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“Come on, Max, whatcha think?” she taunted him, her glowing eyes now shining with furious tears. “I mean, what a gift, right? Who could say no to that,especiallysince I’ve wanted to kill you more than I’ve wanted anything in my whole twisted, abnormal, dysfunctional life!”
Bones closed his eyes. There it was, spoken for all to hear. Between revenge on Max or her love for him, vengeance won. On an objective level, Bones could even understand, but his feelings had no objectivity. They seethed with endless pain.
He opened his eyes to see Cat raise the knife he’d given her. It was still smeared with his blood from his unreciprocated vow, and now, it was aimed at Max’s heart.
Max braced, but he didn’t beg her to stop. Not that it would have mattered. She’d made her choice.
Laughter suddenly exploded out of Cat, so ragged it resembled grinding metal instead of a sound that a person made.
“You’re a worthless piece of shit, Max,” she said with more of that terrible laughter. “But you’re also about to do the first, last, and only thing you’ve ever done for me as a father, because there’s someone who means more to me than even killing you. So, congratulations, scum”-she lowered the knife and strode over to Bones-“you just gave away the bride.”
Shock froze him more than Mencheres’s power had. Was he imagining this, or was Cat actually raking that blade across her palm and clasping his hand?
“By my blood, you are my husband,” she said in a loud, clear voice. Then, it lowered. “Is that what I’m supposed to say? Did I do it right-?”
His kiss cut her off. Then, his embrace lifted her off her feet, and despite his still being on the ground, Bones felt like he was flying.
46
He could have kissed Cat for the rest of the night, but Ian’s power began stinging him like a swarm of rabid hornets. His sire was nearly insane with rage. Best to leave now, before Ian’s emotions obliterated his crumbling control.
Bones dragged his mouth from Cat’s, savoring the disappointed sound she made. He was about to speak when Max’s voice cut through the silence.
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,” Max said in his first words of the night. “Do you believe that, little girl? I do, and you and I will have our day, mark my words.”
Cat stiffened, but Bones smiled with all the lethal ice filling him.
“Is he threatening her, Ian? You should remind Max that anyone who comes after my wife-or anyone belonging to her, such as her mum or her uncle-declares war on me as well. Unless war is your position, Ian? Does Max speak for you?”
Nothing enraged Ian more than being usurped, as the look he gave Max proved. “No, Max doesnotspeak for me, and he has nothing else to say on the matter. Do you, Max?”
“I do not,” Max replied. Then, his tone went from obedient to taunting. “But I do have something to say about her mother.”
The acrid scent of rage exploded from Cat’s pores.
“You’ve been misinformed,” Max went on with open satisfaction. “I fucked her, oh yes. But I didn’t rape her.”
Bones hardened his arms, caging Cat. If he hadn’t, she would have hurled herself at Max right then.
Ian smirked as he saw it. “You gave up your chance to kill him, Cat, and Crispin’s threat works both ways. Max is mine and under my protection, so a strike against him is a strike against me, and warwillfollow.”
Cat stopped straining against him. Then, she took a deep breath that Bones felt as well as heard.
“You’ve probably raped so many women that you don’t even remember my mother,” she growled to Max.
He smiled nastily at her. “You never forget your first, and shewasmy first as a vampire. Beautiful brunette, big blue eyes, and nice round tits. We fucked in the backseat of my car, and the only time she objected was when she opened her eyes, saw mine glowing green, and finally noticed my fangs.”
Bones tightened his arms again. Cat was barely breathing, but her heartbeat hammered as if she was running full out, and she smelled like a burned-down building.
Max scented her rage, and his smile widened. “When she saw that, she started screaming and bawling, and calling me a hell spawn. It was so funny I didn’t deny it. In fact, I told her she was right and Iwasa demon. That all vampires were; and she’d just let herself get fucked by one. Then, I drank her blood until she stopped screaming and passed out, andthat, little girl, is what really happened between your mother and me.”
“Liar,” Cat ground out.
Now Max’s smile showed all his teeth. “Ask her.”
Cat said nothing, but from how her expression twisted, she wasn’t sure what to believe anymore.
“Remember her mum that distinctly, do you?” Bones asked.
