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He met Sirene’s eyes with a glare. “Take him back to the pet quarters. Make sure no one touches him along the way.”
Cypress’s face pulled from strain into a snarl. He attempted to shove his upper body into the doorframe to stop the door from closing. “Lord Haven!” he growled as Sirene wrenched him back.
Haven slammed the door in his face.
CHApTER Six
Cypress
“Ineed to getout of here.”
Together, Cypress and Summer watched two vampyres enter the pet quarters and draw several pets into the darkened corners of the room.
“Good luck,” Summer said, her voice low. Her green eyes flickered to Wren, where he sat on Lord Garrison’s lap, allowing the vampyre to stroke his soft brown curls.
“Nothing is going right. I feel useless.”
“You’re not useless. You’ve brought joy to a little boy who didn’t have it before. And to me.”
A shock of joy ran down Cy’s spine. He liked the sharp lines of Summer’s jaw. The way her nose turned up at the end. Being around Summer almost allowed him to forget about Haven. Almost.
Summer turned away from Wren and Lord Garrison to assess Cy with kind eyes. Eyes that knew. “How long were you free? Before all this?”
“Fifteen years.”
Summer swallowed. “Fifteen years,” she repeated as though tasting the words on her tongue, feeling their weight.
“You said you were born in captivity? How old are you?”
Summer sighed. “I was born as breeding cattle. But as I got older, I was handpicked for the skin-trade.”
Cy wanted to gag. The thought of this beautiful, vibrant woman being skinned alive and worn by a vampyre made him feel queasy. But Summer continued, oblivious to his disgust.
“Lord Thorne found me on his rounds of the skin markets. He purchased me for his menagerie. I was intended as a gift for Lord Haven. But, as you can imagine, Lord Haven wasn’t interested. So Lord Thorne auctioned me off. I was sold to Lord Merick.”
Cy faltered as Summer gave him a knowing look. “Merick doesn’t always treat his pets kindly,” she said.
Cy knew. He’d seen the way Merick handled Summer before Haven had appeared, the large bruises in the shape of upper and lower jaws across Summer’s breasts, as though Merick had used his entire mouth to bite her flesh. Those bruises and scabs were never-ending, they traced Summer’s neck and ribcage, across the landscape of her tender, pale skin.
“I won’t let him do that to you again,” Cy hissed.
Summer’s eyes widened. “Don’t be foolish. You can’t do anything to prevent it. Merick owns me. And besides, you have much more important things to worry about.”
A small whimper drew their eyes. Lord Garrison had sunk his teeth into Wren’s neck and was holding the boy’s nape, drawing large mouthfuls as he squirmed.
Cy twitched, moving to stand, but Summer grabbed his wrist to steady him. She shook her head.
Slowly, Wren’s cries died down. He quieted as Lord Garrison allowed the boy to fall against his chest. Cy’s hands balled into fists. He couldn’t stand by and watch this vampyre kill a child, could he?
“Summer,” he whispered.
When Lord Garrison finally tore himself away, his fangs were exposed, elongated and colored red. Leaning in, he sealed the wound on Wren’s neck with his tongue. “Good boy,” he crooned, stroking Wren’s head.
Cy’s rage flowed through him, hot like boiling water. As Lord Garrison laid Wren’s limp body on the ground and turned to go, Cy fought back the urge to throw himself at the vampyre, to tear him limb from limb. Despite Garrison’s rotund body and meek appearance, Cy knew there was a monster beneath the facade. An unarmed human would stand no chance.
Once Lord Garrison departed, Cy surged toward Wren, lifting the small body in his arms and feeling around for his pulse. There. Faint, but still beating. The vampyre had taken more than he should have. Would he stop himself next time?
“You act like you’ve never seen this before,” Summer lamented. “You need to take your emotions out of it. You’re drawing attention to yourself.”
