Undying Thirst (Crimson Coven #2)

1. Ren

ONE

ren

Jax pounded his fist into the door frame. Over and over again until the wall ruptured, his shoulders moving up and down in hard bursts.

I tilted my head, watching him. He wasn’t emotional. Usually he said some dramatic bitter-infused comments and stalked off to steep in his own discontent.

This new rage-filled version of him would have impressed me more if the wobbling of Catalina’s lip would leave my thoughts. The image caused an uncomfortable pinch in my chest that I attributed to sharing my blood with her.

Asher stared blankly down at the urn that’d been set on the ground, his expression tight. Surprisingly, he wasn’t running his mouth as usual.

The front door creaked as it swung open. Asher’s attention lifted, eyes wide and hopeful until he saw Tobias enter with his brows furrowed.

“What’s happened?”

His attention dropped to the urn and his lips tightened.

“Why is that out here?” Tobias’s gaze thinned. Not only were Imogen’s ashes in there, but it also contained a jewel many vampires had literally killed for. An ancient artifact we’d never let out of our sight.

“Catalina tried leaving with it and Jax stopped her.” Asher’s voice was hollow. It was silent other than the ticking from the grandfather clock at the base of the stairs.

“Did Calliope threaten her?”

Asher studied Tobias. I’d been gone for what felt like only a blink of an eye, and yet my Coven mates had changed. My lips thinned—the reason was somewhat clear. She had a sweetly rounded ass, too tempting for her own human good.

“Asher kicked her out,” I offered since I was helpful that way. Not at all because I wanted Tobias’s tight restraint to rupture. The madness was there, right below the surface. As the oldest, he needed to exert the strictest restraint when it came to our baser instincts, and it was fun watching him lose it. He was closer in age to me than the other two. The smug bastard irritated me, thinking he did something by avoiding “sin.”

“How could you do that?” Tobias said sharply. Such anger. A smile played along my lips.

Tobias behaved... as if he cared. What had happened in the month I was gone?

“I told her to leave so I could figure out what happened. Jax was scaring her,” Asher snapped, fangs flashing. His irises turned red for a split second.

“There’s nothing to figure out,” Jax hissed. “Calliope must have sent her. She’s been a plant this entire time.”

“There must be an explanation.”

Jax whirled and backhanded his twin.

“Snap out of the hold her pussy has on you, Asher.”

Asher calmly spat blood on the floor, rolling his jaw with a smirk. In a sudden burst of motion, he kicked his foot out, slamming it into Jax’s stomach.

I burst into laughter—they never fought. That little human had created the chaos I delighted in.

“Calliope wanted us to give her the ring in exchange for Ren.” This was news to me. I clenched my teeth. Sneaky bitch would answer to me later. She took my patience with her too far.

Asher stiffened, turning to Tobias at his declaration. “Figure yourselves out. I will check on her,” he added.

“You’re not going near the human,” I said, pushing off the wall.

There was only one option: she had to die. If there were an option to turn her, I would have considered it, if only to watch her create more havoc between the twins. But only about twenty percent of females survived the transition, and with the vampire illness, all that would become of turning her—if she didn’t die—was a blood-mad vampire.

Tobias watched me, still and ready to strike.

I raised an eyebrow.

There was something wrong with that human, and I would find out what it was before snuffing her life out. She belonged to me since she had my blood in her, and the fucking priest wasn’t taking her from me. I would have offered him the scraps, but there would be nothing left once I was done with her.

Tobias started for the door—ignoring me. That had never happened. Tobias was levelheaded and willing to listen and discuss; he’d never turned his back to me. I hissed. He wasn’t getting near her.

I rammed into him, sending him into the wall opposite from the living room entrance. He caused a Tobias-shaped hole.

He pushed off the wall and calmly dusted the plaster bits from the front of his shirt. In a burst of motion, he charged, slamming his shoulder into my midsection. I slid across the rug, crashing into the settee. Wood cracked, and the sound echoed off the walls. I grinned through the pain, letting it course through me.

If the mere mention of the human wrought this havoc, keeping her around a little longer would be fun.

After she’d sunk her blunt teeth into my neck, I shouldn’t have been surprised she had little tricks she’d used to draw in the others . . .

“Come back to our conversation, Ren,” Tobias spat, braced against the wall with the large hole.

“Her taste . . .” I hummed. “She was made for being drained.” Her blood reached through the foggy veil coating my human memories and brought forth the taste of sweets from my childhood. Flavors I’d forgotten about. Her taste coated my tongue, and her blood satisfied my cravings and calmed the violent hunger that had dogged my entire existence as a vampire.

She was so fucking delicious my mouth watered at the thought of her.

I refused to be bound to a woman again, but I wanted to play with her and bleed her until I was satisfied.

My cock stirred. Very interesting. I’d never once been remotely tempted to fuck a human.

“You will not harm her.”

I slowly nodded.

“Yet.” I grinned, stretching my neck side to side. “The human is mine to find,” I repeated.

“Hubris is a sin, Ren.” Tobias sneered, his usually unruffled appearance a disarray.

“Shove your self-righteousness up your ass, Tobias.”

He ran his tongue over his bleeding lip. “I won’t go easy on you.” His irises flickered red.

We were fighting for the long haul. Long overdue.

A smirk lifted my lips, and I met him mid-run. We crashed together with a resounding thud.