Darkest Temptation (The Dark Ones Saga 4)

I shivered and shoved open the window.

It wasn’t good blood. But it would do.

I locked eyes with the bird and beckoned it. “Come.”

It flew to the windowsill and looked up at me. It was pretty with golden-flecked eyes and tiny little feet.

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I choked back a sob.

What if it has a family? What if I am taking it from its parents? What kind of monster am I?

“Be free, little bird.” I shoved it away.

See? Worst vampire ever created.

“You let it go,” a gruff voice said behind me.

Clearly, I lacked blood if a wolf could sneak up on me. I was in a pitiful state; maybe I should die too.

Like my parents.

What else did I have to live for?

Nothing.

I was all alone in the world in a job I hated and apparently a target for no reason other than I was probably going crazy.

Stupid dreams.

I shrugged. “I wasn’t hungry.”

His look said he didn’t believe me, and when my gaze fell to the steak, I almost jerked the plate out of his hands and bit into it without using the fork.

“Told you.” He smirked knowingly. “Sit down, and I’ll cut it up.”

He was true to his word. The big bad scary wolf literally cut up the steak into tiny bite-sized pieces as if I didn’t have a mouth full of fangs ready to punish the meat into submission.

He finished then stabbed the fork into the meat and held it out to me. “Small bites. Don’t rush it. I don’t want you getting sick.”

So now he cared?

With a shaky hand, I took the fork and then shoved the meat into my mouth. I groaned and closed my eyes. When I opened them, he was watching me with such intensity I felt embarrassed. “Sorry, it’s been a while.”

“Since you’ve eaten?”

“Since I’ve had good meat,” I admitted. “Nobody knows how to cook it right. I went vegan years ago.”

“A shame.” He licked his lips as his body seemed to grow before my eyes. Maybe it was because he was sitting so close to me, but something about him looked different, altered, and very other-worldly. I hadn’t met many werewolves; all the races typically kept to themselves.

The immortal council made sure that fights were at a minimum.

And since I was literally in their main house under their protection, I could only assume that this wolf was the Wolf, the one who kept the packs in line.

Demons, wolves, vampires, angels — it was a gas, our fun little immortal world.

Word on the street had been that the demons were somehow finding their souls. That there was an elf goddess who’d set them free.