Page 60 of Claimed By Blood

No. As far as they’re concerned, we’re here to kill Cain, not to take a holiday.

It’s going to be tough to convince them not to hunt Samuel down and pummel him for the answers they want.

Not that it would work. He might have been in exile for over a thousand years, but he’s still a son of Cain. Torture is the bread and butter of our sire.

“Come find me when you’re done,” Noha insists, as Bakari half-drags her from the room and his men start uncuffing their prisoners. “I can give you a proper tour.”

The other vampires follow them as my men start ripping their blindfolds off. Finn wastes no time in rushing straight for me and hugging the life out of me, and Silas does the same. Draven gives me a once over, checking for injuries, before he follows the others in checking out the room.

“This is the oddest cell I’ve ever been in,” Mia comments, lightly.

“Definitely among the cosiest,” Immy agrees. “What’s going on, Evie?”

I take a deep breath and launch into the tale of the past few hours.

CHAPTERSEVENTEEN

SILAS

She’s a genius.

Evie is sitting on the edge of the bed, curled up against Finn’s side as she waits for our judgement of her unbelievable story. Draven has collapsed against her other side, his eyes closed. He might be asleep, but I doubt it. Either way, he hasn’t reacted to her story.

Frost and Gideon don’t like it—that much is obvious from their stony expressions—and neither of her sisters look that fond of the idea. But a single shared glance with Vane and Mia confirms that we’re on the same page.

“This is perfect,” I say, as soon as she looks at me. “If Cain doesn’t know about this place, then I say we stay here until we’re at full strength. Turn it into our new base of operations—if Samuel will let us. How often does an opportunity like this come along? We’d be stupid not to use it.”

My quick response stuns the others, giving them pause and hopefully stopping whatever rant Gideon was about to lay at her feet.

“Agreed.” Vane gives Gideon a meaningful look. “It’s a safe place for Finn and Mia. I say we stay.”

“What about the secret that Samuel’s hiding?” Gideon growls. “You want to just forget about that in exchange for him harbouring us? And what if we’ve drawn Cain here already? We’ve been careful, but you can never be too sure…”

“He’s not going to tell you if you just barge in there and demand it of him.” Mia sighs in exasperation. “This guy obviously has a good thing going here. You can’t threaten him, because we’ll never find him again. You can’t bribe him because he’s got everything he needs. The only way he’s going to give up what he knows is if he trusts us and sees the need for it.” She looks at Morwen and rolls her eyes. “Which means we’re dependent on a bunch of emotionally stilted vampires rebuilding their sibling bonds to get the info we need.”

Gideon looks ready to have an aneurysm at the thought. His face is slowly turning a terrifying shade of puce as his frustration works its way free.

“How long is that going to take?” Frost asks, and I blink as I realise for once, he’s the more level-headed of the two of them. “A week? Two? We can’t stay here for the full moon. I doubt they’re equipped for it.”

I see what he’s doing, trying to give Gideon a time frame to focus on.

Unfortunately, it’s not going to work.

The one with the best chance of convincing Gideon to calm down is Finn, and he… isn’t moving closer or seeking to comfort his alpha at all.

What the fuck?

Omegas are drawn to raging alphas. The compulsion to soothe is in their blood.

So why is Finn keeping distance between them and holding Evie like she’s a shield?

Yes, I know things have been strained between them recently, but never so much that Finn was reluctant to ground Gid when he was in a rage. We spent so many years building up that trust, reassuring him that whatever happened in his old pack, we would never, ever hurt him, or belittle him for following his instincts.

What did Gideondo? What stupid stunt has he pulled that our omega is fighting his own nature?

I frown and glance at Vane, wondering if he knows what’s going on. My brother is glaring at Gideon with a vehemence that surprises me.

Okay, so it looks like he has some idea about what happened.

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