Page 6 of Feeding Frenzy (Crimson Coven #3)

SIX

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I buried my head under the pillow. I hadn’t slept a wink. Even when the shutters dropped and then opened a few hours ago, I still didn’t move.

Hopefully, Asher and Ren got the clue to leave me alone after I’d ignored them when they came to check on me.

Cobwebs seemed to cast a net over my thoughts. Disbelief, fear, and confusion all battled to be at the helm of the volatile emotions suffocating me. Jax answered my question and rocked my world in the process. The date lines up and the description. There was no other explanation.

Bastien was the Pale One.

That’s why he’d never come for me after I’d freed myself. He’d been chained to a wall. He couldn’t have come for me.

Everything I believed I knew was a lie.

The door creaked and I stilled, closing my eyes. For show, I let out a small snore.

“I can tell you’re not sleeping.” Asher sighed. His footsteps echoed closer. “Pet, you have to get out of bed.” I ignored Asher. He’d go away like he had before. I just had to hold off.

“I know Jaxon’s hurt you?—”

A hysteric laugh burst free, and I sat up, dashing the tears away.

“Yes, he did,” I choked out. And Bastien. The realization of who he was came out of left field. My blood-mad teddy bear vampire was the creature that dragged me into a hillside cave and fed on me for weeks. The one that had pinned me under him with the rise of daylight. The reason I’d resorted to eating bugs.

The crawling little legs . . . nausea lurched through my stomach. The overwhelming sensation of suffocation.

Asher’s lips pursed, eyebrows furrowing. His blue eyes scanned my face.

“You need air, socialization, food—” Asher’s eyes widened, and he perked up. “I know just the thing that will make you feel better.”

“No thanks to the orgasms, Asher,” I said sarcastically.

I couldn’t believe those words exited my mouth, but my mental state wasn’t in the right place for freaky time.

“Nonsense, orgasms make everything better.” Asher batted away my words. “But that’s not what I have in mind right now. You’re coming with me.” He was suddenly at my bedside, he grabbed my arm and hoisted me up.

“Asher,” I whined, yanking to be let go. No use though. I stumbled after him as he toted me to the door. Good thing I’d taken the time to go through my self-care routine this morning—night, ugh, it was so confusing to refer to the start of my day being dusk. I’d been trying to pull myself out of my funk, but showering, straightening my hair, and all the other self-care routines I had, hadn’t worked.

I trudged down the steps, staring at Asher’s silky hair as he guided me through the foyer. He’d tied his hair up in a short half-ponytail while the rest hung around his shoulders. He peeked back at me with a fang-y grin. It would never cease to amaze me how different the twins were.

He led me into the kitchen and across it toward the door where Jax and I had our argument. This time, I stepped into the hall. The sconces were on, illuminating the well-lit hall. There were no windows, and it stretched to a dead end. Except it wasn’t a dead end, it took a sharp turn to the left. The floor started to decline, the hall remaining the same the entire way.

I huffed on a breath. The garage was far, and from the feel and musty scent of it, underground. Double French doors came into view. Shrouded panes didn’t allow me a peek inside. Asher pulled the doors open with a dramatic flourish.

“Ta-da.”

I side-eyed him and finally turned toward the garage. But it was much larger than I imagined. Like so much larger. It looked like an underground mall garage, except there were so many luxury cars. I gawked at the row along the furthest wall. One . I kept counting. Ten . And that was only the first row.

There was maybe a twenty-yard distance between the French doors and the first row. I took another step forward. The mass amount of money in here was mind-blowing and I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

A car revved out of the third line-up and rounded the pathway between the other rows. The flashy bright-red car roared toward us. I gasped, stumbling back, but it squealed to a stop a foot away from me.

I squinted against the fluorescent light reflecting off the shiny windshield. The engine hummed and then hissed from being shut off.

The door popped open, and Ren’s large body emerged.

“What is going on, Asher,” I asked, completely confused.

Ren tossed the key up and down, his focus not leaving me.

“You will be taking a bat to the car Jaxon purchased for you,” Asher said.

“What?” I said sharply. “Jax bought me an Audi?” I scoffed. That was why he was bringing me down here before Imogen arrived? I stopped myself right there. He’d gotten it for me before she came, so it was meaningless. I wanted nothing from him. I scowled. “He has no right to buy me anyth?—”

“Whoa, whoa, don’t bite my cock off,” Asher chortled, his fangs fully out. He scanned my face and clasped both hands together with the slight widening of his eyes, he said, “You’re so pretty when you’re angry.”

I narrowed my eyes, lips thinning.

“This is just your first car, inconspicuous enough, beautiful, and fast.”

“Asher,” I snapped. He smirked.

“Beating things is cathartic,” Ren offered. “Do it.”

I struggled to wrap my head around their words. My head was beginning to throb. I rubbed my temples.

“That’s wasteful.”

Asher blinked, still just waiting.

“I’ll make it worth your while.”

“But let me guess—I have to beat the car.” I rolled my eyes.

Asher swatted my butt. I yelped. The swat stung. I rubbed my left cheek. “Ouch.”

He grinned and raised an eyebrow.

Ren cleared his throat.

“How about, if you do it, I won’t go find the first human I encounter and torture them in front of you?” The corner of Ren’s lips curved up. Fifty-fifty chance that he’d follow through with that threat. His eyebrow twitched up. Maybe more like ten-ninety.

“Take the bat,” Asher said, wiggling a metal bat at me. Where had he pulled that out from?

“Now,” Ren barked. I lunged for the handle and gripped it.

“Psychotic fucking vampire,” I whispered under my breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” I said just as quickly. As soon as Asher released his grip on the bat, the heaviness dragged the tip to the floor with a loud thud. It was heavier than it looked.

I wrapped both hands around the base and hoisted it up with a grunt. I experimentally swung, but it was clumsy, and the tip crossed about an inch from Ren. He raised an eyebrow like he was daring me to swing again.

“Sorry.” I cleared my throat, my face flushing.

Arms suddenly pressed against mine, the large muscles corralling me. Ren no longer stood in front of me. Damn vampire speed! More than the others, he seemed to love spooking me.

“You look scared of it, Kitty Cat.” His gruff, rumbling voice caressed the shell of my ear, eliciting a shiver. Ren pulled me back more securely, his hands wrapping over mine. Lust bloomed to life, warming my stomach. He enveloped me entirely. He smelled so sweet, but not in a cloying way. I sank back against him. His hands stiffened over mine, and he swung the bat with me holding it. Our bodies rocked with the sway. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop the moan.

“To make any sort of dent, you need to swing.” Humor touched his tone. “Or do you need me to fuck you first?”

My lips thinned.

“You don’t seem any less affected,” I grumbled, leaning back into his hard shaft.

“That’s what you do to me,” he murmured gruffly.

His hips gyrated forward, driving his steel into my back. Butterflies erupted through my gut.

“This wasn’t what I was thinking,” Asher drawled. His voice ripped me out of the lusty haze.

“I got it,” I croaked, straightening. I wiggled free of Ren, taking the weapon with me. The bat tilted, but I heaved it up with a grunt. I rested the tip against the hood. It clanged against the metal as I dragged it until I was positioned outside of the passenger side.

God, I am so sorry for doing this to the pretty car.

I took a deep breath and swung, hitting the windshield. The dull thump echoed in the garage and vibrations traveled up my hands. I’d only chipped the surface.

“A little more oomph, Pet.” I didn’t bother glaring at Asher, but his tone, that condescending tone! All of them had this tendency to talk down to me. I could acknowledge they knew more than me, that they were overall advanced. How could they not? They’d lived decades—no, centuries. But right now, it did nothing more than flame my frustration.

I gritted my teeth and, clenching my abdomen, I swung with every bit of festering anger. The thud was accompanied by a crunch, little flakes of glass hit the floor, too small for me to see.

For all that, there was only a slight shattering of the windshield. The blunt force seemed to have only scratched it up.

“One sec,” Asher called and appeared feet away, popping a car open. The third along the first line of cars, a sleek foreign car, and riffled through. He appeared in front of me and slipped glasses onto my eyes. The brightly lit garage became dim. “I can heal you, but I don’t want those pretty browns injured.”

“Uh, thanks.” He stepped away, clearing the view to the car. I lifted the bat, and this time, I swung at the side mirror. Glass shattered and fell on the cement like raindrops. The hollow thump wrenched through my wrists.

But that kind of did feel good.

“Stiffen your grip,” Asher called. “And pull the bat all the way back until it’s over your shoulder.”

I did what he recommended and swung again. This time, it hurt less. A thud accompanied each of my hits. I wasn’t a violent person—more of a runner than a fighter, but as I drew back to hit the side window, some of that frustrating tension clinging to my shoulders melted away.

But with every hit that shifted the bunched nerves at my neck, it loosened the ball in my throat. Bastien was the Pale One. The glass webbed. Bastien did things—no, he raped me. I had to face it head on. My next swing spread the cracks in the glass. Gritting my teeth, I continued pounding into the car. A wave of tears spilled free. He’d sodomized me. He’d been this thing . Unrecognizable to the protective Bastien I knew, but did that exonerate him? The glass ruptured in a loud crash, yet I didn’t stop hitting.

Jax was another topic entirely. My heart hurt, and more embarrassingly? My pride. He’d chosen another woman. But none of those negative feelings had anything close to the utter devastation at the fact that I’d lost him.

My fingers were beginning to numb, but that didn’t stop me either. So much fucked. Up. Shit. Happened. With each word, I slammed metal against metal.

I thought the Pale One had been after me, but if they’d had Bastien locked up, then someone else was trying to kill me. I blinked to get rid of the tears blinding me. Crying had likely already ruined my mascara.

“Catalina, stop,” Asher’s voice finally ripped through the tornado of emotions battling inside me.

What? I staggered back, panting. The tip of the bat thumped on the cement. A dull throb radiated down the column of my neck and into my shoulders. My breaths puffed out and sweat beaded at my temples. I yanked the glasses off my face.

Shattered windows, the side mirror hung on by a wire, deep dents littered the surface—I’d done a number on the vehicle.

The suffocating pressure in my chest had abated. I exhaled slowly, swiping the back of my hand against my damp cheek. Tears continued to trickle free.

“Cat,” Asher said gently and lifted my hand, his tongue laved across the bleeding nicks scattered across my arm, collecting the blood. Ren strolled around the car and met my eyes, nodding like a proud father. Asher hummed, bringing my attention back to him. “Good as new.”

“What have I stumbled upon?” The English accent held a stiffness, no, a chastising edge. I whirled to find Tobias behind me. I craned my neck to look up at him.

“Love, you have the look of a racoon.”

Tobias lifted the bottom of his sweater, giving me a peek of his hard abdomen.

“That has to be expensive,” I sniffled, moving away from him. He caught the back of my neck to hold me in place and he swiped the sweater across my face until the tears were gone. By the fifth swipe of his sweater, I tried to pull away.

“Stop struggling, I have erased most of that charcoal.”

A snort escaped. Erased.

“How tender,” Imogen’s obnoxious voice invaded my ears. My smile evaporated while Tobias watched me. He frowned. I sheepishly turned away. Considering she was his sister and all that jazz, he didn’t need my utter hatred for her blasted at him.

Jax stood slightly behind her, his arms crossed over his chest. Fury flickered over his features for a split second. Then he wrenched his eyes away from the car.

My cheeks heated under his glare. What?! No, he didn’t deserve my attention. So what if I destroyed the very nice vehicle he’d gotten me? I sighed. I really shouldn’t have done it. Damn my soft heart.

Imogen hooked her arm around Jax’s as they strolled closer.

“I’m thirsty,” I mumbled, and I shoved past Jax, making sure I smacked into his side. Agony jostled my bones, but I bit my tongue hard to keep my cry in. No one stopped me. It made sense, they wouldn’t get close to me while she was around. But I felt all their eyes on me as I left.

I waited until I was through the door to rub my shoulder. I bit back my whimper and squeezed my sore arm. It felt like I’d run into a concrete wall. Hurrying back through the long, bland hallways, I arrived at the kitchen. I shut the door behind me and beelined to the glasses in the pantry. Then headed directly to the water dispensary on the fridge door. The glass filled up quickly. I chugged down the water as Maddy rounded the corner with a box in hand.

“You okay?” she whispered, peeking over her shoulder.

I nodded and thumped the glass in the sink.

“Thanks for organizing all of my stuff in Asher’s room.”

Her frown deepened. “Of course, let me know if you need anything else.”

I nodded tersely and walked past her, aiming to get back to my room to shower.

“Wait!” her muffled voice echoed down the hall to me just as I stepped into the foyer, right before I reached the stairs.

Colors caught the corner of my eye, and I backed up, struggling to process what I wasn’t sure I’d seen. “Crap, I was trying to warn you that she made me put them up.” I didn’t respond to Maddy, she disappeared down the hall as I stood frozen before the frames.

The large, centered portrait was one I’d never seen before. It had all of them: Crimson Coven, and right in the middle, was her. They stood all around her in various poses. Ren with his arms crossed and a fearsome look on his face. Asher sprawled on the floor, back propped on the chair she sat in and with a cruel twist of his lips. Jax stood behind her, serious as always. They each looked like they had a broom shoved up their ass. The only one missing was Bastien. Beside the canvas was the portrait of Imogen I had seen before.

I scrunched my hair through my fingers, staring up at the obnoxiously large image hanging in the foyer. She was so full of herself. I gritted my teeth, holding back from dragging a ladder in here to yank the atrocious portrait down.

“They’ve stayed together because of me.”

I startled, whirling with a gasp. Imogen stood behind me, her eyes practically glimmering as she stared up at the images.

I kept my mouth shut. She didn’t speak for a few seconds. If I sidled to the side and hurried up the stairs— “I’ll allow your presence.”

What?

Still, I stayed quiet, studying her features. She looked so much like Tobias, except her nose was thinner and her cheekbones fuller. They had the same brown shade of hair and piercing gray eyes.

“They will grow tired of you, eventually. Then I can snap your neck,” she spoke so calmly it gave me chills.

“They won’t,” the words came out rushed and slightly defensive. The corner of her lips twitched. She had the reaction she wanted. I bit my lip. Great job, Cat.

“You’ll see, they will get used to the idea of your death. Just as they became used to becoming a Coven.” She clicked her tongue. “Do you know how difficult it was to wrangle them together?” Her eyes turned to me, weighing on me. I stiffened my spine, so I didn’t stumble back. “Yet, you enter to profit over the months of negotiations it took me to create us.”

Her finger swiped across the bottom of the portrait. She studied her fingers, but I could see nothing on the fingertips.

“Human number two,” she shouted.

“Coming,” Maddy shouted from down the hall, sounding harried. She rounded into the foyer, her eyes downcast and her hands laced in front of her. She had on her apron and a splatter across the front of the pale cloth.

“Dust the portraits. A speck is unseemly.”

“Yes, Mistress.” Maddy dipped her head and backed away, likely to get the cleaning stuff.

I thinned my lips.

“Oh, does that anger you?” Imogen said it so low I could hardly hear it. Her eyes widened innocently. “My apologies. Humans are lowly creatures?—”

“We’re not your servan?—”

“Catalina,” Jax snarled, cutting off my angry shout. His eyes scanned me so briefly and he stormed to Imogen’s side. I took a step back. “You left,” Jax said to her.

Imogen seemed to shrink upon herself when they were around. She was feeding this whole ‘poor me’ act. Tobias and Jax were eating it up. Seeing his absolute support of her ripped at my heart.

Good thing the other two weren’t, they knew her toxic ass would love to hurt me.

“You guys started arguing.” She shrugged. “So, I left.”

Jax’s entire focus remained on her. My stomach twisted and turned like he’d reached inside me. I crossed my arms and turned to face her head on.

“You won’t be able to.” I twitched the corners of my lips up just slightly—mockingly. Her head tilted. “Take them from me, I mean.”

“Leave,” Jaxon hissed, suddenly in front of me. He grabbed the back of my neck and shoved me toward the stairs.

I gasped, managing to catch myself before I toppled onto the hard step.

I glared at him as I backed away, catching Imogen’s smirk from the corner of my eye. Sneaky bitch.

I stormed upstairs and slammed Asher’s door behind me. I sank my fingers into my hair. The Pale One hadn’t been hunting me.

That begged the question, who wanted me dead?

Who had the motive? Any vampire who hated Crimson Coven . . . but we’d been careful, no one knew that I wasn’t just their Pet. Imogen had shown up too conveniently. As soon as I thought it, I couldn’t let it go. Was this some elaborate play she’d concocted? Had she even been held by that Wrenhaven Sire? Coming out and accusing her didn’t seem like the smartest plan, but who could I talk to about it?

My gut was telling me this wasn’t just my overactive imagination. But how to prove it? These were baseless accusations that could easily be brushed away by thinking I was jealous.

Either way, I needed to prepare a get-away bag and stash it somewhere, in case they refused to see the truth.

I stepped out of the steaming bathroom with a towel wrapped around my body and came to a screeching stop.

“God, Ren! You scared me.”

“It was explained to you. Keep away from her. Do not incite her.”

I wasn’t a fan of his tone. He continued coming at me and I shrunk back. My back flattened against the wall. “Yet, you never listen.”

“She keeps pushing my buttons.”

“She’s wily, that’s what pleased me about her.”

I wasn’t like that, even a little. I dropped my eyes to his lips. Would they become tired of me?

“Then she was right.” I raised my eyes to study his chocolate brown ones. “You’ll grow tired of me.”

He cocked his head.

“She’s trying to get into your head. And she’s succeeding.”

“How can it not?” I scrubbed my face with my palm. “All I do is think about your past, about her presence, about how careful you all are being, all while convincing myself that you will stay with me?—”

One more step had him flush against my front. I sucked in a breath, my palms falling on his broad chest.

“I will.”

The heaviness in my chest doubted it. I rubbed my palms against the cotton of his white shirt. I needed a release. I needed to lose myself.

“Can I . . .?” I tugged at his shirt.

He continued to just stare at me, so I took it as assent. Inch by inch, I exposed his tatted chest. Once I had it above his nipples, he swiped the shirt off the rest of the way. My attention fastened on the defined muscles. I couldn’t get over how fake he looked. Literally so perfect, and that ink only made him hotter.

“Like what you see?” His voice took on a huskier tone. My sex pulsed in response.

“Yeah,” I breathed. I really, really did. I licked my lips and ran my fingertips up his left side, over the koi fish and cherry blossom trees. He watched me, his artfully mussed hair falling at his temple and forehead. Sexy vampire. I slid my fingertips down until I hooked my fingers into the waistband of the cargo pants.

His thumb pinched my chin, and he guided my face up to look in his eyes.

“You have skill with distracting me.”

The corner of my lips twitched, and I pulled my face from his hand and lowered to my knees in a smooth drop. His zipper smoothly glided down with my descent. I tugged the pants, spreading the flap wide. His cock bobbed free; the tip had already begun to bead with red-tinted pre-cum. I licked my lips. He tasted good here too.

Peeking up at him under my eyelashes, I flicked my tongue across the tip. His lips parted with a heavy exhale.

I gripped the base of his bobbing cock. Warmth radiated from the thick shaft. I squeezed, causing him to grunt. More droplets of cum accumulated at his tip. My mouth watered and I leaned forward to pop his tip into my mouth.

His abdomen flexed with the flick of my tongue. With my free hand, I traveled it up to graze across his happy trail. The thin line of dark hair was soft and oddly alluring. I rubbed my fingertips against it.

Tipping my chin up, I relaxed my jaw and took more of him between my lips. The corner of my mouth stretched, and I angled to fit him better.

“Take all of me.” He groaned deep and loud. “Just like that.”

Moisture gathered between my legs, dampening my undies. I worked my mouth over him until my lips touched my hand where I gripped the rest of his girth that I couldn’t fit. A mix of cum and my spit coated his shaft, making the glide smooth. I rubbed my tongue against the steel of him to gather more of his taste. His hips jerked forward, but he didn’t take his eyes off me as his eyelids lowered.

I set a steady pace of gliding my mouth up and down his shaft. “What a good little human.” His throaty voice caused my channel to pulse. I lost myself in licking him up, in his taste and those sounds he made that were maddening, driving my desire to a painful pinnacle. I squeezed my thighs together to assuage some of the pressure I needed, but it was a poor substitute to his cock.

This was about enjoying him . . .

And a small, worried part of me wanted to prove to him that I could be whatever he wanted, if he only stuck by his decision to stay with me.

Sigh, I definitely had issues.

Ren moaned and his hips thrust, driving his tip against the back of my throat. I gagged, and he erupted.

I swallowed each jut from his cock, drinking him down like the delicious vampire vanilla smoothie he was.

I hummed around him, not releasing his softening shaft. I swirled my tongue around his tip and caressed the cock with eager flicks. His grunt was accompanied by a throb of his steel as it regained its former stiffness.

“More,” he grunted. He pulled me up into his arms. My legs wrapped around his waist and in the same motion he slid into my channel. The towel slipped off me and pooled on the floor.

My whimper cut off my shout. Ren pinned my back against the wall and thrust into me, once, twice. I gritted my teeth but sounds struggled to escape. He withdrew his cock and slammed into me again.

“Moan for me, Kitty Cat.”

“What if she hears us?” I gasped, mostly mocking his comment from yesterday.

He rammed his hips against mine so hard my teeth rattled. The thrust wrenched free a moan.

“I don’t fucking care. She can’t do anything to me.” The extra emphasis on ‘me’ set off alarm bells.

Did that mean she would do something to the others? Ren chased my worries away, sliding into me with frenzied thrusts.

I ate up every second of it, swallowed by his lust.