Page 89
She easily captures my hands, pressing them to the wall on either side of me.
Her tongue laps at my skin, her throat working as she swallows mouthfuls of my blood. My head swims.
I’d heard stories about vampires. That they have venom in their fangs that incapacitate their victims. Their bite is supposed to lessen the pain—and amp up the desire.
I feel none of that. She’s making sure I feel every second of this. My mouth opens and closes, and a scream builds in the back of my throat.
She isn’t just drinking my blood—she’s pulling out the dormant power, too. The power I still can’t seem to get a grip on by myself. The power that I lost as soon as I came down here, which is dragged out of me with every gulp.
And it hurts. More than the blood loss, my magic being ripped out is like being burned from the inside. I squirm and cry out, and it does absolutely nothing to lessen the agony.
“Enough.”
Sonia’s grip loosens. She flies backward, but it’s not her doing. The large man Gage brought with him has her by the back of the neck, wrestling with her. She keeps trying to claw herself back to me. Her eyes are wild, her dark hair loosening from the braid that contained it.
My blood runs down her chin.
I shudder and cup my neck with my bound hands. The bite throbs, but worse is the pit inside me. My magic was blocked to me, but now it’s gone. I’m so fucking cold and empty, and it radiates with a new agony I never could’ve fathomed.
Gage leans forward. “Monstrosities like her exist to further my pack’s reach. Do you understand that, Astra?”
She went for my unMarked side. But as for Gage… if what he’s saying is true, he created her. Or his father did. One way or another, they forced her to become something else.
She was a witch, and now she’s a vampire…
“I don’t think I understand,” I whisper. “Is she the only one?”
His smile is as frozen as the ice she pushed under my skin. Perhaps she chose the ice instead of fire because it’s her affinity—or perhaps she just wanted to remind me who I’m dealing with. I turn away from him and focus on Sonia. She’s calmed slightly, but her eyes are unfocused. She weaves in the large shifter’s grip, and her skin is glowing.
“She’s drunk on your power. Isn’t it fascinating?” Gage stands and goes to her.
He holds out his hand, and she practically falls into his embrace. Her head tips back, and Gage…
He kisses her.
Her mouth opens; her body arches into his.
I slip down the wall, barely able to keep my eyes open.
It’s only once they break away that Gage glances at me. “We’ll come back to replenish your magic, Astra. Dare I say you’re the best Sonia has tasted?”
Sonia nods, her hungry dark eyes locking on to me again.
They slip from the room, the door locking behind them, and I curl on my side.
And I finally cry.
Chapter 23
Astra
Aday.
A week, then two.
Four.
Seven.
