Page 58 of Our Sins in Shadows (Coven of Sin 2)

I played a different angle, with a little kindness where it was due and a heavy set of balls.

“Dagon Knight will raise your father from the dead, Princess. And when he does, he will murder you and your mates.”

“And if I kill him before he can? Will you support me as your queen?”

Erik’s lips twitched with thought. “Even if you take up the throne, the Elders will control your every move. And they represent everything I stand against.”

“Like I said, I plan on making some changes to the council. Some rules you’ll like. Some you won’t.” I shrugged. “Like keeping blood thralls. Slavery is a thing of the past. Which is funny since you claim to be ahead of the times. Look, Thorn. I think you’re a sleaze bag. But I don’t think you’re stupid. You know I’m capable. I’m betting on the fact that you won’t support my coward of a brother forever. So I’ll keep my promise. You can live for now. And I won’t harm any of your people again, so long as they don’t stand in my way.”

Erik said nothing. After a barbed moment of silence, he gave the slightest of head bobs.

I pressed my lips into a wry grin. That was enough for me. “Good. Now if you don’t mind, I’ve had enough of this place.”

I hopped down from Vincent’s knee and pointed the tip of Erik’s sword at his throat. “As a token of our agreement, I’ll be keeping your sword. Oh, and I’ll also be needing your clothes.”

The blond vampire’s mouth fell open. “What?”

“You heard me. Strip.” My grin turned shit-eating. “Or are you embarrassed?”

The BC leader’s eyes grew hooded. I couldn’t untangle the miasma of emotions festering in his glare. Maybe he couldn’t either. In his defense, I didn’t blame him for not knowing what to make of me. I was the mortal who’d killed a dozen of his men, fucked and mated a monster he’d expect to tear me apart, stole his sword from him, and now I was extending an olive branch of mercy and demanding his pants all on the same breath.

He got to his feet, and his hand went to the fly of his jeans, unfastening the button with a purposefully lazy pace. “You’re beautiful. I’ll give you that, half-blood princess. I’ll think about this moment going a different way in my dreams.”

Vincent surged forward, his muscles rippling and tendons stretching in his neck as he flung a threatening snarl in Erik’s direction. “You keep my mate out of your thoughts, Thorn. She’s mine.”

Erik didn’t even bat an eyelash as the fae roared in his face. His jeans dropped, pooling around his feet, and he set to unbuttoning his black collared shirt. “You might be hers. But she is not yours, not until your mark mars that pretty throat of hers.”

“Leave it,” I said to Vin, tugging at his arm. I took the clothes Erik handed to me and forwent the pants. They were too big. Instead, I opted for the black shirt, which covered my slight frame like a dress. The hem came to rest at mid-thigh. It would be enough for now, especially since it was more clothes than I was used to.

“I’ve had enough, baby.” I turned to my fae, allowing him to scoop me up into his arms. Nestling my new sword against my chest, I let my head rest against Vin’s pectoral. “Take me home.”

“Keep your head tucked in. We’re going out through the ceiling.”

“Wait. Wha—” Before the words had left my mouth, we were in the air. The swoosh of Vincent’s wings howled in my ear, and my heart rate lurched. In the next second, shards of tingling glass were all around us and the evening air nipped at my skin.

We’d done it. We’d escaped.

It was fall, and this close to the water, it was freezing, especially this high up. But Vincent’s warmth swaddled me like a babe in a blanket. I curled into him as I took in the Boston skyline that twinkled in a multitude of colors below.

“It’s beautiful,” I muttered, not thinking the vampire would be able to pick up my voice over the rush of the wind.

“Not as beautiful as you.” My prince kissed my neck, and the next thing I knew, we were standing on the top of a fire escape in an alley across the street from BC’s skyscraper.

The metal grating of the fire escape must have been iron because Vincent remained perched on the eaves of the building. He hunkered his form like a gargoyle on a castle turret so as not to be seen.

He set me to my feet, the iron grating of the fire escape biting into my heels. I glanced up at my mate, having to crane my neck now to meet his gaze.

I kept my fingers laced through his giant clawed hands, not wanting to lose contact with him. My own claws had shrunk back into my nail beds. Now that my heat state was almost all but gone, exhaustion weighed on me.

“Thank you for what you did back there.”

“What did I do, Princess?”

“You opened up for me. You let me see inside you. You let my monster touch yours.”

“I will do this often for you. Now I know you can more than survive me. You thrive and flourish with me at your side. My brothers and I, we draw out that darkness in you, and you’ve learned it isn’t something to fear.”

He reached out with his other hand and cupped my cheek, his large palm engulfing the entire side of my head. “It’s something to worship. I was stupid for not seeing it before.”

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