Page 73 of Our Sins in Blood (Coven of Sin 1)

At least he was honest and didn’t resort to mind games like Feral. There was nothing wrong with wanting to be my mate if he genuinely liked me. I doubt he had another bitch he was planning on slapping on the throne beside him the second we mated.

Vincent Feral’s hate boner for me was hot as fuck, but it wasn’t anything to build a relationship on. Corry had some stuff to work out. And Sterling… So far he didn’t seem interested in me in the slightest.

I hoped Sterling would agree to turn me into a full-blooded vampire. Now more than ever, I knew that was the best way to protect myself from the other covens and the princes. Maybe that would help me survive long enough to sort out all the baggage with these princes and help me figure out who I could actually trust enough to make my mate and king.

Right now, all I wanted was someone who was fucking honest with me.

Vincent and Corry had failed in that area.

“Why do you want to be king?”

“Do you know why I live in the basement?”

I shook my head.

“Because they made me live down here. Like a beast to be ashamed of. They treat me like a monster, a necessary element of the coven but one to be kept to the shadows beneath everyone else. If I’m king, I get to be on top.”

That wasn’t such a crazy notion. Hell, I related. For all my life, I had been locked away like a damn animal. It made me feel close to Deathwish.

For the first time since meeting the princes, I felt like I was on one of their levels.

I tilted my face toward his, my lips softening under his fire-filled gaze. “I want you to make love to me, Eros.”

His blood-flecked face contorted with a sneer. “I don’t make love, I fuck,hard. I’m not going to be gentle with you. You want gentle, go beg Sterling for a fuck.”

“I don’t want Sterling right now. I want you. I want you, all of you. The fucked up parts and all.”

Another eternity passed as he looked at me, a thousand thoughts brewing behind his dark eyes. Calculating. Plotting. It was like he was mapping out my entire domination in his head before saying a single word.

“At any point, if I’m doing something that you want me to stop, say ‘mercy.’ Got that?”

My lips split with a nervous laugh. “You’re giving me a safe word?”

He grabbed my jaw and forced my gaze in front of his, my smile dissolving in an instant. “It’s not fucking funny. I might be fucked but I’m not going to do anything to you that you don’t like. My brothers may like to paint me as a monster but I don’t fuck around with that shit. Do you understand?”

I nodded in his grip as best I could. “I understand.”

Chapter thirty-six

Blood, Lace, and a Touch of Disgrace

IstoodbeforeDeathwishwith my heart beating so hard, I could feel it in my throat.

But it’s just like I’d told him. I wasn’t afraid. I stood there in his sweatshirt, my skin heating as his appraising gaze slithered over me from head to toe. He circled me, like a predator stalking its prey.

“Answer a question for me, doll. You’re a virgin. But you’ve got the blood of my brothers coursing through your veins. Vampires typically only do that when they’re fucking.”

My eyes fluttered shut, and even still I could feel him watching me with an intensity so hot it charged the air with electricity, coiling tight with the bitter scent of Al’s ashes.

“I let Corry touch me in exchange for my escape. But that didn’t happen. Vincent showed up before it went very far. He took too much blood from me so I drank from Vincent to recover.”

I opened my eyes to see Eros standing in front of me once again, his expression pinched with an indiscernible emotion. “Didhetry to fuck you?”

Eros’ tone was so cool, it sent a rush of goosebumps over my flesh. He was just as collected as always but I didn’t miss the flash of fury in his eyes. His fists were clenched at his sides, and his anger was practically radiating from his taut shoulders.

“Why do you two hate each other so much?” I found myself dodging his question, mostly because I didn’t know how to answer.

“That’s not something I care to discuss right now. I don’t want him touching what ought to belong to me.”

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