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“What I would give to be your Sire.”

I narrowed my eyes at Ren. He’d abuse his influence over me. The sensation had been compared to when vampires used compulsion on humans, except a vampire was aware of the Sire’s influence.

Which I knew well since Imogen was my maker. She used to take perverse pleasure in forcing her will on me.

“You,” I jerked my chin at my brother, “turn into her cat.”

“You’re worried about her right now,” Jax scoffed and shook his head. “She tried to take Imogen’s ring and you want her to have her fucking cat?”

“Turn into a fucking cat,” I repeated.

“No.”

“Jaxon.” I narrowed my eyes.

Catalina needed comfort and she would not accept it from me.

She no longer called my name with her sweet tone. It held an underlying vein of disgust. Nor would she tell me how she got hurt.

“Get it together, Asher,” Jax said. “She betrayed us. Stop protecting her so vehemently.”

I didn’t acknowledge the statement. She betrayed me, and I didn’t fucking care.

How had a human wrought me this uncertainty?

It’d been centuries since I was human, and that was the last time I encountered weak emotions like this. I didn’t think I would care this much—ever.

“And?”

“Fuck you, brother,” Jax snapped in our language and left the room.

Like clockwork, the metal shutters descended, cutting off the windows. Weight settled on my eyelids as it did when dawn approached. Even rubbing my face took effort.

I made no comment to Ren as I passed him to find a bed to fall into. As much as I wanted to curl up with Catalina, I couldn’t sleep with her, not while I didn’t know her intentions.

Our decision making had never been so compromised. Our unique Coven functioned because we let Imogen make ultimate decisions, or Imogen imposed her will. I could only think of one instance where I’d ever argued, and that was on how to handle Bastien’s blood madness.

A slip of a human caused this much conflict.

If it was up to Ren and Jax, Catalina wouldn’t have survived the night.

Our laws demanded her death. From the beginning, she should have been handled because she could not be compelled. I couldn’t even comfort her with the promise of turning her into a vampire, so she had no choice, she would have to live as my Pet.

And she had better come to terms with it, because she would not die for centuries to come if I had my way.

SEVEN

catalina

Screaming hadn’t done anything.No one could hear me outside of their gated mausoleum. Not just because the place was huge, but also because no one lived down this street.

They wouldn’t even hear me in their coma-like daylight sleep.

And now I had a sore throat. I jiggled the cuff, tugging at it uselessly.

I wasn’t sure how long I’d slept after the effort sobbing had taken. Even if I didn’t know the exact time, it had to be close to sunset. If I could go back and not move into the house next door to vampires, I would do anything in my power to do it.

I thumped the back of my head on the head board again.