Page 102 of Our Sins in Blood (Coven of Sin 1)

I snarled at the male who dared interrupt me, spittle and flecks of blood flying in his direction. My two halves warred against one another. My vampire side was pissed that my meal had been cut short and even more pissed-off that my chosen mate wouldn’t claim me in all the ways I know he ached to. I could practically feel his body aching for me, just as mine ached for him. Yet he was doingfuck allto sate this pain. Then there was my human half, who was horrified that I couldn’t seem to get a hold on my control.

“Miss O’Leary, thank you for your services, but it’s best if you leave now. I’m sure the princess will want to apologize when she’s feeling more herself.” Despite the fact that I had once again lost my grip on my humanity, Sterling’s voice was cool and composed. He didn’t look at all concerned, which just drove my ire hotter and hotter until I was fit to explode like a volcano.

Why couldn’t he lose control with me? Why was he fighting this? We should’ve been fucking on the floor in a puddle of our own blood and sweat by now.

Why, whythe fuckwas he holding back? There had to be more to it than the fact that I reminded him of my dad. That had to be a cop-out because, damn it, I wasn’t anything like Thomas Knight. I wasn’t!

Was I?

I caught Kenzie’s tearful gaze just as she scrambled through the room.

Oh, hell.

Maybe I really was a monster.

Hot tears welled in my eyes, my hatred for what I’d just done driving the rioting monster inside me to deeper bounds of unhinged insanity. I leaped at Sterling, slashing at him with my hands, my teeth bared. He easily dodged me and moved to the kitchenette so quick I barely could keep up with the blur of his body. He opened a drawer and pulled out an orange bottle filled with red pills. I bristled, knowing exactly what those pills were.

“It’s alright, Ruby. You’ll be feeling like your old self soon. You haven’t yet come down from your body’s urge to claim a mate,” he told me coolly, extending an arm toward me with two of the pills nestled in his palm. “These won’t make it go away, but they may take the edge off.”

I snarled at him, slapping his arm away and sending the pills scattering. “Fuck you and fuck those pills! I hate them! And I hate you! You’re cruel!”

Part of me felt like an immature kid throwing a tantrum after being denied a toy. But damn it, Sterling wasn’t just something I couldn’t have. I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but he was supposed to be mine. Something deep in the fabric of my being screamed at me to claim him. I felt like a junkie going through vicious withdrawals, even though I’d barely tasted him. Even with just a sampling, I was already addicted.

Finally, Sterling’s mask fell away once again, showing his true emotions. His face twisted into a sneer as he bared his fangs. “Cruel?Howdareyou call me such a thing!”

“I had no problem until I met you! I hunger for you, but you refuse to ease the ache. You want to, but you won’t, and that’s why you’re cruel. I get that I remind you of my father, but you have to know that I am not like him! You even said he owes you something good. So why won’t you claim me as yours?”

Sterling donned that same hollow look he’d worn in that painting I’d found in the library. “It’s not as simple as that. I can’t claim you as my mate.”

“Answer me this. Do you want to? Tell me I’m not the only one feeling this. Because you’re making me feel like a desperate, patheticfreak,who’s set my sights on a man who doesn’t want me!” My voice jumped an octave, growing shrill and ragged with my frustration.

Sterling’s fists balled, his knuckles cracked, and he bowed his head, silver strands falling to screen his face. “YouknowI want you.”

“Then do something to sate this ache. Stop torturing me!Please.” At this point, the scathing ache between my thighs went beyond lust. I was breaking, fracturing from my desperation for him.

It. Fucking. Hurt.

Sterling jerked his head back up, and the expression on his face was like a blow straight to my chest. All the air left my lungs, and I was left wheezing. I staggered back against the piano, my legs unable to hold me up. On Sterling’s perfect, marble-smooth physiognomy was a mean snarl that made my insides flutter, and the most delicious flames lap at my core

He was in front of me in a blink, slapping his palms on the piano, caging me between his arms.

“You think me not marking you istorture?No. If I wanted to torture you, I would drag you kicking and screaming down to Eros’ den and order him to do his worst to you. I’d then stick around to listen to every scream, every splatter of your blood that hits the ground, every slap of his flesh against yours until he wore you to nothing. But wait…” Sterling grabbed a fistful of my shirt and tore it open, revealing my bare shoulder where Eros’ mark sat. “You would get too much enjoyment out of that, wouldn’t you?”

All I could feel was pain. Physically, mentally, everything hurt. “Whatever this is, we have to settle it, Sterling. It hurts too much.”

The vampire leaned in so close, I could reach his lips and kiss him. But I didn’t dare. I was frozen under his ghostly stare, which burned with shadows and something else… Something that wanted to eat me alive, and I was game to let it.

“Listen to me, and listen closely, Ruby. I’ve lived for one thousand excruciating years, and I can tell you this. You know very little of pain. But you crave it, don’t you? There is a darkness that clings to you. In fact, I think I’ve figured out why your aura resembles your father’s. Like him, you crave agony, pain, maybe even death. But unlike him, it’s your own suffering you long for.”

“That’s not true,” I said, the lie tasting bitter in my mouth.

By Sterling’s stern glare, he knew it was a lie too. He pushed off from the piano and tugged his sweater over his head with one swift movement. I gaped at his perfectly toned muscles, wrapped in ivory flesh, glistening with a thin layer of sweat.

“W–what are you doing?”

“It’s pain you want? Fine. I can give it to you. But unlike Eros, the brand of pain I offer won’t come from our physical coupling, but in the bitter disappointment you’ll feel when your chosen mate will never sit beside you on the throne. I will not place my mark on you, and I willneverbe your king. If you acknowledge these things, the least I can do is sate your ache.”

“I… I understand.”

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