Page 26 of Our Sins in Silver (Coven of Sin 3)

Vincent was in pain. More than that, he was terrified. Thomas Knight raised from the dead—walking, alive, and in his mate’s brain—was like having Satan call you up on the phone saying he was popping by for a visit and to have some new underlings ready in case he decided to kill the old ones. Only worse. At least Satan appeared to be an introvert.

I wasn’t sure what exactly my fae mate was keeping from me, but it was a safe bet that it had something to do with why the vampire king was able to break free of his son’s magic and remain reanimated. It meant Thomas Knight had one terrifying trick up his sleeve, giving dear old daddy a daunting advantage over us.

“Tell me what’s bothering you, Feral,” I whispered, my fingers tracing the raven tattoos over his throat. He released a moan that was all male when I brushed the mark on the scar sitting below his ear.

“I—” He faltered. “I can’t protect you from him. None of us can. You die, the rest of us die.”

“Whether the vampire king kills us or not,” Eros added, breaking his silence, his melancholy smile looking out of place on his rugged features.

My heart tightened, sending little bolts of pain shooting across my chest. “You guys sound like you’re just kind of giving up.”

Eros leaned back against the bedpost and shoved his hands deep in his pockets. “We’re notgiving up. We’re Knights. We don’t go down without a fucking fight. But if Thomas Knight is really here to stay, the Elders will welcome him back with open arms. We won’t have much backup. The Salem Coven, maybe. But that’s a couple dozen vampires at most. That’s like putting Godzilla in the ring with a damn anthill. We need more firepower, and we just don’t have it.”

I opened my mouth to shoot off the rebuttal burning in the back of my throat, but Corry beat me to it.

“Bullshit, we don’t have it. We have a Helsing, don’t we? Aren’t they supposed to be, like, the Chuck Norris of vampire slayers or some shit?”

Hope-laced warmth soared high in my chest as I caught the youngblood’s half-dimpled, slightly crooked grin beaming proudly at me.

At least one of them believed in me. No surprise that it was Corry, whose golden-retriever-like energy and loyalty seemed to be something of a lifeline these days.

“I don’t expect you guys to protect me. If I’m going to come out of this alive and take up the throne to be a queen worth her salt, I need to fight my own battles. And Corry’s right. I am a Helsing. I have my family’s magic inside me; I’ve felt it. I think it’s mostly from my mom, but it’s spiked with some of my dad’s power, too.”

I shivered at the memory of the wind and how it filled me with electric energy so devastating it had felt like I was being ripped in half. “All I have to do is figure out how it works, and maybe that will be enough to put him back in the ground.”

“No!”Vincent’s anger slammed into my chest like a battering ram. “You’re not to go anywhere near that monster.”

I gulped a breath, stunned by the way he was looking at me now. Taking me by the wrists, he flipped me over before I could react and brought his weight down on top of me, his huge frame easily pinning my far smaller one into the mattress. His hellfire glare drilled into me with a martyr’s conviction, the flames of his rage putting off radiant heat like Eros’ basement furnace. Scorching.Dangerous.

My eyes shrunk to slits as I bucked beneath him. “What do you mean,no?Get your head out of your ass, Feral. I’m the best shot we have at taking my dad down once and for all.”

His expression softened as his hands, pinning my own on either side of my head, let up. On the next beat, he grasped my cheeks as our bond dumped yet another wave of palpable emotions into my being, leaving my legs weak and my lungs short on oxygen.

“He’ll kill you in front of me. I know he will, as punishment for tricking him into the true death with my silver-spiked blood. I—I wouldn’t survive it.”

I sobbed silently at the sight of his eyes glistening with tears. A single drop fell and landed on my lips. I flicked my tongue out instantly, and he watched the way I lapped up his anguish on instinct.

His mouth came hurtling down over mine in a desperate kiss that felt as final as an executioner’s ax like he fully expected this to be the last time he’d feel me against him.

I wished there was some way I could convince him we had a chance of survival, so long as I figured out my magic. The makings of a plan had begun to take shape within me, but I had to hold my tongue. Not because it was currently occupied, caught between Vin’s teeth, but because I wasn’t sure if my father would be back to root around in my head later.

I couldn’t think about it until I saw Sterling…

Until we completed the mating bond.

The Feral King’s lips crushed against mine as his hands tangled in my hair, clutching me to him like I might blow away at any moment. His chest bashed into mine, arms hooking around my waist. He tucked me against every hard curve and unforgiving inch of his hunger until there was nothing left between us but dread, lust, and skin.

The vampire wasn’t gentle about the way he assaulted my mouth. Demanding, seeking, claiming. I was his conquest, and I ate up every glorious second of it, basking in the way the brutal male flayed me open and feasted on me in his mad pursuit to feel anything other than fear or pain.

My spine arched, and a swollen mewl leaked from my mouth, right into his when he bit me—on mylips.

“Uh…as hot as this is, should we stop them?” Corry whispered to Deathwish, even though everyone in the room could hear him. Well, except for maybe Vincent, who had thrown all of himself into our carnal and hellish kiss that had no end in sight.

“Feral,” Eros gritted, voice tense and fraught with something that made my stomach twist. “Ease up.”

It wasn’t the placement of his kiss that incited Eros’ warning. The monster slayer could feel it. The violence and dark magic that drove Vincent deep into this primal state.

When the fae made no sign of letting up, the sadist blew out an annoyed sigh and stood on the bed. He brought his combat-boot-clad feet on either side of Vin’s waist, the cold bite of their steel toes kissing my splayed thighs.

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