Crimson Covenant (Onyx Assassins 1)

“Avi…” And now I’d somehow managed to hurt her feelings. Shit. She’d always been tender about the fact that she didn’t have any notable powers.

“Listen to me.” She lifted her chin, and in that moment, she looked so much like our mother that I couldn’t help but fall silent. “You’re starving, but you still sleep in the same chamber as Lyric.”

“On the couch,” I muttered. Not that I hadn’t spent a few hours in the same bed just to be near her, to stare at her for a few unobserved moments.

“Because you can’t trust yourself in the same bed, can you?” She arched a dark, elegant eyebrow.

My eyes narrowed.

“I’ve been home a total of nine days, and you haven’t fed. You haven’t used any of the humans in the Butcher’s Block—”

“How would you know?”

“Because I listen! I observe. And I know that Lachlan is at your side almost every waking moment of the day because he’s worried, and the other moments, you’re with Lyric. Tell me, has her mating mark appeared?” She tilted her head and stared me down in a way my council would never dare.

“Sisters are a pain in the ass.”

“Only when we’re right.” She flashed a smile. “Seriously, Alek. You have to make yourself feed, or you and I both know the hunger will take you at your weakest—in the day, when you’re sealed behind a iron door with the one person you can’t seem to keep away from.”

The picture she painted turned my blood to ice.

“Alek, I like her, and you’re putting her in danger.”

“The smell of any other human turns my stomach,” I admitted, lowering my voice. “I’ve tried to feed. I’m not even sure if I could keep it down.”

“Oh.” She wrung her gloved hands. The custom of young, aristocratic females covering their hands was an old one. Since mating marks took hold at the first touch, it was as much for their protection against an unwanted mating as it was about control. I’d long since given up trying to control Avi. She wore them now by her own choice.

“Yeah. Oh.”

Her forehead scrunched. “Well, maybe Lyric wouldn’t mind. She seems to care for you—”

“I won’t abuse her like that.”

“We both know it doesn’t hurt. Hell, it gets them horny and high with a little compulsion.” Avi rolled her eyes.

My mouth opened, then shut, unable to formulate a response to hearing those words out of Avi’s mouth.

Her lips quirked upward. “Or is that what you’re worried about? Putting your hands on her? Where do you think the mark will appear, brother? My guess is somewhere you’ve already touched—”

I stepped to the side and moved past her, my footsteps slow and heavy as I trudged up the steps. Fuck, I could smell Lyric from here. She was in my chamber—our chamber.

“You’re going to kill her, Alek!” Avi shouted after me.

No, I wasn’t. Because I wasn’t getting anywhere near her from now on.

“Move her to your suite!” I called over my shoulder.

Ten days was the maximum I’d ever heard of a vampire going without feeding, and that had been a religious sect of women. Warrior bodies demanded it far before that.

I was on day eleven.

I barely heard the voices around me as my council discussed intel that had come in at nightfall. One of the demons involved in Avi’s attack was still alive. For now.

Hunger screamed at me with every shallow beat of my heart. My vision had turned a sort of hazy red, illuminating the bodies around me in thermal waves. My own body had decided to forsake the pretense of civility and turn full-on predator.

I caught her scent, stabilizing my vision just before the iron door to the war room swung open.

The click of weapons coming off safety filled the chamber as every member of my council pointed their 9mms at Lyric’s head.

Her eyes widened, and she stumbled, catching herself on the wall and crumpling the paper in her hand.

“Put them down!” I growled.

Every weapon returned to its holster.

Fuck me, she looked good enough to—nope. I told myself to shut my eyes, to stop breathing, but the damage was done. She was here, and that little blue wrap dress made my mouth water. One tug and she’d be unwrapped like a present.

“How did you get in here, lass?” Lachlan asked, his gaze narrowing in suspicion.

She glanced back at the door as it slammed shut behind her. “I…uh…sensed where Alek was and followed it to your…what is this? A clubhouse?” She scanned the room quickly.

“And you opened the door?” Hawke’s brows lowered.

Ransom immediately went to the security system and started doing his tech thing.

“Well, I put my hand on the pad, and it opened, if that’s what you’re asking.” She fisted her hands on her hips.

“She’s not lying,” Benedict noted, his tone edging toward awe.

“She’s telling the truth.” Ransom spun in his chair, glanced between Lyric and me, and stood. “Alek, why don’t you check out the screen I left open when you get a second?”