Page 50 of Fated In Blood

“Nothing about this is fucking easy,” I snarled, my own fangs stabbing down through my gums as temper got the better of me. “I’d made my choice. You should have let me die rather than turn me intothis,” I spat in disgust.

“Maybe we should have.” His words—his cold-as-ice tone—had my stomach turning, wondering if he’d end me out here. Wondering if that’s why he’d brought me to the quarry in the first place.

“Tyrell knew exactly who you were and decided to use you against Blake. Against me. He and my sire used to delight in their games, and over the centuries they became crueler and more extravagant. But this…this took careful planning. Over a long period of time.” His voice trailed off as he considered me, his mouth twisted into a bitter sneer.

“Blake’s family was killed by a vampire hunting family called the Silverwoods. They killed his parents, burned the family estate, and left his sister on the steps of Darkmore as a gift for Tyrell. Hearing your name, knowing he saved the very personwho took his family away…well, chances are, he’ll never be sober again.”

“Wow. You really know how to make a girl feel special.”

Not only was this conversation in the middle of no-fucking-where supremely depressing, my buzz from earlier was wearing off, replaced by…I focused on Riordan’s neck, that pulse beating at the base of his throat.

God, he smelled delicious, and I was hungry again, and…

“Do you deny it? Your family killed Blake’s?”

Oh, right…he was still talking. Obviously, the bastard was oblivious to the fact I was seconds away from ripping into his neck like an animal. I fisted my hands, digging my nails deep into my palms until I focused on the sharp bite of pain, not how good Riordan smelled right now.

That was better.

“My family situation is complicated.” I couldn’t go around biting everyone I met and drinking them dry. Okay, so Blake had been a mistake in the heat of the moment, and Collum had pretty much deserved what he got, but if I jumped the king and climbed him like a tree, I’d get a reputation I didn’t deserve.

“But yes. I am fromthoseSilverwoods, though I haven’t seen them in years. They’re monsters, worse than monsters, after what I’ve heard tonight. My mother took my sister and I and ran the first chance she got.”

“So your sister…”

“We’re not talking about my sister. Or my mother.” No need to overshare my traumatized childhood. Not right now and certainly not with him.

“Fine. We’ll save that conversation for later.” His eyes flashed. “I have a proposition for you, Evangeline. We’re fighting a war with Tyrell, and we are losing. You could be the silver bullet—no pun intended—we’ve been searching for. Do you haveyourself under control enough for me to take you back to Crimson House?”

“Control? Can you even hear yourself talk?” That heady ravenous hunger turned the edges of my vision dark as I started to laugh.

I was still laughing when Riordan grasped my waist and yanked me against him, a solid wall of muscle wrapped up in that delicious spice scent. Despite my best efforts at restraint, my fangs sank into his throat, right over that beating pulse.

Warm, thick blood hit my tongue, and my moan echoed across the rock-filled gorge.

Riordan tasted like lightning and thunder, like drinking power straight from the source, and I was so lost in the rush, I didn’t even realize we were being attacked.

24

RIORDAN

As expected, the little beast ripped into me like an animal, the moment she got a chance.

No finesse, no restraint, just feral hunger, and a wild sense of hope filled me as I pinned her against me and prepared to fly her back to Crimson House.

We had a Silverwood heir at our disposal.

To use as our weapon, as bait, as a pawn in our war with Tyrell. For better or worse, the cagy old bastard had involved her, and now that I controlled Evangeline, we’d use her to destroy him.

Even Blake would see the logic in that, once he sobered up enough to listen.

Vengeance was what drove him, and this baby vamp would be our ticket to settling scores and getting Tyrell out of the way for good.

We just had to figure out Laurent’s end game and why he’d involved the daughters of our deadliest enemy. Clearly to fuck with Blake’s head, but Tyrell never had one plan, which meant there was something darker at play here, though I couldn’t see his real motive yet.

My sire was an evil cocksucker, but years of enduring his cruelty had taught me to look deep beneath the surface until I uncovered the plot within a plot, because with these ancient bastards, there always was one.

Often more.

---