Page 123 of Red Ruin

“Your inner glow is…” His eyes reflect flashes of purple where their red mixes with the blue light glittering under my skin. “Truly radiant.”

I bite my lip.

Guides only glow from deep connection.

Usually, after imprinting.

My stupidly high compatibility makes me more likely to glow than most, but Kevan never lit me past a shimmer in my fingertips.

Vhex and Remy have me sparking at a glance.

I’m glad Remy’s lair doesn’t have a mirror.

I don’t want to see myself shining for them.

It’ll fade soon enough.

“Remy.” I press my fingers to his throat. His pulse is much slower than a natural human’s—only a few beats per minute—but it speeds up when I stroke his silks. “Bring Vhex to me.”

“No.”

“Then send me to him.”

“I need you,” he drawls in that rich, dark, listen-to-the-vampire voice that flutters between my ribs.

I swallow the butterflies. “He needs me just as much.”

Remy bites the flesh of my shoulder.

The bite is all teeth, no fang, but between the pressure and the possessive claw of his silks, I writhe under his weight.

Not so long ago, I would’ve given in to please my Sentinel.

But the part of me that believed in perfect matches and forevers never made it out of Kyorgos.

I’ll never chain myself to one Sentinel again.“Bring him to me before he caves in the ceiling.”

“These areourquarters.”

I quirk a brow. “You said I could decorate.”

“After I’m dead.”

“Then live longer.” I shake him, trying to knock loose the part of him that used to give a fuck about anything beyond my blood. “Right now, I want a devil in this bed.”

Remy heaves a long-suffering sigh and flicks his fingers.

In a blink, a Vhex-sized bundle drops beside the bed, kicking and writhing. A net of shadows hides his shape but not his psychic distress.

“Let him out,” I say breathlessly, already crawling across the bed to stop the rage-soaked pain ripping through his body and my soul.

“Brace your ears,” Remy warns and banishes the shadows.

Screaming his throat raw, Vhex fireballs out of the dark.

I dodge, not wanting to be caught between him and another attack.

But Vhex doesn’t tear into Remy.

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