I’d indulged her fury. Something I hadn’t realized was that Lexi’s murder had been about more than vengeance. This was the first time I’d given into my monster, and particularly my Helsing side’s need to kill vampires. With my Knight side there to feed on blood, it was like taking a shot of adrenaline right to the heart.
My pulse raced so hard I was surprised it still beat at all.
I felt drunk. High. Like I was standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down into darkness. Teetering.
The chaos of my monster, which had always existed within me, spread through my entire body like wildfire. It was beginning to take complete and utter control over me in a way it never had before. We were at a crossroads, and it felt like I was at the point where I could still gain control over her if I fought hard enough.
For the first time, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to fight the truest depths of my primal self.
When I raised my eyes to find my brutal male staring down at me with his own monster slowly breaking out of its shackles, I knew what I wanted.
From the day I’d learned about my other side, I’d been so curious to see what sex could be like with every inhibition shed. Especially with Vincent, who had a feral demon of his own living within him.
An unprecedented charge of adrenaline coursed through me, and sparks of magic pinged from nerve to nerve.
Vincent’s attention went to the tear in my dress, courtesy of Lexi, and how it left a good portion of my tits exposed. “You’re hurt.”
His guttural rumble had my skin bursting with goosebumps. “I’m fine.”
I wasn’t fine.
At any moment, I was about to be pushed into the backseat of my own body. No, not the backseat. The trunk. And being the kinky queen I was, being tied up in a trunk was striking as a reason to surrender rather than a reason to fight.
Especially if it resembled what I imagined it was like being restrained and helpless in Eros’ trunk. Zip-tied. And gagged.
The cut was shallow. It would heal within minutes. Vin knew this too. But he still raised his wrist to his fangs and ripped a gash into his flesh before holding it out in a quiet offering.
“My blood has healing properties, as you know. It will seal your wound.” His voice had the guttural resonance of a lion’s purr. “Sodrink.”
I knew what this was, and it wasn’t about the wound.
This was an excuse, an innocent front for something rash, beastly and raw.
Something very, very stupid.
But we’d both had a taste of experiencing our most unhinged states on that stage with our layers peeled back. We both craved to witness our darkest selves stripped past the bone, down to our very souls where the most terrifying facet of us lived...and to have someonelustfor it.
I swallowed, on the precipice of doing something I couldn’t turn back from. I glanced at Lexi and found my answer in her lifeless eyes. It was already too late to turn back.
I centered my focus on Vincent, his inexorable presence having its own gravitational pull.
The fae’s lips curved, sensual and conniving. Ardent and loathsome. Beautiful and heinous. He saw right through me, watching my resolution crumble.
“Go on,” he urged. “Take my generous offering into that gorgeous mouth of yours, little monster.”
A cloying ache, unmerciful in its intensity, tore at my core. This went way beyond normal levels of horniness. This was about my monster, ready to make dumb decisions all so she could connect with her mate without all the human sensibilities in the way.
I sucked in a breath. “What if it goes too far?”
“We’ll pull one another back when we’ve had our fun. Thomas Knight is coming, Ruby, and we don’t have an army. If shit doesn’t go according to plan, this could be our last shot at getting under the other’s skin.”
His audacious smirk had me standing to close the distance between us.I faltered when a lowtskingsound slithered from him. He pointed to the ground.
“Back on your knees.”
When I obeyed, he growled his approval. “Good. Now crawl to me, little monster,” my dark prince crooned from the headstone where he crouched. “Crawl across the graveyard on your hands and knees and show me how well that pretty mouth takes me.”
Chapter forty-two