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9

MALACHI

M y head was still spinning from the taste of her blood as I listened to Vicious bring Blake and Riordan up to speed.

Good. Those two fuckers needed to understand how high the stakes were.

She’d barricaded herself into a bathing chamber, but she had no idea how good my hearing was, or how loudly she whispered. Still, her attempts at secrecy were entertaining, to say the least.

It took my mind off how much I craved this female.

Craved her so intensely, I had nearly pinned her to the couch earlier and pressed my mouth to those perfect breasts, then worked my way down, until my mouth was buried between her thighs and she was screaming my name.

As it was, my tongue was coated with the taste of her blood, and my entire body was on the verge of imploding.

I clenched my hands, digging my nails deep enough into my palms to draw blood as she strolled back in, not bothering to glance in my direction before sinking into the plush green velvet couch, the feather pillows swallowing her up.

“Are we in danger of being invaded by two pissed off vampires?” I asked, though my question was only for show.

“I bought you two days.”

I pushed off the wall and prowled closer, noted her tensing, her eyes trailing slowly down the length of my body, her scent deepening to a dark spice I could almost taste. Was dying to taste.

“I’m sure that wasn’t an easy conversation.”

“It wasn’t.” She dug the heel of her hand into the center of her chest and some part of me paused, noting her increased breathing was from pain, not arousal. “This will cost me, so explain how my magic is going to kill Ravok, and how soon we can go after him.”

“What if I told you I understood?” I murmured, dropping into the chair opposite her, letting my hands dangle between my thighs, trying to look non-threatening. “What it’s like to protect what little you hold dear, while the world tries to take it all away?”

“Oh, so here’s where you tug on my heartstrings and manipulate me into doing your dirty work?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Poor downtrodden Malachi Draven, the world is so mean to me . Save your bullshit. We are nothing alike.”

I tried to ignore how deeply Evangeline’s words cut, snapping, “We have something in common. Tyrell took my brother and bent him into something I didn’t even recognize. He would have done the same to your sister, given time. Be glad he never got the chance.”

“Let’s not forget you’re the one who handed Angel over to him in the first place.” Something inside me shriveled up at her look of disgust. “I would have killed that bastard, with or without your help.”

I shuddered. She had no idea how close she’d come to becoming Valaine’s prisoner.

To being strapped to a table and tortured and…

“I know you would have tried,” I said quietly. “Maybe you would have succeeded. I can’t say I’ve ever met anyone as determined as you, Vicious, especially when it comes to protecting the ones you love. But loyalty only goes so far.”

“Loyalty is all I’ve ever been able to count on, so…”

“I have been around a long time.” I leaned forward. “I’ve seen more than you could imagine. Loyalty has a price, and there comes a point when even honor can be bought.” I held up a hand to stop her indignant outburst. “I’m not suggesting you would ever sell anyone out for money. But to save those you love, you would trade away your life. That is the price you would pay, Vicious.”

“Loyalty kept me searching for Angel, when I wanted to give up. It kept hope alive when Blake was lost to me, even when Riordan was almost…” She snapped her mouth shut, a look of utter horror flashing over her face and every instinct went on alert.

“When Riordan was almost… what ?” I hissed, cursing myself for swearing that goddamned oath not to read her mind.

“When Riordan was almost …what?” I pushed forward so our knees touched. Not a good idea, since all I wanted was to get my hands on her again, but this…Vicious was hiding something. I smelled her lies in the air, in the way she wouldn’t meet my gaze, in how her body curled in on itself.

Oh, she was adept at hiding her feelings, but I was better at reading her than most.

“When Riordan decided we were done. But by then, I…” She sighed heavily, digging the heels of her palms into her eyes. “I’d started to believe in his lofty ideals for a new kingdom and all his building a new society bullshit. So I stuck around.”

I studied her face, her bitter scent, the way she fidgeted.

“You’re lying to me, Vicious,” I murmured. “And as for Riordan’s kingdom…every one of his vaunted ideals are built upon the bones of his murdered sire. His nobility is a ruse.”

“Look at you, acting so high and mighty. As if you have any ideals at all, locking your own Maker in an iron box to rot.” She sneered. “Don’t pretend you stand on a pedestal, Malachi, when your feet are mired in the mud.”

Rage coursed through me, not at her, but myself, because every word was true. As much as I wanted to sweep Evangeline off her feet, I was the villain in her story, not the hero, no matter how much I’d like to pretend otherwise.

I dipped my head in defeat. “Fair enough.”

“Fair enough? Seriously, that’s your answer?”

My smile sharpened, “What, you don’t like me being agreeable? Do you desire…more?” This time, I leaned closer, so our noses almost touched. So I tasted the air she breathed, felt the heat drifting off her body. “Would you like to fight me, Vicious? Let out some of that pent up anger and aggression?” I goaded softly, hoping she’d take me up on my offer.

I wanted nothing more than for us to collide like two great forces and end up in a tangle of hungry, grasping flesh and greedy mouths. “Would that make you happy?”

“I’ll be happy when you’re dead,” she huffed, looking away, two pink spots in her cheeks.

“Obviously, but…there is something you need to know. Something important.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. I should have told her this the moment we arrived here, but I’d held onto this truth for so long, I felt almost sacrilegious, giving something so momentous away.

“Ravok would kill me, your mate, your king, everything standing in his way to get to… you .”

She blinked. “But I’m no one, I’m not…”

“You, Evangeline, are the prize Ravok desires most in this world, even above revenge.” I plunged my hands into my pockets so I didn’t reach out and do something foolish, like pull her into an embrace.

“You are the reward he’s dreamed about all those years, the one thing that has always been beyond his reach, carefully hidden from his gaze. And if nothing else convinces you to help, if I cannot convince you to trust me, know this.”

She was so close, my next breath tasted of her fear.

“If Ravok can’t find you, he would take your sister and use her as bait.”

She leapt to her feet, stabbing a finger into the center of my chest. “Angel isn’t even…”

“Part of this?” I suggested. “No, she’s not, but we already talked about the whys. Loyalty. You would trade yourself for your sister, would you not?” I trapped her wrist, pressed her palm against my chest, my cock hardening from that simple contact.

“You think I’m a villain? Ravok will kill everyone you love to force your obedience, while I waste precious hours trying to convince you this is a fight you cannot ignore.” My heart hammered against her hand, but she didn’t pull away. “We have one advantage. Ravok doesn’t yet know you exist. And you will remain invisible, until the moment you unleash your magic and end him.”

Guilt seeped from her like poison, and again, I wondered what she was hiding.

“If Ravok knew you existed, he would tear through every protection Riordan and Marten and your Commander Nash have erected around Crimson House and to reach you. And trust me, none of Crimson House’s fortifications—mighty as they are—can stand for long against my Maker.”

Her face went white. “Why the fuck would he want me? Why ?”

“Because your magic has been a carefully guarded secret for centuries.”

“I’m twenty-eight years old, asshole.”

“But you are not the first Bloodmoon witch.” I couldn’t keep the sorrow from my voice, couldn’t keep my heart from breaking as I stared down at her. “There were those who came before you, guardians of the magic who spent their lives in hiding so Ravok—and Caine—could never access their power.”

“Why?” She croaked. “What’s so special about my magic?”

“I don’t know,” I muttered bitterly. “I’ve spent centuries searching for that answer, but then I contained Ravok, removing the threat to your coven and thought this was over. Now he’s loose, and if Ravok ever discovered your existence, he would hunt you to the ends of the earth.”

But Vicious wasn’t even looking at me, she was staring into space, as if some part of her was dying inside.

* * *

Time was the real enemy.

Something I was used to having in spades, and now it was running out while we driveled on about the king, and Marten’s precious hurt feelings over her staying with me. Well, good fucking riddance, because fuck him.

Vicious remained mired in guilt, when I needed her at her vengeful best.

And why the fuck now?

Why, after I’d rid the world of Tyrell and was so close to achieving my goal of destroying everything he’d ever built, why did Ravok decide to rise from the dead now ?

His shitty timing, as usual, was impeccable.

As of a few months ago, the High Council was gone. Lilith—Katarina was dead, Caine, too, if the rumors were to be trusted. And though they’d tried to keep those rumors quiet, the Thirteen were no more. All of the remaining Elders were dead, in a supposed coup against an ancient, powerful Irish clan, although my sources were tightlipped on the details.

In truth, I’d been so focused on my own conquests, I hadn’t spent time looking into either matter, but if there was a shred of truth to the rumors…Ravok could very well be the oldest vampire on this earth.

Yes, his timing was impeccable, if he meant to fuck me over.

And if Vicious didn’t get on board, this fight would be over before it started.

“I’m assuming you need proof of some sort?” I demanded, my tone harsher than I’d like it to be, but I couldn’t keep my frustration contained. “That I’m telling the truth about your magic?”

She swallowed, and my eyes were instantly glued to how delicately her pale throat moved, “There’s nothing you can say that will make me believe you. Nothing. You’ve lied too many times, Malachi. Burned too many bridges. Come up with a plan to get me close to him, teach me how to control my magic enough to kill him and then…” she shrugged, “we’ll go toe to toe and see who’s faster.”

Part of me shuddered at the thought of having her anywhere near Ravok. The other part at the thought of letting her dark, dangerous magic roam free.

Both were inevitable, but first Evangeline had to understand.

I couldn’t tell her everything, but maybe…maybe I could show her enough to convince her this fight was hers, even more than it was mine. That I was a villain in someone’s story, but not hers.

Never hers .

“I’ll let you into my mind.” I swallowed at the thought of how intimate this would be, how vulnerable I’d make myself. How many secrets I was giving away . “You will see everything I know about your history, then you can decide.”

I watched her weigh this option—like she weighed everything—on her scales of truth. Evangeline didn’t even realize she did this, but everything in her life came down to black and white, right and wrong, good and evil, where, in my experience, the world was simply a haze of gray.

“No. You’ll just lie again.”

I blew out a long breath. We were wasting too much goddamned time.

“Memories don’t lie. They just…are. You’ll have to draw your own opinions from what you see, but I can show you everything I’ve seen, enough for you to trust me.”

“I’ll never trust you. I gave you my word, that should be good enough.”

And maybe it should have been, but I wanted more. I needed more. Some stubborn, male part of me—probably the same goddamned part that wanted to bed her—needed Evangeline to help me because she wanted to, not because I was forcing her.

Foolish, but there was the ugly truth.

I shook my head. “I need your loyalty, Vicious. Not this…” I waved my hand at her, “halfhearted sham at keeping your word, so you can kill me later. I know you had your fingers crossed.”

That earned me one of those wolfish grins. “At least you aren’t deluding yourself I’ll fall in love with your traitorous, lying ass.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Just fucking…look at my memories and then I’ll unbind your magic. Teach you a few ways of controlling your power before we do some reconnaissance.”

Interest ignited in those gorgeous eyes.

“Yes, we’ll find Ravok, and whatever’s left of Silas and your uncles. See what we’re up against. Are you ready?”

Because we were out of time and I was an asshole, I gripped her arms, shoving my memories into Vicious, feeding them to her one after the other, not letting her take a single breath, because if she told me no, I would have to stop, and I couldn’t.

Not when she had to know the truth.

The memories left a coating of bile in my mouth, a sourness I knew I’d taste for days, and I wrapped my arms around a shaking Evangeline as my past played out in her head. Every horror Ravok was capable of, every part her bloodline had played in Caine’s terrible ascendancy.

Not everything, but what she needed to convince her we had to fight for survival.

Hers. Mine. Everyone’s.