Page 75 of A House of Fangs & Deceit

I hadn’t even bothered saddling up Zosa. Just grabbed a bridle and headed out. Luckily, I’d worn pants today. Riding bareback in a skirt was awkward and uncomfortable.

The rangers at the gate hadn’t been thrilled about letting me out, but when I flashed my fangs, they quickly changed their minds. As a Harker, no one was concerned about me turning into a Strigoi. And sadly, it hadn’t been an uncommon occurrence for me to storm out of the gates in a huff during my teenage years, usually because of something Alaric said.

But sometimes this would happen because I’d spot Kieran flirting with some gorgeous courtesan and it caused me to feel things I had no right to.

My life hadn’t been my own backthen.

“Don’t go far!” Nyx called out from behind me.

“I’ll be at the beach!” I called back over my shoulder. Then I wrapped my hands around Zosa's mane and squeezed my legs.

She leapt into a ground-eating gallop, and I leaned over her shoulders for better balance while I subtly directed her with my knees. We ran straight away from House Harker before veering off to the right and down a narrow path.

But all too soon, I had to slow Zosa down as the path started to dip down and become more narrow.

The trees on either side of us became sparser before falling away altogether and the dirt became sand. Zosa trotted up a rolling hill, and I pulled her to a stop, breathing in the salty air. The beach stretched out before us with impossibly white sand.

Normally, right about now would be when I’d be calming down and getting over whatever was bothering me, but not today. Rynn was deliberately putting herself in danger, and there was fuck all I could do about it.

My eyes shifted, and suddenly everything became a little sharper.

I squeezed them shut, but that just made me more aware of the scents and sounds around me. Zosa's quick breathing from our run. The rumble of the waves crashing into the shore.

My fangs slid a little further out. Damn it.

I slid off Zosa's back and pulled my boots off, digging my toes into the sand before removing the bridle. “Go run around, but don’t go too far,” I told Zosa. She snorted and bumped her head against my shoulder. “I’m fine, sweet girl.” I scratched her forehead and behind her ears before giving her a good shove. “Go!”

She took off like a rocket, kicking up sand all over me.

“Thanks,” I grumbled, beginning to walk up the beach towards my favorite spot.

My senses were still all keyed up thanks to the bloodlust. It’d been a while since I’d had it this bad. I’d need to get a handle on it before night came because it would only get worse as my magic increased under the moonlight.

We were a week away from a full moon, so any bloodlust would be intense at night for the next couple of weeks.

I should have asked Carmilla for a drink before she left, but I hadn’t been thinking about it, and it’d only been a few weeks since I drank from her last. Now I didn’t have anyone to drink from. At least, no one I was comfortable asking.

While feeding from someone wasn’t necessarily sexual, it was intimate. Growing up, Moroi children drank from their parents as well as from members of the House they belonged to. The bloodlines that founded the Houses were the most stable of the Moroi. We had been the first to pull away from the bloodlust, and it was almost unheard of for any House bloodline to fully lose themselves to bloodlust and become Strigoi.

When other Moroi drank our blood, it decreased the chances of them being completely overcome with bloodlust, but those feedings weren’t required often, so family members were responsible for most of the blood feedings. Then, as we matured, lovers, spouses, or trusted friends usually replaced family. Emotions tended to spiral while feeding, especially when bloodlust was running high.

I went to chew on my bottom lip and felt a sharp stabbing pain as I pierced it with one of my fangs. Sweet, coppery blood filled my mouth, and I practically moaned as the pleasure of the taste quickly overshadowed the pain.

Fuck. I needed to find someone to feed from. I couldn’t wait for Carmilla to get back. There was no way I was asking Alaric or Roth. Maybe Nyx? It’d be a little awkward, but they’d probably do it.

A smile tugged at my lips as my mood lightened atwatching Zosa frolic in the waves. She was literally the only good thing that came out of my time at House Laurent. I laughed softly as she ran out towards the retreating tide only to spin and haul ass back to the shore when the waves came crashing back in, her tail high up in the air as she pranced around.

“I leave you alone for one week, and you’re out here grinning like an idiot with blood running down your chin.”

“Kier?” I whirled around, and relief poured through me when I saw Kieran sitting on a blanket, perched on top of a grassy dune that rose above the sand, creating a nice lookout spot. “What are you doing here? I thought you wouldn’t be back for a couple more weeks?”

He smirked as I scrambled up to join him. “Carmilla requested my presence at the Sovereign House. Since House Harker was more or less on the way, I decided to come back here for a night before continuing on my journey.”

Just as I was about to launch myself into his arms, I forced myself to stop. He smelled achingly good. I swallowed and backed up a step.

“Umm, I actually came out here to be alone for a bit.” My eyes locked onto where his throat was pulsing, and I quickly looked at the ground. “Roth is here. You should go to the library so they can fill you in. Alaric is there too.”

“Sam,” he drawled in a low tone that never failed to set my blood on fire.

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