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I focused until the slightest thud of her heartbeat reached my ears.

She was okay.

I brushed the long hair away from her face. Her lips pouted even while at rest. The dark, long eyelashes rested against the crest of her cheekbones. She was quite a beauty.

“Catalina,” Asher shouted, panic filling his tone as he snatched her out of my arms.NowAsher noticed that he’d been constricting her to death. His twin barreled in a few moments later. As if he’d been waiting nearby. He usually kept himself at a distance, but it’d worsened since the human’s been around. Jax’s gaze focused on Catalina, alarm flickering over his expression.

“What’s wrong with her?” The pitch of his voice differed from anything I’d heard from him since I met him. The day Imogen pitched the idea of creating a Coven so large that none would dare move against us, I’d been intrigued. A Coven that could work together? I’d never heard of it.

She said to leave everything to her.

Less work for me.

Then she’d come home with the moody criminal and his twin, a whore for hire.

She was incapable of softer emotions, but the criminal was besotted, following her every command with a smile. The discord between the twins wasn’t lost on me, but he never said anything or endangered the Coven. I’d still been prepared to rid us of Asher if the time came. Until now, it had not happened, and he’d proven himself a useful Sire and resource.

“What happened?” His sharp gaze focused on the girl draped in Asher’s arms. I straightened.

Jax shouldered into my space. I observed him. The eyes flicking side to side, his hands hovering out to touch her and then retreating. The looks he sent his brother.

He was jealous.

I had seen that emotion in action but have never seen it from him. Much less because of a human. The corner of my lips twitched. I settled on the edge of the bed beside Asher, the bed dipping and creaking from my weight. Asher’s side glare didn’t escape me. I reached out to comb my fingers through her long hair, the silky stands slipping between my fingers. Her hair was so soft . . .

I shook myself out of the fixation before it swallowed me whole. My original plan was to set Jax off into a fit.

I looked up at him. His mouth pursed with displeasure. A glare fixed over his features. I contained my smirk.

“Such a lovely little human,” I murmured, still peeking at Jax from the corner of my eye as I combed her hair. Having never done such a thing, it felt strange, but it was oddly fascinating.

“Ren, what the fuck are you doing.” Such incredulity from Jax.

“Your jealousy is showing.”

“What are you talking about?” he sputtered. “I’m not jealous over some human.”

He’d never seemed so . . . emotion riddled. The corner of my mouth twitched.

Vampires easily displayed all of the negative emotions, but this? No, our reaction to her was not normal.

“Let’s kill her and be done with it. If Asher and Tobias are so set on beingkind,” Jax spat the word out like it was a ludicrous concept. “Then we can end her right now, she would just be gone. No pain.”

Her death? No. It would not happen. The taste of her blood settled in my memory. A rampant need to sink my teeth into her now urged them to extend.

“You are here because your brother is convinced that you truly want this human. Do not think of murdering her. She must be savored.” Like fine wine. His jaw twitched. Such bitternesslived in this youngling; he let himself be run by it. “Do not make moves without thought, Jaxon, you will not survive long.”

I would not allow him to damage our Coven or our new belonging. Even if I had to infect him with blood-madness. I’d had to do it once per Imogen’s convincing that it was in the best interest of the Coven. If I hadn’t, then Bastien would have left us, and we needed him to maintain our numbers.

I needed to follow my own reminder. A human would not come above me or power. As delightful as her blood tasted, she would not bring my Coven down.

FOURTEEN

catalina

“I forget how fragile humans are.”Asher’s sweet breath ruffled my hair and caused it to tickle my ear.

With consciousness came a dull soreness at my torso. Groaning, I pressed my palm into my side. There was less room to stretch out, and peeking at the seat fabric behind Asher, it informed me it was because we were in the car.