Page 118 of Our Sins in Shadows (Coven of Sin 2)

It was sad to leave Sterling earlier than I’d intended. My evenings with the coven’s most mystifying vampire never seemed to be enough. Then again, no amount of time together would change that. Even if we could spend eternity together, I had a feeling that by the time we reached the end, we’d look back and still think it wasn’t enough. The same went for Corry.

My time with Deathwish and the Feral King, on the other hand, wasn’t so painless. And as much as I craved the push and pull between us, the painful pleasures, their dark and devilish manner in which they made love to me, there was some other shit that needed hashing out. Mainly our whole dynamic—which was mildly toxic and severely lacking on the communication front, as addictively infuriating as it was.

Yet again, Sterling was right. The three of us needed to clear the air and re-establish some trust. Because right now, the vibe between us was as tense as a bomb defusal.

They could feel it too. At least they were proving to me that their vow in our prison cell hadn’t been all talk. Effort was being made on both their parts to get along.

Why else would Eros have invited Vin and me down to his basement to spend the night?

I snuck a peek at Deathwish from the cradle of his arms, where he held me close to his chest. His broody expression made my insides twist. Vincent was right behind him. He hadn’t looked away from me for the entire trip from the eastern tower to the basement.

“Are you hungry? You need me to get you anything?” he asked, his lips twitching into a smile.

I shot him a skeptical look that screamed, who are you, and what have you done with Vin?“Um, can we dial it back on the smiles? You’re kind of freaking me out, Feral.”

Vin’s smile morphed into that arrogant smirk that made my heart pound. “I wouldn’t dream of giving you anything different, Princess. Not when it makes you smell so damn good.”

“That’s just my monster getting turned on. She’s got worse taste than me.”

“It means you understand on a primal level that among all your mates, I am the most likely to impregnate you. And as a fertile vampire, you’re drawn by your instinctual need to reproduce.”

I looked at Eros, who gave an affirming nod. “He’s right. Dark fae are fertile fuckers. They’re obsessed with continuing their bloodlines, and they’re damn good at it. They breed like cockroaches. Theyarelike cockroaches, only if cockroaches could grow bigger from the terror they invoke and eventually be big enough to eat and fuck you.”

Even for an ex-monster hunter, Eros really seemed to loathe dark fae. The more I learned about them, the more I realized Vin was basically a saint compared to the rest of his kind. Which was scary to think about.

Was the thing inside me really drawn to Vin because he was the most virile of my men? It was kind of creepy...and also turned me on a little at the same time. Shit, I hardly thought about the whole arrangement we’d made concerning the real estate in my womb.

Did I even want kids now, knowing that they would be part vampire, part Helsing? Not to mention they’d probably inherit some portion of their father’s urge to inflict and consume pain. Toddlers were supposed to be hellish little goblins without the instinctual need to feast on blood and suffering.

I squirmed uncomfortably in Eros’ embrace, trying my best to foist thoughts of evil monster babies to the far recesses of my mind.

We descended into the dusty—fit for a horror movie set—stairs to Deathwish’s underground domain. The space felt warm and familiar, even though I’d been here only once before. But that didn’t make it any less comforting. How could it be when the space smelled like him? Like smoke and cloves.

Eros carried me over to his bed and laid me carefully in the center of his mattress. The black silk sheets hugged me, cool against my heated skin. “I’m so tired,” I yawned.

He smiled at me as he pulled the blanket over me and tucked me in with a kiss to my nose. “You went through a lot today. You did so well.” He pinched me lightly through the blanket, right where my pierced nip sat beneath. A soft moan slipped from my lips, earning me a guttural growl that sunk straight to where my body was desperate for a male visitor.

Shit. I was still in heat.

As if reading my mind, Eros’ chocolate eyes simmered with hunger. “Do you need me to sate you, my queen? We can make Vin sit in the corner and watch as his punishment for being a dick.”

My queen. I shivered at the title. The guys had started calling me that on a semi-regular basis, even though I wasn’t crowned yet. Not that I was about to stop them. It stroked not only my ego, but another part of me that made my monster purr and my sex pulse.

“We need to talk first. If we’re gonna figure out the whole Dagon problem, overthrow the council, and crown me as queen with all of our heads attached, we need to be sure we’re all in the same corner. No more fighting. No more secrets.”

Eros sent a look over to where his brother lounged against the doorway of the basement. “No more fighting,” he said.

“And no more secrets,” Vin muttered, his narrowed eyes fixed on Eros’ collection of rusty torture instruments on display among the scattering of MMA posters.

“Perfect.” I propped myself up into a sitting position, all honied smiles. My guys already knew me too well to be fooled into thinking a shit storm wasn’t about to hail down on them by the way they shifted, their shoulders going rigid.

“Then it’s time to answer some questions for me. No lies, no bullshit.”

“Shoot, baby doll,” Eros said. The mattress shifted as he sat at the foot of the bed.

“My first question is for Vin, but don’t get too comfortable because I’m coming for you next.” I let out a wicked little chuckle, seeing the brief pang of worry glitter in the brown of his eyes.

“Okay, Feral. Time to come clean. What did you bring me from Fairie?” I held out my hand, palm up, as my fingers flexed in agimmiegesture. “When you tell a girl that you got her something from a magical realm, you can’t keep her waiting.”

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