Page 62 of Cursed to Be Mine
I think about her last moments, the panic and wounds she would’ve suffered.
Khalid’s arms come around me as he pulls me against his chest. Not for me to kiss his neck, just tohold me. Comfort me as I cry.
I dig my fingers into his shirt and weep.
His hand strokes soothingly through my hair as he murmurs words too soft for me to hear over my broken sobs. But I feel their meaning coursing through me.I’m here,kira. I’ve got you. It’s going to be okay.
But how can it ever be okay?
A knock at the door makes me jump, but he keeps me in his arms. My head lifts to search his eyes, and he turns to meet me, his gaze having been on the door.
There’s a moment of heavy silence beneath the raps on wood.
Then my lips are on his neck, and his hold on me turns more possessive as he shifts me over his lap. I crawl onto him as my tongue strokes his skin and my mouth marks him as mine. A groan of unchained arousal pours from his lips as he tilts his head back. His fist tightens against my scalp for a brief moment before he guides my hands to the bottom of the back of his shirt.
I quickly shove up and dig my nails into his shoulders. He hisses on an arch into me. He turns his head towards mine, and certain he’s about to kiss me, I lift my chin.
“Another one,” he rasps instead though, fisting my hair. Desperately, I move my mouth to the other side of his neck.
“Scarlett Davis, this is the police. Please open the door.”
I suck hard, leaving a beautiful red mark on Khalid.
He pulls me up by my hair. His hot eyes meet mine as my lips stay open on ragged pants. He ducks his head to kiss –
Cursing under his breath, he nudges me off his lap.
A clear erection pushes against his pants as he strides across the room.
The door opens to show Detective Vlad with a hand raised to knock again.
My pulse skitters as Khalid stays in the doorway.
And then he steps back, turns, and leads the detective into the room, changing my life forever.
Eighteen
HIM
Vlad stands in the hotel room with his green eyes on me, his jaw locked tight, his fists clenched. If I knew he was on call this morning, I would’ve set it up so Hannah’s body wasn’t found until after his shift was over. Vlad’s vendetta against my family started when our father killed his sister. It strengthened when my mother slaughtered a hundred of Blood Fang’s soldiers in a single night – revenge for them having killed four of her seven children within a month.
It settled into a tight rope of tension due to the signing of the treaty between the three gangs a few years before we were born. But he developed an instant hatred against Rudy – a mutual feeling that often led to bloody brawls.
One night, I found the two of them in an alley, bite marks all over my younger brother’s body, burn marks all over Vlad’s, both naked and entwined and doing things I never wanted to see. I tore them apart just as they bothfinished and got hit with something worse than any blade.
Maddox would laugh his ass off if he heard the story, but no one but the three of us knew – aboutthator Rudy fucking Vlad in the ass. And no one would ever know because that was the one and only time they’d ever get to doit.
As much as I wished to stay silent and let my brother enjoy what he enjoyed, I was a reaper. The Death Hunt would not permit any sort of convergence between our two Families. If the wolves found out about the two of them, the treaty keeping peace between our three gangs would burn overnight and we’d all go back to war – a war Aleric and Varius would not fight side by side on just because two of their loved ones wanted to fuck. And if that happened, Rudy would be charged with endangering the Family.
Then I would be forced to kill him.
So that night, I ripped out a chunk of Vlad’s hair – a failsafe to protect my brother. If I caught anyhintthat they were fucking, I wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. A doll of alexandrite crafted in his image stays inside my shadow domain, always with me, always ready to be used.
Glaring at me as I sit beside Scarlett, the urge to suck me dry flashing in his emerald eyes, Vlad pulls out a notebook and pen. I’m certain he already suspects me of this crime – did as soon as he heard my voice on Scarlett’s phone, and it’s killing him he can’t pin this on me.
Although a human cell clearly cannot hold a Shadow, any sup charged with a crime automatically brings in the Special Crimes Unit – an international organization that claims to aid government agencies in solving ‘impossible’ crimes. In truth, their sole purpose is to govern sups, only picking cases that are suspected of being caused by one of us. Meaning their cells can damn well hold anything fromdemons to witches to werewolves lost in the craze of a full blood moon.
The only reason Vlad hasn’t already planted evidence is because Aleric has gone to extreme measures to make sure the SCU thinks the vampires in St. Augustine’s police department are all law-abiding citizens. If they knew they were part of a gang, they would destroy his entire coven. So if Vlad wants to nail me without destroying his own Family, he’s going to have to do it completely by the book.
