s a rasp, barely cutting thr

eyes slid to me, cold and predatory, sending ice down my spine. "You've al

tighter to Sebastian, clinging to trust even as doubt chewed at me. He'd lied-about

ead," Sebastian said,

or the last five, I've been dead inside." His face twisted, rage and anguish battling it

ke a fist. I shouldn't have trusted Rose with my rent money, shouldn't have te

steady despite the strain in his frame. "

thinking fear was messing with me, but his fury was no illusion. "You

screaming past. He shoved me into the car, but before he could climb in, Eric struck, a brutal punch to his jaw. Seb

aned in, his whisper lethal. "I won't kill you yet. I'll make your life hell first.

He slid behind the wheel, blood pooling, and gunned it ho

e of fear and fog. What had I walked into? Seb

about his brother glaringly exposed. Why fake a dead sibling? What else was

been touched, not physically, not in that insane sprint down th

re the one who needs-" I froze. The wound on h

s gone," I stamm

hair across from hi

he was about to spin the wildest tale. "This might b

it, but this sealed it. I was in deep with

re you?" I asked, torn betwee

e leaned back, calm as if he

. Was this a twisted joke, or dead se

l," I said, more

countered. "Just damn

oodsuckers, right? Yet I felt safe, certain he wou

an blood?" I brac

century. Blood bags now," he said, leaning clos

you?" Eric's talk of cent

ars later," he said, nostalgia flickering a

u're 536 years old," I

e smirked, hand

ing the moment. "Why lie a

for good," he said, conf

riments. One night, he broke free, weak as hell, but couldn't reach Eric's cell. He vowed to return, stronger, but hunger won. After years on blood

steady but reeling. This vampire had confessed to a massacre,

elf," he said, starin

p. He's alive," I offer

. Stay here-vampires need an invite to enter. Eric can't touch you," he said, voice a m

centuries, and I was in the thick of it

ing. I didn't care if I was prey. He pulled me in, hazel eyes searing into mine, and our lips crashed-fierce, hungry. In a blur, I was on