Page 119 of Our Sins in Blood (Coven of Sin 1)

And in Sterling’s own words from earlier, it felt like he belonged a little less to Thomas Knight and just a little bit more to me.

As we both came almost simultaneously yet again, I couldn’t resist biting him a second time over my mark.

“Take it easy, love.” He tried to gently push me away, but I pressed forward, insistent on a second helping of his blood to match the second helping of his other fluid. “My blood is ancient and far more potent than the others. If you overindulge…”

As the wash of his blood filled my mouth, his voice faded away, his words echoing in the distance as if I was suddenly far away. My vision went black, and the darkness surrounded me. The last thing I felt was myself collapsing against his chest, his strong arms catching me. Even though he was now shouting my name in worry, the last memory my conscious brain could compose was how happy I was hearing my first name in his mouth.

And with that, I slipped into a deep sleep where I could pretend I belonged to him as much as he belonged to me.

Chapter fifty-seven

Rude Awakening

ThefirstthingInoticed when I came to was the white sheet covering my body, myvery nakedbody.

The second thing was that I was tied down.

My eyes flew open to discover I was lying in a white, sterile room on a hospital-type gurney. There was a mixture of medical equipment, old and new, making it look like a modern-day doctor and an eighteenth-century surgeon shared the place.

Where the heck was I? How had I gotten here? And why the fuck was I tied down like some patient at a Victorian insane asylum?

Attempting to work the bindings loose to no avail, I considered dropping my fangs to try and chew through the nylon straps when muffled voices had me pausing.

Male voices bled from underneath the room’s entrance, and by their sharp lilt, they were arguing. The hair on the back of my neck prickled when I picked out the baritone voice currently speaking as Vincent’s.

“I still can’t believe you let her mark you. The agreement was—”

“I’m well aware of the agreement’s parameters,” Sterling’s cool voice countered, a steely bite to his tone. “We agreed that her chosen king should be the one to claim her. However, if she wishes to mark any of us, that is perfectly within her right to do so.”

Vincent scoffed, his voice fraying with barely bridled rage. “Since when do you snake by on technicalities like that? I expect it from Deathwish but not from you.”

“Do not lecture me, Brother.”

“Stop acting like she belongs to you.” It was now Corry who spoke. “Until she picks a king, she belongs to all of us, dickhead. Fuck it. I say even when she chooses a king, she should still be mated to all of us. Seeing her marked and claimed by all four of us? Hot as hell. Dibs on being baby daddy, though.”

“Already got dibs on that, Youngblood.” My heart squeezed, and the mark on my shoulder burned when Eros’ voice wrapped around me like a caress.

All four of them were here, waiting outside the room for me.

“No way. I saw her first!”

“I fucked her first.”

Corry sputtered for a second before he could form words. “O–only technically! I finger fucked and fed from her first!”

“I marked her first. Beat that.”

“How about you two fucks shut up, or I beat you both?” Vincent snapped, his growl of warning making my breath catch in my throat. “This is the princess we’re talking about, not riding shotgun. Your pathetic little ‘dibs’ is pointless anyway. The throne should have been mine from the beginning. I shouldn’t have to compete against my own brothers.”

“Get the fuck over it, Feral,” Eros growled. “This is what the Elders decided. You want to be king, you’ve got to play nice with the princess. Maybe if you eased up on the whole douchey alpha thing, she might be able to stand you long enough to let you touch her.”

“Says the psychopath who fucking tied her up and cut her during her first time.”

“Yeah,” Eros snickered. “And she was screaming for more the whole damn time.”

There was the sound of thumping flesh, the crunch of bone, and the clatter of shit hitting the ground. A fight had clearly broken out between Vincent and Eros but was probably stopped right away because instant silence followed, and Sterling’s voice rang out next.

“Save it for the match tomorrow. The whole reason I allow you two to keep doing them is so you can get this shit out of your system, away from the coven. It’s especially important to not wrap the princess up in your bad blood.”

---