Page 37 of Fated In Blood

For one fraught minute we stared at each other, the floor of the foyer disappearing beneath my shadows until I got ahold of my magic. This could not be fucking happening. Fate had a habit of fucking me over, but this…nobody had this bad of luck.

“Tell me your name.Again.” Surely, I’d misheard her, my head scrambled by that ground-shaking, mind-blowing sex. By the exotic taste of her coating my mouth.

This was a mistake. Please let this be a mistake.

“Evangeline Grace Silverwood.”

She stared at me with those wide, innocent blue eyes, arms crossed over her chest to hide her perfect breasts. This couldn’t be happening.

Evangelinewas the fucking enemy, and not only had I fed her, I’d fucked her. Riordan—the king I was supposed to protect with my life—was fuckingblood bonded to a vampire slayer.

For the rest of his fucking life.

I dragged my hands through my hair, cursing fate itself for my shit luck.

All the pieces slotted together so fucking neatly, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen the truth before. Tyrell had manipulated us both, and when Rohr found out…

“I…I don’t understand. I don’t know what I did, but…” She reached out a trembling hand, such a look of intense yearning on her face I stepped back. “Please, Blake, I need you.”

“You don’tneedme. I’m a vampire,” I sneered. “You’d fucking kill me if I gave you half a chance. A fuckingSilverwood. You never thought to mention that before just now?”

“I…It’s my name. You never asked…” Her ragged voice caught on that last word and that raw vulnerability made me despise her even more. “I’m sorry, I don’t understandwhat you’re so angry about.” Then her gaze sharpened, face slackening as realization sank in.

“Oh…Oh, shit.”

“Yeah, I think you do understand.”

I half expected her to lie, to pretend her family wasn’t the scourge of our species, but right before my eyes she put the pieces together in real time, teeth grit together so hard her bottom lip bled from where her new fangs punctured the skin.

Even this pissed, I fought the urge to go lick it off, to drive my tongue into her mouth and take her again. I…This was the way bonded mates acted, not fucking enemies. This was bad. I had to get as far away from her as I could.Fast.

I was a selfish, arrogant bastard even on the best of days, and today was not my best day.

Not anymore.

She was still sprawled across the floor, barely anything covering her curves, while I loomed over her in leather and violent fury, but I didn’t fucking care. The Silverwoods were the reason I was alone in the world, why my family home stood empty and rotting, why I had lost everything that had ever mattered.

“Your family has been killing my kind for centuries.” I rubbed my chest, wanting to claw my aching heart out of my chest, but settled on worrying the tiny gold ring on the chain between my fingers, the only thing I had left of my sister.

“The Silverwoods murdered my sire and dam in their fucking beds.”

Her shocked gaze locked on my hand, and I dropped my fist to my side, hating I’d revealed another small weakness, but the words wouldn’t stop.

“Then your family took my sister, brutalized her, and when they were finished, do you know what they did?” I leaned in close enough our noses touched. “They dropped her on Tyrell’s steps.Bound in iron so she couldn’t dematerialize, with a note pinned to her bloodied blouse. ‘A gift for the Ancient,’ it said. I tried…”

The words got stuck in my throat, hatred tangling together with the memories until I was full of violence, too dangerous to be close to anyone, especially her. I stepped away, heated anger shifting to cold fury.

“Riordan and I went to Darkmore to save her, but we were too late. Tyrell finished what your family started. Now I’m the only Marten left. You should be proud; you’ve managed to wipe out one of the oldest bloodlines in the Nocturne Clan. Bragging rights, I suppose, at your annual vampire hunting meetings.”

“Blake.Please.” Her plea sounded so fucking sincere I nearly bought it. “I didn’t do that. That wasn’t me.”

“No. Butoneof you killed them. Your family destroyed mine. They destroyedme.” I raked my gaze over her, putting every ounce of hatred into my glare. “I never want to see you again. Not here, not in this town, not in this fucking state. Get yourself gone or I’ll be tempted to do something I’ll regret.”

“But…what am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t care. You are not my problem anymore.” I clenched my hands before I did something I’d regret. “And I’ll make fucking sure you’re not Riordan’s, either. Why don’t you crawl back to Tyrell? He’s exactly what you deserve.”

Bitter, cruel words that made something twist in my chest, painful enough I fought to catch my breath. This was fucking hell, my entire being wrenched apart from the agony as I rejected Evangeline Silverwood from my life.

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