Page 60 of Our Sins in Shadows (Coven of Sin 2)

The ancient priest’s lips thinned into a grimace like I’d just given him awful news.

“What’s wrong, Ster?” Corry asked his eldest brother from the other side of me.

“Get with the program, dip shit. Feral mated her,” Eros snapped from the front, his reflection in the rearview mirror throwing a pointed glower to the backseat. “Can’t you scent the stench leaking from her cunt? Ozone. All monsters from Fairie reek of it. He must have shagged her in his fae form.”

“Don’t call him a monster!” I snarled, bristling at the mocking emphasis he’d put on the word. Vin and I had called each other that countless times, but it sounded like something foul in Eros’ mouth.

Eros’ knuckles went paper white as they flexed on the steering wheel. “Do you have any idea how dangerous Feral is when he’s shifted? You should. You watched him beat me within an inch of my life.”

I folded my arms over my chest, refusing to feel guilty. “You said in our prison cell that you’d leave that in the past.”

“I did, and I will. But I never agreed to be okay with you screwing him when he’s shifted. The more pain he consumes, the stronger he becomes. And thebiggerhe gets. He could have torn you up bad.”

I blew out a scoff but I refrained from any further argument. I was too tired. Besides, there was no way Eros would understand that without Vincent’s power, we wouldn’t have escaped.

Sterling’s soothing voice gently tugged my attention back to him.

“May I look at you? I’m afraid all my medical knowledge strictly comes from books, but considering we’re down two doctors, we hardly have the luxury of choice.”

My cheeks flushed at his request. I remembered well how the blind vampire did much of his looking with his hands. He wanted to check me for any damage that Vincent might have accidently inflicted during our coupling. I was fine. I nodded anyway, eager for the excuse to have Sterling’s large, gentle hands on my body. “You don’t have to ask for permission to touch me.”

“This isn’t for pleasure, Miss Baxter.” Sterling’s tone was admonishing, but I didn’t miss the shadow of a smile lurking at the corner of his mouth.

Corry positioned himself so his back was against the car door on his side, watching me with his brother, his hot blue gaze blazing with interest.

I couldn’t blame him. The young, red-haired, half-blood princess and the ancient, silver-haired priest. That was one heck of a combination.

As Sterling’s cool fingertips brushed my jaw, my attention dropped to where my claiming mark sat pretty on the slender column of his throat.

My eyelids drooped, and an interesting combination of exhaustion and arousal slithered through me. Just days ago, I thought these men might ruin me. What woman could take four lovers and not have her vagina fall off when all was said and done? Well, the answer was me. If what they said was true, as a half-blood, I could live for hundreds of years. And I was eager to fill every spare moment that wasn’t used on politics and other vampire bullshit with my guys. Though it made me wonder...how would Sterling feel about my plan to take no king and go behind the Elders’ backs to make my own council?

When the priest’s fingers drifted down my neck, he paused at the soft wince that slipped involuntarily past my lips. Sterling tilted his head in Corry’s direction, who leaned closer to me. My pulse hammered hard beneath Sterling’s finger as the youngblood’s warmth soaked into my skin.

Even though his brother had advised him to not touch me, Corry reached to stroke the hollow of my throat. His gaze hardened. “Bruises. They’re healing now, but it’s still pretty nasty. Something huge must have grabbed her.”

A deep growl of discontent rumbled from the front cab of the car. “Feral. Bastard probably tried strangling her while he fucked her. How else would he have gotten enough pain to shift?”

Corry’s eyes practically popped out of his head in disbelief. ”Vindid this to you?”

“N-no! That’s not what happened.”

“Then tell us what happened, love,” Sterling encouraged on a downy murmur.

“Dagon took control of Vincent’s mind, and he tried to force him onto me while the Boston Coven watched. I told Vincent to give into his influence. To hurt me.”

Sterling’s brows scrunched together. “To draw out his monster.”

“Yeah. He had to hurt me a little. But it was no more than what you might do in your torture den, Deathwish.” Eros snorted but did not argue the point further, so I continued. “He did what he had to do so he could shake free of Dagon’s influence, and he refused to hurt me further. He told me to cause him pain instead.”

“Start from the beginning, Miss Baxter. Leave nothing out.”

On the two-hour drive from Boston to Provincetown, I told them everything. Not a single detail went unaccounted for.

I told them about my introduction to Dagon, about everything he’d told me, about his plans to claim the throne, to what he knew about Sapphire Lockheart. I told them about what happened when Lavinia had escorted me to the dome room and the carnage that had ensued on my way to the stage. I told them about the show Vincent and I put on and how he had helped awaken the true power of my inner monster.

My breath went short, and my thighs quivered beneath Sterling’s hands as he continued to examine me through my account of the evening’s events. I parted my legs to allow him access to my center. The blind prince lifted his face to mine, his gentle expression filling me with a serenity that was a little weird considering the ravenous hunger he invoked within me at the same time.

“I only want to make sure he didn’t cause any damage that should require us to take you to another coven’s doctor. You might be bleeding, but it’s difficult to tell, seeing as you’re covered in the blood of at least a dozen individuals.”

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