sun rising in the east tomorrow morning.

Evangeline Silverwood was many things, but disloyal she was not.

Part of me wondered what it would be like to have someone fight for me with the same fierce devotion she fought for her sister. She would be unstoppable. The perfect weapon.

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