Page 14 of Claimed By Blood

I soak in the sight of her, cataloguing the changes in my pretty little doll. She’s wearing modern clothes, and her coat is dripping with water as she hangs it neatly on a peg by the door.

She was outside… with Imogen? Or is she allowed to leave the skyscraper which houses the Court unsupervised? I can’t imagine Cain being so callous with her security, so I’m guessing it’s the former.

Her clothes may be shiny and new, but Evie is decidedly the opposite. Her mouth and eyes are lined with strain, and her expression is stony as she discovers me missing from the bed.

“Miss me, doll?”

Her head whips around, and her eyes pin me to the spot.

“Not in the slightest.” Could her voice be any more arctic?

Grinning, because that’s a challenge if ever I heard one, I savour the sound of her voice. In the month since I last saw her, she’s lost most of what remains of the slight Eastern European accent she had before. Her vampire instincts to adapt and survive have all-but erased it.

I don’t miss it. The tiny inflection reminded me too much of the place where this whole shit-show started.

I raise a single, questioning brow. “You were quick to put me in your bed for someone who claims they didn’t.”

There’s a knife at my throat before I can take my next breath.

Ah, a threat. How novel. Despite myself, excitement trickles down my spine, breaking free of the ice I prefer to surround myself with.

Only Evie can draw these novel little emotions out of me, and damn if I didn’t I miss that about her while Cain had me stuck on guard duty.

“Let’s get one thing clear,” she growls, all traces of the vulnerable woman from before buried deep. “Cain may have forbidden me from killing you, but he said nothing about maiming. Touch me, and I’ll slice your hands off, followed by your cock.”

I grin, raising one, still-regenerating finger to her blade to push it away. She lets me, but the wariness doesn’t leave her.

“Knife play, doll? Now you’re just trying to turn me on.”

I wondered when the legendary warrioress of old would come through. Up until now, she’s been recovering, but that intriguing core of steel is peeking out. Finally. Perhaps being forced to survive alone, without the pack to mollycoddle her, has done her some good.

She scoffs in annoyance and stomps over to her desk, collecting her tablet and heading to the armchair in the corner.

I follow her with my eyes, curious to see what she’ll do next. After over a month without her, I soak in her presence like a sponge, amused once more by the unpredictability of her reactions. I’ve given up trying to restrain my impulse to study her. This new obsession I’ve developed is satisfying in a way few things other than bloodshed ever are. It would be foolish not to make the most of the break from my usual boredom.

She does her best to ignore me, she really does. But every so often her eyes flick across to where I’m standing.

“So, what are the rules of this little arrangement Cain’s cooked up?” I ask, needling her just because I can. “Will you be taking over from Callista when it comes to my torture, because I’ve got to say, you’re woefully under equipped for that.”

Cain’s dungeons are by far the best interrogation facility I’ve ever had the privilege of being in. He makes torture into an art form, and I learned a few new tricks during my most recent stay.

Evie doesn’t seem to notice my question, and for a long minute, I think she’s tuned me out entirely, before she answers.

“As long as you sleep in that bed with me, I don’t have to sleep in the coffin.”

“That’s the only rule? I don’t believe Cain was so generous as to release me from captivity just to be your teddy bear.”

Evie shakes her head, sliding her finger across the screen. “I’m to keep you on a short leash—his words not mine. And thesecondone of us develops any kind of tender feelings for the other, both our lives are forfeit.”

I purse my lips. That won’t do. That won’t do at all.

I’m well acquainted with my own personal brand of sociopathy, I know I’m at no risk of feeling anything which could be described as ‘tender.’ But I’m quickly learning that I’m a possessive, selfish bastard when it comes to her. Evie is mine, and that includes her emotions. I want every one of them. Love. Hate. Lust. Pain. All of them are just different facets of the same woman, and I want them all.

“So, he said nothing about fucking?”

Her scowl does little to deter my grin.

“If you think, for one second, I’m going to let my guard down around you enough to fuck you in front of a room filled with cameras and bugs, you’ve got another think coming.”

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