Page 38 of Feeding Frenzy (Crimson Coven #3)

THIRTY-EIGHT

jax

She had not stopped fighting until we’d returned home. Now, she lay curled on Asher’s lap on the bed.

He cooed to her in a way I didn’t know how to. I unclenched my hands only to fist them again. Her sadness physically ached . I couldn’t handle watching her fall apart.

She was feet away, wailing and I just stood here, as lost as Tobias. Talia poked her head into the room and motioned for me to follow. I scrubbed my face and slipped out of the room.

I hastened downstairs.

“Was he easy to retrieve?” That was my main concern. They would have begun to deal with Wrenhaven’s punishment, and we didn’t want questions about why we wanted the body.

“They’d dumped him outside.”

I sneered. Bastards. If it was another human, I wouldn’t give a fuck, but this was Catalina’s blood. That made him part of us.

“Ren took him to Bastien’s lab.” I turned the corner into the kitchen. The three interloping vampires hovered near the table. Their curiosity came off them in waves. They should not be seeing any of this. They already knew Catalina was different, but they didn’t know the extent of it. An issue to deal with later. Ren and I could silently dispose of them, if the need arose.

Peter was stretched across the metal surface and Bastien hovered over his arm, setting up an I.V. connected to a bag.

“What are you doing to him?” The little human girl Cat seemed fond of, raced toward them. I grabbed hold of the back of her sweater, stopping her from reaching Bastien. Knowing him, he’d turn, snap her neck and return to doing what he was doing.

All for science. A cold bastard, as much as any one of us, with only Catalina as our exception.

Bastien slid the needle into the soft underside of the boy’s elbow and he pulled the little piece on top, sucking the blood into the little tube.

“This will not hurt him.” Bastien straightened, looking her in the eyes, and tugged the cuffs of his shirt-sleeves higher on his forearm. “Nor will it change the outcome of him turning. This may help me understand the virus.”

“Will he turn like Cat?” I asked, releasing the girl. She stumbled forward and took hold of the boy’s hand.

“He may wake as a vampire.”

“We have to tell her,” I said gruffly, already taking a step away. Bastien grabbed my shoulder, stopping me.

“I did not want to tell her in case my theory is incorrect.”

“But—"

“He’s right,” Tobias interrupted, coming to stand beside me.

“I will take a look at his blood. It will not take long to confirm.” He flicked the syringe he held in his hand.

“H-he’ll turn into a vampire?” the small human girl asked, squeezing Peter’s hand like he’d get up and run away.

For Catalina, I hoped so.

I did not take pleasure in seeing her sobbing in agony.

“Where is my Little One,” Bastien addressed Tobias.

“Asher’s with her,” I answered, stepping to the edge of the table. The slack jawed boy remained still.

“She did not deserve to see her sibling slain before her.”

I agreed with Bastien. She did not deserve any of this.

I gritted my teeth, struggling with the foreign throb in my gut.

All I craved was taking her in my arms, but I did not know how to comfort her as she deserved.