Page 114 of Fated In Blood

Fuckingreason.

I was mad with this overwhelming need to possess her, to protect her, to keep her safe. None of which was logical, or even sane.

I kept telling myself I needed to be rational, to use my head.

But jealousy won out, every time.

“I never met him before today. Why don’tyoutell me how long you think I’ve known him, Blake, since you haveallthe answers?” Oh, that look on her face promised pain, and God help me, my cock hardened, a floodwater of lust pouring through me at that defiant challenge in her eyes.

“You sank your teeth into him pretty fucking fast for just meeting him.” Fury tightened my throat until I could barely get the words out. “And how did Draven beat us to Virginia? I smelled him all over that motel room you were staying in. Care to explain that?”

Oh, I’d pictured them together, alright, writhing on that mattress and that image had given me the rage I’d needed to leave Silas’s mercenaries strewn all over that field in pieces.

To let my shadows wreak destruction over what little remained of White Chapel. When I’d left, the Silverwood legacy was in ruins.

My fangs dug into my bottom lip, a droplet of blood trickling down my chin. I was barely holding myself together, some deep, throbbing torment squeezing my chest like a vise ripping me apart.

That pressure in my chest, right…

Right below…my heart.

Fuck.

I jolted like I’d been struck by lightning, a sharp spear of clarity cleaving through me as the truth squeezed my heart tighter. I was bound to her. I could hear her thoughts, a rare bond, usually forged over centuries…or between mates.

Mates.

Riordan’s slow smile was maddeningly smug, shock jolting through me when Evangeline reached up and massaged her sternum, the exact same place where my own ache grew more and more urgent.

Watching her delicate fingers rub, my own tender spot tightened even more, like a muscle spasming, or a heart breaking, and the truth struck me so hard and so fast I couldn’t deny it any longer.

Fuck, we were really mates…weren’t we?

Evie saw where I was looking and dropped her hand, “I…don’t know how Malachi found the hotel. I swear, I never saw him before today.”

I believed her.

I believed every word, and I wanted to fall on my knees and tell her how wrong I’d been about everything. I yearned to grovel and kiss her feet and tell her how I’d gone to Virginia to save her, because she’d been the only thing that mattered.

Then Malachi swept in and stole her away.

Took the honor that should have been mine, making me look like a fool. Less than a minute later, she’d had her fangs in his throat.

Not only that, but Riordan’s scent was all over her.

And just like that, jealousy came roaring back.

I fought for air, lungs burning, adrenaline and rage flooding through me. Everyone got to have Evangeline, except for me. No, even worse.

She’dgivenherself to them.

If she was really my mate…why did everyone get to have her except me?

“Are you seriously suggesting I subjected myself to torture at the hands of my own family because I’m what? In some kind of partnership with that swarmy Viking fuck?” She burst to her feet.

I wiped every trace of emotion from my face. “The possibility occurred to me.”What the fuck was I even doing?From Riordan’s expression, he was wondering the same.Yes, I have clearly lost my damn mind over this female.

She threw her hands up in the air. “You’re even more of a bastard than him,” she hissed, pointing at Rohr, shaking her head with a bitter laugh.

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