Page 58 of Owned

If she had been anyone else, it would have been easy.

But there was something about her—something addictive. And our initial aims—even the bet we’d made to claim her—had all been left in the dust.

She burned in my mind.

And as much as I wanted to forget, as much as I wanted to push her away, I couldn’t.

The goddamned blood bond was the cause of it. It had to be.

There was no other explanation.

Well, there was one—

I gritted my teeth against the intrusion.

Even with that possibility looming, I couldn’t stop.

She had seared herself into my thoughts, and the more I tried to resist, the more deeply she burned there.

My hands were tight on the wheel as I caught up with Valen and Bastian and trailed them into the city.

The streets of Messana swallowed us into the chaos of twilight—our headlights sliced through the encroaching darkness, and the neon glow of the storefronts blended together as we rushed by.

This city had been our playground once.

We’d owned it and did whatever we wanted, when we wanted to.

People feared us.

Hated us.

But no one stood in our way.

Now it felt like Lucian’s eyes were on every corner, waiting for us to slip.

Bastian veered left, toward where most of the Black Council made its home. The upper city was polished and landscaped—the members of the Council were hidden in plain sight. Business leaders. Educators. Spiritual figureheads. Sages.

Damned Sages.

Bastian would get his traitors, but he wouldn’t have fun doing it. Not this time.

Valen followed close behind.

“I want blood—”

Lucian’s words echoed in my mind.

He’d get what he asked for. My brothers and I would see to that.

The alleysof Messana coiled around me, narrow and dim. Valen followed me for a few blocks, and then took a sharp turn toward the hills. Whatever he was planning, he’d better have something to show for it by the end of the night.

Lucian didn’t seem to be in a patient mood.

But when was he ever?

Titus was right—even I could admit that paranoia had started to eat away at our father’s usually rational mind.

How long would he be able to maintain control of his power—or the Necromi?

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