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“Fuck off.”
I kneel beside Ashton. “You fuck off. I don’t fucking want to fight with you, Rys.”
“Because you know you’ll lose,” he says but his dark gaze meets mine and a new sort of awareness passes between us like an electric shock. He’s looking at me not like he wants to punch me but more like… he wants to touch me.
Holy shit, this is so confusing. I’d never been with a guy before Ashton, and Emrys is the opposite of him, moody and snarling, all edges and spikes.
And I can’t fucking deal with this right now as Ash reaches for me, his fangs growing longer, Mia on his other side.
“You shouldn’t let it get this far, Ash,” Mia is saying. “Why haven’t you fed earlier?”
“I don’t need to feed so often,” he pants. “Not normally. It’s like… Sindri left and the hunger got worse. I don’t fucking get it…”
Mia glances at me over Ashton’s head, questions in her eyes, and yeah, baby, I got questions, too, but first…
“He can feed off me,” I mutter, and try to ignore how my body reacts to the idea, to the anticipation, to the fact that I am offering to feed the vampire I’ve been partly blaming for my fucked-up childhood.
“And me,” Emrys grunts, and okay, now I’m officially staring openly at him. “That is, if Mia still wants me around,” he says, and though the growl remains in his voice, and his mouth is pressed into a tight line, his eyes look a little uncertain now.
“Of course I want you around,” she whispers. “Rys…”
“Nobody’s feeding on my boys,” a new voice says and I jerk as if a rusty needle has jabbed me in the neck. “Except for me.”
“Ophelia,” I breathe. “What the hell do you want? This is important. He’s not doing well.”
“Jason Kassidy.” Her voice is warm, trickling over my senses. “The wolf with a heart of gold. Why are you keeping my boys up, Mia? They don’t have time to waste on you anymore.”
“It’s not a matter of keeping them,” Mia says quietly. “They’re not animals to put in a cage or on a leash. With me, they have their own free will.”
“Free will.” She laughs. “Nobody was saved through free will. Someone always has to lead.”
“And that’s you?” Mia whispers. “The self-appointed Queen?”
“Indeed. Come, boys.” She crooks a finger at us. “I have plans for you tonight.”
And it’s as if that crooked finger is holding a rope tied around my neck, a noose, and she yanks on it. I rise and step closer to her and the pull on my magic—on myleash, I think hazily—gentles.
“Here, Jason, give me that.” She takes my hand and unties something, taking it off. My old leather bracelet, I realize, the one thing reminding me of home that I’d managed to keep as a slave to the vampires. I watch her tie it around her own wrist deftly, with quick fingers, and I don’t feel anything. Shouldn’t I be angry? Shouldn’t I demand it back?
All my thoughts go up in smoke when she takes my hand and then Emrys’, too, turning the sweetest smile on Mia and Ashton. “Bye now. Do feel free to join us, vampire, if you change your mind.”
I don’t even look back, following Ophelia through the campus.
She’s my goddess. She has my loyalty, my magic is hers. I owe her all I have and she’s free to take it, even if it kills me.
22
MIA
Helplessly I watch as Ophelia leads two of my boys away, their faces blank like masks. And with Sindri gone, it feels as if it’s all falling apart faster than I can pick up the pieces.
I can’t go after her and leave Ash like this. And even if I did… what can I do? Punch her?
I could try that, I guess…. I sure would like to.
Gritting my teeth, I turn back to Ash who’s glaring daggers at Ophelia’s back even as he pants and shivers. His eyes have bled to full crimson.
“Ash.” I watch a drop of sweat run down his temple, down his neck. “It will be okay. You can feed on me.”
