Page 36 of Our Sins in Blood (Coven of Sin 1)

I took a tremulous breath as I tentatively lifted my gaze up a sinewy chest, over a cotton t-shirt peppered with bloodstains and raven tattoos that twitched over the taut tendons in his neck, to rest on pale eyes the color of olives.

Vincent Feral, prince of the dead, had green eyes. They narrowed to deadly slits as they slowly slid down the length of my neck like it was a foldout in aPlayboymagazine.

I watched, completely transfixed as his eyes slithered lower, taking in my exposed cleavage.

Like blood being dropped in a pond, the murky green depths of his irises stained crimson.

His lips curled in disgust, everything about his expression saying “whore” when he took in the rest of my outfit. But those red eyes were a dead giveaway of how he really felt about my chosen ensemble.

“Where are you taking her?” Vincent demanded, veering his baleful glare in Corry’s direction.

“Out to get burgers,” he answered coolly, even though every muscle in his body was balled with tension. “Sterling said we could if we went through the drive-thru.”

The older vampire’s blood-crusted mouth twisted into a heart-stopping sneer as a guttural growl slithered out. “Don’t fucking lie to me, Youngblood!”

“It was my idea.”

Vincent’s attention snapped back on me, his gaze deadly and full of hatred. He grabbed my arm and yanked me against him, arching down to press his lips to my ear.

“I know what you’re doing,” he growled, his voice too low for his brother to hear. I shivered in his grip, hating the way my body heated against him. “Consider this your last chance to save yourself from me. From all of us. If you come back, you’re playing the game, Princess. And I promise you, I’ll win.”

My throat burned with a rebuttal, but Corry was within earshot, and I didn’t want to risk spoiling the plan.

If only I was stronger. If I didn’t have to worry so much about my life expectancy in a place like this, maybe I would stick around just to knock down this prick a few notches. Maybe I’d let Corry take my virginity, mate me, and I’d pick him to be king just to see the look on Vincent’s stupidly gorgeous face.

Shoving me back into Corry’s embrace, Vincent turned on his heel and stomped down the hall. He paused outside a door not far from my own, rapping on it once with a slam of his entire forearm. A moment later, the door opened, revealing the dark-haired woman he’d called Lexi. His arm looped around her waist and pulled her up to his lips in a crushing kiss, consuming her muffled cry of surprise.

By the way she responded, she was used to this kind of caveman behavior. Her eyes were closed, but Vincent’s remained open and fixed to me.

I didn’t like the dark, confusing emotions twisting around in my belly as Vincent pushed her into the room and slammed the door shut behind them, leaving a ringing sound in my skull.

Corry and I stood in the hallway for a few moments, completely speechless. The atmosphere still crackled with the lethal energy Vincent Feral had left behind.

“Holy shit,” Corry muttered after several more moments. “I can’t believe he let us go.”

I watched the spot where Vincent had disappeared into what I surmised to be Lexi’s room.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe he’s such an asshole.”

I hated him.

I hated the way his words stuck inside me like sunbaked tar, repeating over and over again on a loop.

I’ll win. I’ll win. I’ll win.

His eyes had been red, and right after he’d fed. He wanted me. It pissed him off that he wanted me, maybe as much as it pissed me off that I wanted him.

Which made me wonder why he was giving me one last chance to get out of here?

Maybe because he had a less clear shot of the throne now that he had to compete with his brothers. Because there was no way in frozen hell, I would pick him to be my mate or king.

Sure, he’d be a hot fuck. Hate sex had always intrigued me in the darker novels my mom brought home for me on occasion. But sex with Vincent Feral was completely out of the question when I didn’t trust him not to bite me.

Some dark part of me still ached to stay and let Feral do whatever he wanted with me. But my fucked up attraction for the monster didn’t quite override my desire to stay out of a body bag.

The fact that this dark thought sent a flutter of warmth to my core was all the more reason to get the hell out of here.

Vincent Feral and his brothers didn’t scare me.

---