Page 54 of Our Sins in Blood (Coven of Sin 1)

I stared at Corry over the larger vampire’s shoulder in disbelief. “Unbelievable. You used me.”

The youngblood’s chest heaved with a sigh, his expression stony. He didn’t look like he was getting any pleasure from the play he’d made. But what pissed me off the most was that he refused to look me in the eye. “Doesn’t feel so good on the receiving end of it, does it?”

A cruel fist squeezed my heart, the pain of it making the tears flow steadily. “I’m sorry I ruined your damn pride, Corry. But this is my freedom on the line.”

He finally met my gaze. The pain I saw in his blue eyes made my stomach heave with guilt. “You’re right. This is about your life. And I saved it. I can’t believe you still wanted to leave after those two thugs from the Boston Coven tried to rape and murder you. Wake the fuck up, Ruby. Did you think they’d just forget about who and what you are after you left us? There is a traitor in our midst. Now you’re going to need to stay closer to us than ever.”

I hated to admit it, but he was right. Corry had only played my own damn card against me, and he’d done it to stop me from running off and getting captured by more of the Boston Coven later down the line. Who was to say Allister wouldn’t have turned right around and finished what he and Malachite had started? I almost felt dumb not considering how the other vampire covens were going to take the news of a half-human ruling them. Especially the vampires that weren’t in alliance with the Cape Cod Coven. It was doubtful that they’d just forget about me even if I did run away. But I wouldn’t apologize for fighting for my freedom.

I wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline leaving my body, lack of sleep, blood loss, or a combination of everything, but my vision began to blur and my head started to spin. My knees buckled, and the concrete—stained black with Mal’s blood—rushed to meet me. But instead of hard ground, strong arms caught me.

My head lolled back and Vincent came into focus as he peered down at me with something almost akin to worry banked in his eyes. He scooped me up in his arms, carried me over to his car, and ripped open the back door to lay me across the backseat. Even though I could barely focus, I could feel his eyes scrape over my nearly-naked body. All I wore were panties, a bra, and Corry’s jacket.

“What the fuck,” Vincent hissed under his breath. I twitched as I felt his fingertips ghost over where Corry had bitten me on the inside of my thigh. “You tapped into her femoral artery.” His voice shook with anger, which was a stark contrast to the way his fingers grazed over the puncture marks. It was the most gentle he’d ever touched me.

“So what?” Corry’s voice muttered behind him.

“You could have killed her!”

“She drank me and that other vampire, I thought that would have been enough to replace what I was taking.”

“There was no way you could have known how much she took. You shouldn’t have bit her at all. You don’t have enough control. I shouldn’t have let you leave with her in the first place.”

“So why did you?”

“So she’d have a chance of escaping us.”

“Yeah well look what’s happened. There’s a rat in the Elders, bro. Someone who’s slipping the Boston Coven intel. They knew that master offed himself.”

Vincent let out a rattling growl that made my skin erupt with goosebumps. “That explains how they knew about our little princess here. No surprise they aren’t fans of a half-blood taking over the throne. What were the Elders fucking thinking.”

“We can’t let her go now, Vin. They’ll kill her the first chance they get.”

“Or worse,” Vincent’s voice turned lethal. “They keep her alive and use her as a way to get support from the other covens to elect a king from their own coven.”

My heart fell when I felt Vincent step away, his warmth leaving me as he instructed his brother to help get the Boston Coven member into the trunk. Angling my head, I could barely make out the princes picking up the headless Malachite and a second later the Rolls-Royce shook from the weight of the body being thrown in.

I listened as Vincent gave instructions to his brother, his words now completely cloaked by the rain. A second later the car jostled again with the trunk slamming shut and several moments later the rev of Corry’s motorcycle started and he coasted away. Feeling Vincent’s imposing presence press in around me, I peeled my eyes open to see him looming over me. Despite my brain fog, I could make out Vincent’s eyes as they analyzed me. I probably looked like complete shit, soaking, covered in crusted blood, half-naked. But there was no disgust in his olive-colored gaze. Only concern.

“You’ve lost a lot of blood, Princess.” The softness of his tone caught me by surprise.

“What do you care?” I spat, my tongue thick like cotton.

His eyes narrowed but the cadence of his voice remained silk-soft. “I’m here, aren’t I?” That was probably the closest he could come to saying ‘I care.’

His fingers brushed over my hip and I jerked under his touch. It was like he was made of fire, and my body was pure ice. My teeth began to chatter. “W-why am I s-so cold?”

“The Youngblood took more of your blood than he should of. Everything else you’ve been through tonight probably isn’t helping. Your body is spent. You need blood and you need it now.”

He disappeared from my vision for a moment and on the next breath, the car purred to life and the heaters from the car turned on.

When he returned, I felt his arms wrap around me and lift me out of the car. “Wrap your arms around me,” he urged. I did as he asked, banding my arms around his neck. Cradling me close to his chest, he got in the back seat and held me on his lap, closing the door after us. My breath began to rush out in sharp, unease exhales as I watched him arrange my legs so that I was straddling him with chest pressed to his.

“W-what are you doing?” I asked as his hands came up to peel off Corry’s jacket.

“You’re still shivering. This thing is soaked. You’ll warm up faster without all this wet clothing.” He paused, waiting for my permission to remove it. I gave him a shaky nod, wondering if he could feel the rapid hammer of my heart slamming against my rib cage as he slid the garment from my body, leaving me in just a bra and panties. Tossing the jacket to the floor of the car, he moved to remove his own soaking-wet t-shirt and my breath caught in my throat when I took in the glory that was his bare chest. I’d seen him in only pants before, on the poster. But it didn’t do the real thing justice.

At a closer look, even I could tell the raven tattoos that littered his throat and torso were more than just pretty ink. There was something dark about them, almost like they had an aura of their own. I reached out, grazing my fingertips over the largest tattoo that covered the majority of his right pectoral. His muscles unwound beneath my touch and I felt him relax against me. I hadn’t realized just how damn freezing I was until his warmth wrapped around me like a blanket and I eased into him, my delirious fog helping me push away all other opinions of him for the time being.

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