Page 92 of Our Sins in Blood (Coven of Sin 1)

No?

He had grasped my wrist, but it felt like he had fisted my heart and gave it a vicious squeeze instead.

Was he reallyrejectingme?

“Sterling,” I said, trying to gather what little control over this situation I still had. “I pick you as my king. A lot of shit is confusing me. I’m trying to figure out not only how to be a vampire but how to be me. Literally, everything is new to me, and I’m so confused. I’m not sure about anything. But the second I came in here, I was sure about you. You’re supposed to be mine. You’re supposed to be my king. It’s you. I chooseyou.”

By the look on his face, one would think I had just told him his dog died, rather than telling him he got the very thing the other guys were fighting for.

“Miss Baxter… Over my lifetime, I’ve had my fill of kings. I have no desire to sit on your father’s throne.”

“Even if I’m sitting beside you?”

He looked so pained, like it physically hurt him to say the words. “Even then.”

Something dark and ugly stirred my insides as if he’d stuck my heart in a blender and set it to puree. “But, that’s not fair!” My hand squeezed his cock harder, and he let out a deep growl, laced with both pleasure and pain.

“That’s not just unfair to me. That’s unfair to your people! You would be the best king of all of them!”

He sucked in a breath. “Pick one of my brothers.”

“W–we don’t need to decide now. We have four months before any decisions have to be cemented.” Four months for me to convince him. And I’d start with that convincing right now. I gave his shaft a firm stroke, and he winced like he was using every shred of his will to resist me.

I didn’t like how he made me feel like an evil seductress rather than his true mate.

“My answer won’t be any different in four months.”

Desperation began to seep into my soul, replacing the flames of lust inside me with molten ire. Turns out, my monster didn’t handle rejection well. “Please.”

“I won’t take the throne. I won’t do it.”

I ground my teeth. “You’ve got balls, rejecting me when your cock is so hard for me it could cut a bitch right now. I know you want me—the evidence is sitting in my palm!”

I gave him another squeeze for emphasis. I began to stroke his shaft in a slow, torturous motion. I’d never done anything like this before, but if my movements were clumsy, Sterling didn’t seem to mind. His head fell back against the wall, and his eyes fluttered shut.

As I worked his cock, my attention clamped down on his throat. His neck was one of my favorite features, long and wrapped in perfect, marble-smooth skin. The contours of his throat were so freaking erotic, each little muscle that twitched accentuated by his pale skin and bathed in a sheen of sweat and moonlight.

But that damn mating mark stood out, taunting me.

“Will you not claim me because you’re already mated?”

His eyelids flicked open to reveal surprise-filled eyes. Then his expression darkened with something that made my stomach twist. “It is…” His breath came out labored and disjointed. “But not for the reason you think.”

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Did he have a mate or not?

My hand stilled, but I didn’t take it off his cock. “Who is she?”

“No one,” he answered me on a whisper so quiet it was almost swept away by the gust of breeze that rushed in through the window. “Not anymore.”

“She’s dead?”

He gave a nod.

A heavy sensation settled in my chest. I extracted my hand from his sweats, feeling dirty, desperate, and confused.

“Did you love her?”

He gave a slow shake of his head. “No.”

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