Page 112 of Our Sins in Shadows (Coven of Sin 2)

Hell.

No, no,no. This was not how my monster was supposed to react to him. She was supposed to tear him a new asshole, not go into heat! Might as well just lay out a freaking welcome mat between my legs.

I felt all three males in the room stiffen, their eyes staining various shades of red, their nostrils flexed, and muscles bunched. Vincent’s black and bloody eyes glossed over with a wild hunger that had me furious, even as my body grew slicker, hotter.

Several things happened next at the same time.

Vincent lunged for me, and on the same beat, I snapped the chain. I already knew that I was too slow. He’d be on top of me in the next hammer of my heart. So I dropped my fangs, preparing to bite his shoulder to subdue him in the same manner I’d managed before at The Warehouse.

My world blurred violently when a man’s weight came down on top of me, but it was lighter than I’d expected. Strong arms encased me, barrel rolling me off the bed and onto the floor.

I blinked up, registering Eros crouched protectively over me. While he quickly unraveled the chain from my wrists, I was acutely aware of his painfully hard erection jutting against his pant leg into my hip.

“Um, Eros...”

“I can’t help it,” he ground out on a snarl. “You smell so damn good. But it’s Feral we need to worry about. He’s lost to his fae instincts, I think.”

“The pheromone has never been this strong before, not with the IUD still implanted,” I sputtered, trying to make sense of my body’s reaction.

“Your monster wishes to establish the bond that has been strained. It’s doing everything it can to lure him to you.”

The moment the chain clattered to the floor, I sat up to peer over the bed and gasped.

Sterling laid beneath Vincent, stretched out on his back with his arm raised and his hand collaring the fae’s throat. Sterling’s fingers were so lithe and long that they got decent purchase on the fae’s neck, which had all the girth of a tree trunk.

Eros’ and Sterling’s speed and coordination had to be applauded. The moment I’d broken my chain, Eros had sprung into action to get me away from Feral while Ster had been right behind him, laying a trap with his own body in the same place I’d been lying seconds ago.

Feral’s hands grasped Sterling’s headboard, his knees on either side of his brother’s hips. Considering both were naked, the position was erotic as fuck, but I couldn’t enjoy the scene. Vincent’s obsidian glare glinted with murderous intent.

“Don’t hurt him!” my demonic voice, layered with my own, exploded from my chest. Shit. Who was I talking to? Both of them, I realized. I didn’t want either of them hurt.

I tried to scramble onto the bed to separate them, but Eros yanked me back against his chest. I could have easily tossed him off me, but it was his voice in my ear that kept me rooted in place. “It’s alright, my queen. Vin isn’t strong enough to do anything permanent to Ster, and he won’t hurt Vin unless it’s necessary.”

“Let go,” the fae snarled at the older vampire beneath him. The strain in his voice indicated just how tight Sterling held him.

“I’ll release you on the condition you shift back. You’ve been indulging in this form for much too long, you’re losing yourself to it. The power is going to your head.”

“You’re lucky I don’t rip both of you apart for what you did to her.”

“Do not threaten me, Feral,” Sterling warned coolly, his ghostly eyes thinning into deadly slivers. “Even in your true form, you cannot compete with me.”

“That a challenge?”

“You are dense sometimes, brother. No, it isn’t a challenge. It’s simply a fact that you cannot best me. Not unless you have an entire city of human suffering to fuel some ungodly colossus form.”

Vin licked his twisted grin. “I can arrange for that.”

“Are you even listening to yourself? This isn’t you. It’s time to shift back before it’s too late to salvage Ruby’s trust in you.”

“She can trust that I will always protect what’s mine. And you allowed Deathwish to mutilate her. You act superior, but you are no better than him.”

Sterling’s lip curled. “If only you were aware of how hypocritical you sound. But I won’t judge you for it, considering you still don’t understand what you’ve done. By allowing your baser instincts to operate for this long, I don’t think youcanunderstand. I will give you one last chance to shift back of your own volition. Please don’t force my hand, not on Ruby’s birthday.”

“I won’t go back to my lesser self. I won’t be able to turn back without proper fuel.”

“And it’s that fact alone that brings me comfort. You are dangerous in your fae form, Feral. Especially when you hold it for more than a few hours. You’re losing touch with the humanity you’ve obtained over the last decade you’ve spent here with us. Don’t become the monster you were before. If you do, you’ll not only lose your place in this family, but you’ll lose the love of our queen.”

The barbed silence that stretched through the entire room turned chilling by the mellifluous pluck of the piano composition playing on Sterling’s record player.

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