Page 63 of Fated In Blood

I’d never been classically pretty like Angelique, nor did I possess the quiet beauty of my mother. Looks, I’d alwaysreasoned, were fleeting. Brains lasted forever and, combined with determination, would always take me further than beauty ever could.

I’d worked for years to build myself up, to make myself strong enough the world couldn’t hurt me. Prided myself on how well I protected my sister…until I hadn’t.

But all it took was one snide comment from Blake to cut my self-esteem off at the knees.

I hated that I could be destroyed so easily and with so little.

I shrugged my stiff shoulders. “Fine. Have it your way. That night meant nothing to me, either.”

“Just so you know, that’s the sort of thing someone says when itdoesmean something.” His lips curled up. “Did you have a nice bath this morning? His eyes dropped to my right hand, his tongue rimming his bottom lip. “Were you thinking of me, Slayer, when you touched yourself?”

Blood rushed to my face.Had that been him, listening? “You were spying on me.”

He just shrugged. “Rohr asked me to talk to you, I just got there a little early. I have very, very good hearing.”

I was seriously going to stab him.

In the eye.

The second I had pants on.

“Oh, you can try, little slayer. Tomorrow in the ring, you can try to stab me to your heart’s content. I’ll even let you use your deadly little knives.” The bastard crossed my paltry bedroom in two strides, threw open my battered footlocker, and yanked out my bag. “There, now concentrate on getting dressed so we can get out of this fire trap.”

My temper simmered at a low boil as I weighed the chance he’d simply made an educated guess I had an emergency bag hidden in my ancient locker that had once belonged to my mother. That he knew how badly I wanted to stab him.

“You can read my mind.”

His lips curled back and he hoisted my bag over his shoulder, hardware clinking. “I’m over ten times older than you, and you don’t have a clue how to guard your own thoughts. Of course, I can read your mind, you’re a fucking open book. Consider this our number one lesson and don’t ever forget it.”

Internally, Blake’s every word made me flinch, but on the outside, I didn’t so much as blink. If there was anything I could thank my father and uncle for, it was beating the fear out of me. I had a feeling I’d look back on those rosy days fondly compared to what lay ahead, because from the expression on Blake’s face, he was planning to make me suffer.

Good thing suffering was what I excelled at.

I whipped the black concert t-shirt over my head. The fucker wanted to stay?Let him stay.Let him watch like some bloodsucking creeper, because he would never lay a finger on me again.

I reached for my panties, my gaze sliding to his face.

His expression burned with pure, undiluted hunger, gone so quickly anyone not trained in the minutia of expressions would have missed the split-second flash of emotion. But not me.

Now it was my turn to smirk.

The bra clasp took entirely too long for my trembling fingers to fasten, and when I shimmied into my jeans, he masked a choking groan beneath a clearly fake cough.

Ha, good to know Blake was suffering.

My favorite boots were back at Crimson House, but I laced up my Converses and pulled my hair away from my face. “I have to make a stop on our way back. And before you open your mouth to argue, know this. It won’t take long, and I will make your life a living hell if you tell me no.”

I looped a plain black hair tie around my pony and drew it tight to my scalp, then tucked it beneath the dark hoodie I zipped up to my neck. “I only have one coat and it’s not here.”

“Where, pray tell, did you leave your coat?”

“At Valentine’s. Like I said, it’ll only take a minute for me to get it, then we’ll be on our way. I won’t even give you any trouble.”Until after I have that jacket in my possession, anyway.

Blake snorted. “Did you already forget I can read your mind as clearly as if you’d said that out loud?” I winced slightly beneath his withering stare. “You’re some kind of fucking vampire savant, according to Rohr. Yet you can’t remember the most basic facts.”

He filled my vision completely when he stepped closer, brows drawn together. “You try to run, and you will be sorry, Slayer.” His voice was so quiet I strained to hear him, forcing myself to hold his gaze without blinking.

“Your family took everything from me, so if you think I’ll go easy on you because you’re a female, you are wrong. I’ve dreamed of the day I’d have a Silverwood at my mercy, and I have a fucking lifetime of anger, so it’s taking every ounce of my willpower not to kill you where you stand.”

---