Page 112 of The Vampire's Mercy

Elio glowered suddenly. “You’re a disgusting man.”

“Am I?”

“Yes. You are. I hope His Majesty hears you.”

“So do I.”

He shook his head, facing the door. For a moment, I expected him to cuss me out. Instead, he left without a word, leaving me to stew in my anger while I desperately tried to slam the lid back on it.

I didn’t expect the tears to follow. Hot and fast, flowing as if I’d taken a hammer to a faucet. They burned down my cheeks, sobs tearing out of my mouth, forcing me into a ball.

I let myself have the moment to clear out the pipes. I’d been so clogged up, I needed a cathartic release to help clear my head, especially with the upcoming feeding causing so much panic.

Buck up, play along with it, wait for the attack.

Then maybe I could fuck him over. I wasn’t out for the glory of the kill, only to make the change happen.

Unlock…

What about the other stuff? The dreams and visions and the magic I still felt brimming inside me?

I didn’t have an answer to that, only more tears and prayers to Aidan for his guidance. If he got me through this, everything would be sweetcream.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

PARIS

I’d been expecting to have to wear a kinky leather outfit of some kind. Instead, I found myself back in the jeans and crop top number. So clean and pressed it had to be new.

Staring at myself in the mirror, freshly preened, my temples throbbed. These were tighter clothes, much more tantalizing than my original outfit. Silkier even. And they did nothing to curb the fear turning my stomach.

I can’t do this.

My toes curled inside my shoes, my skin a stomping ground for goosebumps.

I can’t do this.

I chewed on my bottom lip, considering a leap from the window, when Silvanus appeared in the mirror behind me.

Damn.

I watched him watch me, not about to be the first one to speak. From the coldness of his expression, he must have heard what I’d said earlier.

Was he pissed off? Did he want to tear these jeans from my body and spank me?

Who gave a fuck, when he looked good enough to ride. A black leather harness crisscrossed his chest, partly constructed with silver chains. His hair was tousled, falling across his smoldering red eyes, and those leather trousers hugged him like a wet dream.

My dick responded with merry pulses, balls tingling.

Wow. He really pissed me off and whet my appetite at the same time.

You can spank me hard if you like…

Silvanus leaned against the dressing room doorframe. “I received a new memory while in slumber.”

I licked my lips, my own memories of the taste of his blood dancing on my tongue, dick firming by the second. “Oh?”

“I remember a man with golden hair,” he said. “Exquisite gold, as if spun from fire and light.”