Page 61 of Claimed By Blood

“Gid, cool off.” Frost gives the order, and it works… slightly.

The other alpha shakes himself and looks around the room, though his hands remain clenched at his sides.

“We need to kill Cain,” he says, voice surprisingly even given the colour still staining his cheeks. “This place won’t remain safe forever, and we’re only increasing the risk of Samuel’s family getting hurt the longer we stay here.”

“But he doesn’t know where hereis,” Evie pushes. “We need a break, Gideon. After everything… Do you even know how many fingers Draven has regrown in the last month? How many toes? God knows what Frost suffered in the dungeon. And Finn…” She waves a hand at him. “Finn’s been working so hard he’s burned out. I thought omegas were the heart of the pack?”

“I’m fine,” Finn mutters, quietly. “I don’t want to be involved in this.”

Evie stares at him, arching a single brow, and he actually blushes.

“Yeah, okay, maybe I am a bit tired,” he concedes.

Gid flinches subtly at his words, and the motion is so small that I think I’m the only one who notices.

Finn doesn’t, because he’s still looking at Evie as he continues, “But I still don’t want to get involved.”

And that’s the problem.

If Finn is so emotionally worn down he’s no longer able to deal with pack quarrels, then he needs a break. We all do. A pack with a worn-down peace-keeper often ends up tearing itself to shreds.

I don’t say it, but I catch Gideon’s eye and hold his stare rather than dropping my eyes as expected, letting him see exactly how strongly I feel about this.

Immy sighs. “We’re not getting any further without what’s in our brother’s head,” she mumbles. “And I… I’d really like a break. I agree with Evie. Let’s just breathe. Take some time to figure out who we all are without our sire watching every move we make.”

“It would be nice to be together openly,” Mia murmurs to Morwen, clearly tackling our other holdout. “We can ditch these losers and explore. I’ve always wanted to try sand kiting.”

I grimace, but say nothing. Miaisimmortal, as much as we tend to forget that. If she wants to try extreme sports, then there’s not really much we can do to stop her.

Vane, however, has no such chill. “Have you got the protective equipment for that?”

Morwen hisses at him. “I’ll keep her safe.”

Mia rolls her eyes, glancing between the two of them with amusement. “The more you try to keep me safe, the more I’ll misbehave,” she promises.

Morwen arches one delicate eyebrow. “Try it and I’ll spank your ass, brat.”

Okay. That’swaymore information than I needed about my sister’s sex life.

Vane growls, and I hurriedly put a hand on his chest. “Dude, not our business, remember?”

And like he can talk, anyway. I know exactly what kind of things he’s into… spankings are practicallytameby comparison.

He shrugs me off, but says nothing, earning him a smug grin from our sister, who doesn’t even thank me for being the ‘cool’ brother.

Likely because she realises I just plan to be sneakier about ensuring her safety.

That leaves only Draven and Gideon.

The former is all but asleep against Evie, and I have to bite my lip to resist the urge to start messing with him just because I can. I hope someone brought my prank supplies with us during our kidnapping, but I can be resourceful if they didn’t.

With this new development, there will be plenty of opportunities to taunt him.

“We stay,” the vampire mutters.

Gideon’s outvoted now, and he knows it. Running an exasperated hand through his hair, he gives Finn a long, indecipherable look, before turning and heading for the bed in the far corner.

“Fine. But I want us out of here by the full moon,withthat information.” He aims the last part at Evie, who shrugs. “I mean it. This is not a holiday. Just a…”

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