Page 257 of Cruelly Bitten

Ayaz, well, he’d always been a sadistic fuck, and it seemed time had only worsened his penchants.

I’m glad I’m facing you,Ismerelda whispered via our bond.

Me, too,I admitted as I pulled my lips away from her neck. The mark I’d left earlier was once again fresh, denoting her as mine.

“Kiss me,” I told her out loud. “I want to feed from your tongue.”

A lie.

I intended to make her feed from mine.

Because I fully expected her to soon need every bit of immortal strength I could give her.

Ismerelda leaned into me, her mouth sealing over mine as she accepted my tongue. My kiss. Mybrutality. Because I didn’t go easy on her. I tightened my hold in her hair and fucking devoured her.

Drink,I commanded in her mind.Something is about to happen, and I need you to be as strong as possible. Fuck, if I could, I would turn you right here and now.

But that wasn’t possible. We needed time, blood, and a grave to make that happen.

I would agree, too,she responded, nearly causing me to break our kiss. Mostly because I hadn’t expected her to say that.

You would?

Yes. And not just because of this situation. I… I’m tired of beingweakerin every situation. But it’s more than that. It just… The idea feels right.

I could hear her processing the pros and cons, this debate one she’d been considering since I’d first mentioned turning her.

There was definitely still some hesitation, primarily where our bond was concerned and how we would drink blood, but she seemed to favor the idea of being my vampire queen. Of being my true equal.

You’re already my equal,I told her.

Not physically,she replied.Not?—

Cane collapsed onto the couch beside me, interrupting my moment with Ismerelda. “It seems our rebels have arrived sooner than expected,” he informed me.

He pulled up a translucent screen from a small disk in his hand, the device reminding me a bit of Khalid’s technology.

Could he be the source?I wondered.

That… that wouldn’t make sense. Damien went to Blood City. He saw the humans living peacefully among the vampires,Ismerelda replied.Why would Khalid build such a place while allying with your brother?

I don’t know, but I intend to find out.I ran my fingers through her hair, thus releasing her silky strands from my fist. Then I placed a final kiss on her mouth and looked at Cane.

“You have my attention,” I told him.

“Excellent.” He grinned, his screen multiplying until nearly a dozen of them swirled around us, all of them depicting various surveillance feeds. “Welcome to my version of the future, brother. Let’s proceed…”

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

IZZY

Cane might be a lunatic,but he was a brilliant lunatic. That much became clear after his ten-minute tutorial on the city surveillance and all the security mechanisms he had in place.

“You can see here,” he was saying, gesturing at an image of an exterior door that I assumed led to the underground. “We have cameras embedded in the cement siding. But they do more than watch. They detect movement and…”

He trailed off as another screen appeared with a blazing red film over it.

“Ah, perfect timing. Here. You can see an actual demonstration.” He selected the crimson image and brought it to the front of the others, causing the color to vanish. “This is what happens when the city’s security protocols are engaged. The detectors come alive and react to movement, sound, and body heat.”