Page 47 of Our Sins in Shadows (Coven of Sin 2)

“You are.” He looked back at me, holding my face in his hands. “You just have to bring out my true mate. I want to see her. All of her.”

“But this is me. Thisismy monster!”

“No, it’s not. Not completely. You’ve been holding her back and you know it. Let loose your deepest, darkest monster.” He pulled me closer, burying his nose in my hair. His lips tickled my ear, and his next words came out soft, spoken like some kind of twisted secret. “The one you’ve been so afraid of. The one that makes me so damn hard, the one that drives the monster inside me up the fucking wall. Let her out to play, baby. Let all of her out.” Vincent kept one hand on my cheek, all cute and tender. While his other wedged between us, cupping my apex. Not penetrating, not moving, just holding me like I was his completely.

“When one beds a terrifying vixen born from the most passionate hatred our world has ever known, you’re bound to get bit. I’ll use that pain to bring out a powerful fae form, and that should be enough to get us out of here.”

There was no time for me to respond to this revised version of the plan.

Dagon’s voice burst over the speakers. “I lost control of the hybrid. Get down there and pull them apart! Now!”

A static crinkling noise sounded over the speakers as whatever microphone he’d been using hit the ground.

Barely a handful of seconds later, the door I’d entered from flung open and at least a dozen guards poured into the theater aisle. My heart squeezed when I saw what they carried. Iron chains. A couple of them even had guns.

Vincent pulled me off the bed and set me to my feet. He didn’t make any other move. “You got this, Princess.”

What? Did he really expect me to take on all these guys by myself?

First, fear tried to lurk up my throat, but I stomped it back down, my anger lashing it back like a cat-o’-nine-tails.

He was right. I’d been so afraid to let my true nature out, not just my vampiric instincts, but the full force of my power. I’d been holding myself back.

I had to pull the training wheels off for real this time. Because now, I knew what this thing was inside me.

It wasn’t just the part I’d inherited from the vampire king. It was the small sliver I had inherited from my vampire hunter of a mother.

Something uniquely me, uniquely monstrous.

Something perfectly fitting for the half-blood vampire queen.

So that clawing sensation that pulled at my insides, trying to free itself...I just let go.

For several beats, darkness engulfed my vision.

Did I pass out? No... it was the black lifeforce of my enemies soaking up my vision.

The floor ran thick with the ink-like blood of the Boston Coven guards as the force inside me went on a rampant killing spree.

A throaty growl rose from my throat, my claws—claws—slashing flesh, severing heads. There was a sickening splat as a body hit the wet ground, then another.

Screams.

The sound of gunfire and chains.

My vision came back into focus, which was weird because I didn’t need to see before to dole out this kind of carnage. Was this the level of hyper cognizance Sterling operated on? Where this sixth sort of sense kicked on, and nothing else was needed?

An eerie calm settled over us, at least on this level. A half dozen bodies littered the floor around my feet. The other six were piles of ash where I’d thrust my claws through their sternums to stake their cold hearts on my own claws. I examined my elongated nails, their deadly tips glittering with black.

A huge commotion broke out above my head as Dagon, Erik, and Sharpe began spewing commands.

A cool smile played across my lips as I dropped my gaze to Vincent.

He was on his knees, kneeling on the bed, and his mouth hung agape in total awe. He’d expected this new side of me to emerge, but I bet he hadn’t figured I’d mow through the wave of enemies that fast.

His irises were now a combination of green and black, with no traces of my brother’s magic.

This was all him. Though, I didn’t need to search for the presence of necromancy. I could see it on his face, the way he looked at me with total and complete reverence. And something else I’d never seen him wear before.

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