Page 50 of Indebted to the Vampires (House of Durand)

The room went deathly quiet. Rayne threw me forward, and if I hadn't been expecting him to be an ass, I'd have severely injured myself on the table's edge.

“Tell him what you did.” I thought Rayne was talking to me, but his eyes were on Wynn, not me.

I glanced up from where I laid halfway across the table, my hands curled over the edges of the wood. Antoine's pale eyes watched me with a bland expression, not giving away what he was thinking while the twins had matching amused grins. Marcus... well, who knew what Marcus was thinking half the time?

“I don't know what you are talking about.” Wynn swirled the dark liquid in his wine glass. This time it seemed to be actual wine and not blood. Guess the twins were telling the truth, they did eat other things.

Rayne growled behind me, but this time, I was ready for him. I ducked out of his grasp and moved away from him, shifting closer to where Wynn sat. “Don't touch me.”

Antoine's cultured voice rang out through the dining room, jerking Rayne's attention from me to his older brother. “What is the meaning of this?”

Snapping his teeth, Rayne threw a hand in my direction before crossing his arms over his chest. “Wynn gave her some of his blood.”

I felt more than saw the masters' eyes move to me. Wynn was the only one not looking at me, still staring at his glass a nonchalant kind of way.

“Wynn?” Antoine clipped, those eyes finally moving off me and onto his brother. “Is this true?”

Wynn sighed. “Yes. I did. Now if we're tattling,” Drake snickered at his brother’s words, “why don't you tell them why I had to give Piper my blood, little brother?”

Rayne froze.

I chewed on my lower lip, fidgeting in place. I wasn't sure why Wynn giving me his blood was a big deal, but I knew the fact that Rayne had hurt me wasn’t a good thing. Or at least I hoped so. Wynn had seemed to be on my side, but I didn't know the rest of them well enough to confidently say one way or the other if they cared if I were hurt.

“Rayne. I'm waiting.”

The redhead scoffed and turned his head away from Antoine's piercing gaze.

“Perhaps Miss Billings would be so kind as to illuminate to us what our dear brother has done? Did he hurt you?”

“Uh... not exactly.” I twisted my hands in front of me. I didn't really want to get into it. If I told them about how I broke my hand, then they'll want to know why and then Rayne would tell them about my dream.

Rayne still didn't answer his brother. Probably didn't want to get hit again. Not that I blamed him.

“Rayne, do not make me ask again. What happened?” Antoine laced his fingers in front of him on the table, his eyes locked onto us.

The redhead vampire clenched his jaw and bit out. “She broke her hand.”

“And how did she do that?” Wynn prompted, a hint of a smile on his lips.

Scowling at him, Rayne jerked his head to the side and muttered, “Punching my face.”

Drake and Allister busted out laughing, banging on the table hard enough to make me jump in place. Marcus even lowered his guard enough to show amusement in his eyes.

Antoine cocked a brow at me, a smile teasing his lips. “Miss Billings, what was Rayne doing to cause this need for violence?”

“Me?” Rayne snapped. “What makes you think I did anything?”

Antoine's eyes zeroed in onto Rayne. “One hundred and fifty years of experience.” His gaze softened as he moved his gaze back to me, gesturing with a hand for me to continue. “Miss Billings?”

I licked my lips, my eyes darting to Rayne who glowered at me and then to Wynn who gave me a small, encouraging incline of his head. “I was taking a nap and forgot to lock my door.” I paused at the hum that released from Antoine's throat. I could feel my face heating up as I fumbled through the rest of my explanation. “Uh...” I cleared my throat and shifted from side to side. “I... uh...”

“Just spit it out already,” Rayne griped. “I came onto her, and she punched me. That's it, okay?” He moved his eyes to Antoine and Wynn, then the rest of his brothers before nodding his head with a firm jerk. “Fine. It's over. Now you can't tell me that's worse than giving a complete stranger some of our blood?”

The question was for Antoine, and it wasn't taken lightly.

It was really a peculiar thing, how still he became. If I hadn't been looking at him, I wouldn't have even known he was there. His face looked like the granite Rayne's had felt like when I broke my hand. I did not envy whoever that look was for.

“While I don't approve of Rayne's actions, as deplorable as they are,” those liquid steel eyes zipped to Rayne who had the decency to duck his head in shame, “Miss Billings has only been part of this household for less than two weeks. Wynn, what made you think it would be acceptable to share something so important with someone who doesn't know our ways?”

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