Undying Thirst (Crimson Coven #2)

7. Catalina

SEVEN

catalina

Screaming hadn’t done anything. No one could hear me outside of their gated mausoleum. Not just because the place was huge, but also because no one lived down this street.

They wouldn’t even hear me in their coma-like daylight sleep.

And now I had a sore throat. I jiggled the cuff, tugging at it uselessly.

I wasn’t sure how long I’d slept after the effort sobbing had taken. Even if I didn’t know the exact time, it had to be close to sunset. If I could go back and not move into the house next door to vampires, I would do anything in my power to do it.

I thumped the back of my head on the head board again.

Everything I owned was gone.

I lifted my knees. My leg no longer hurt with every twitch. Some vampire blood had made its way into my system and healed it enough for me to apply pressure without wanting to tear my hair out from the pain. Pressing my heels into the mattress, I stretched my spine. This position killed my lower back and my cuffed arm pinched with each twitch. My body screamed for release. This was torture, plain and simple.

No-good vampires. I gritted my teeth, glaring up at the ceiling. My eyes burned and it felt like sand coated them.

Asher had to let me go. I’d tried pissing him off enough to kill me, but nothing.

And he continued calling me his Pet. Did he really think I would stay without a fight? If not now, as soon as I had the sliver of a chance, I would bolt. I could never trust him to care for me again. Reality had walloped me good, leaving behind ragged scars.

A low hiss exploded through the room. The metal shutters began to rise.

Vampires equated unreliability and their seductive qualities were a trap. Vampires were made to invite, seduce, then destroy.

These weren’t the fictional, caring ones I’d written; they were death, madness, and danger. I re-learned that the hard way.

My original captor, the Pale One, should have been enough to teach me a lesson.

The doorknob wiggled and I clamped my eyes shut as footsteps encroached. I kept agonizingly still. The soft tap of footsteps neared the bed.

“I know you are awake.”

A lilting accent caressed my ears: Tobias.

My stomach rumbled with the worst timing.

Tobias chuckled and I couldn’t help but tense up. No point in acting asleep, now.

Straightening from my slump, I glared at my lap when all I wanted to do was cry and take off running.

A whoosh of air pushed my hair back. His presence hovered close enough that I saw the edge of his shoe, but I didn’t look up.

I was a bit proud of myself, actually—I hadn’t been startled by their speed this time.

“Asher has not fed you?” Tobias’ words whipped through the room. I kept my head down, not turning to look at the tray Asher had left at the bedside. I’d eaten exactly zero off it.

Giving my clamped arm a wiggle, it sent spikes to my elbow, and I pressed my lips together to hide my whimper.

Tobias gripped my caught wrist in a gentle hold, and he shielded it as he reached over me with his other hand. The cotton of his sweater brushed my cheek. It took everything in me not to turn my face up and rub my cheek into his hard, muscled torso. My mind wandered to when he’d held me against him, and I’d felt his hard cock pressing into my side.

Thinning my lips into a stiff line, I grappled to bring myself back to reality.

His presence radiated calm and urged me to lean toward him, but I wouldn’t fall for the trick again.

The fur around my wrist banded close to my bone. I couldn’t help but tense, expecting the worst, even if I didn’t know what that would entail. The chain clanged, then ruptured and instantly, I pulled my arm to my chest. The fur around the cuff lessened the dig of metal, but the angle still stung. I rolled my wrist, stretching it in all sorts of ways to release the pull on my tendons.

Tobias straightened, and as he retreated, his hand grazed my head, rustling the strands around my face. My pony tail had fallen into a disarray with hair all over the place. I lifted my trembling hand to smooth it back, but could only do so much with an arm in a sling.

“I will help.” He leaned forward with his large hands extended.

“No,” I croaked and jerked my head back. I didn’t want him touching me. Yanking my loose hairband out of my hair, I finagled it onto my wrist. The mass of hair waterfalled around my shoulders.

His eyes lingered on the mess of locks.

Swinging my cast off the bed and using the momentum, I scooted to the end of the bouncy bed.

Tobias pressed a palm to my shoulder, stilling me on the edge.

He hovered with a few inches between us. I craned my neck to look him in the eyes. Boyishness hinted within his angular features. The tall, leaner vampire looked the youngest and closest to my age even though he was the oldest.

“For someone claiming innocence, you’re not doing a good job convincing them you haven’t done anything.”

My heart slowed and as if it were electrocuted, it bounced to life, pounding faster. I dragged my eyes to his, my eyebrows furrowing close together.

“I keep saying I didn’t do anything—you believe I didn’t do anything?” I gripped the bottom of his sweater, curling my fingers into the soft cotton.

“No, Love,” he murmured. “Your character does not indicate deception. And if you did, you must have had a reason.” Sometimes . . . the way he spoke about human behavior and feelings seemed stilted, like he was reciting from something he’d heard.

A knot ballooned in my throat, making it difficult to swallow.

“Then let me go,” I choked out.

His cold, gray eyes didn’t move from mine.

“That’s not how our Coven works.”

Sounded like a no without him saying no. The smidge of hope that blossomed, fizzled away. I loosened my fingers on his shirt and dropped my hands in my lap.

“Just say, no.” I gritted my teeth.

“I will bring it up again, but our decision must be unanimous and Jaxon and Ren will not be swayed.” He crouched and lowered his head since even bent and with me sitting, he was still taller.

He couldn’t help.

His fingers gripped mine and I yanked them free. He let me do it, I had no doubt that if he’d fought it, my fingers would have snapped.

Tobias sighed and rose.

“I need to go,” I said, hastily tipping my nose toward the bathroom across the room.

I hobbled toward the bathroom, half dragging the leg cast behind me. A small part of me expected him to stop my progress, but he didn’t. I shut the door and enclosed myself in the dark. I scrambled to flip the light switch. My pulse calmed with the glare of the light. I slumped against the door.

God, my hair was a mess.

Limping to the sink, I washed my face with one hand, scrubbing at the mascara that flaked beneath my eyes. I hadn’t been able to do my skin care routine, and it was messing with my head. The vampires were messing with my self care. Combing my fingers through my wild hair, I managed to untangle the mess until my hair fell around my shoulders and to the middle of my back in a mass of waves. Water dripped and trickled off my fingertips.

Smudges of exhaustion marred beneath my eyes. I hated how tired and beat down I looked.

I scowled at my reflection. Stop, I narrowed my eyes at myself and rubbed my face one last time, then turned to exit.

Tobias replaced my spot on the bed with his ankle over his knee. He roved his gaze over my face and focused on my hair.

“Would you like to stretch your legs?”

Immediate denial came to my tongue but I bit it back.

I flicked my eyes to the bed and then the door. Getting an idea of the exits wasn’t a bad idea. If I had the opportunity to escape, I would. After all, I could wait until sunrise to make my attempts.

I’d behave so they didn’t lock me up tonight. Then I’d find a way out of here.

I hesitantly nodded.

Tobias moved carefully and with grace. He reminded me of the lull of a calm ocean. And as deceptive as one, too. Underlying lack of control battered along the surface. I could feel it.

He held the door open for me.

A key remained in the doorknob on the outside, and there were no bolts anywhere else. They only kept me in with a locked door. Perfect.

He waved a hand down the hall, the opposite from a wide window at the end. Stars glittered in the sky. That was the only opened window on this floor.

Other than Asher, Bastien, and Tobias’s bedroom, I figured the other two had theirs on this level too considering how long it spanned. Fortunately, I could see to the end of the hallway even though it was needlessly long.

I gripped the banister at the top of the second floor. The large front door was yards away from the base of the wide flight of stairs. If I ran . . . I peeked over my shoulder. Tobias would catch me before I touched the doorknob. Clenching my hand, I took a deep breath and released the banister.

“Where to?” I slowed to match Tobias’s relaxed gait. Smiling, he tilted his chin down toward the first floor. Another staircase continued up to the third floor. I hadn’t been up there before, but based on the structure from the outside, that was the final level.

The manor stretched tall and wide, and it seemed much more ostentatious since it rested on an incline.

My cast thumped loudly on the wooden staircase, and I stopped at the foyer.

Plaster and stone littered the entrance of the living room. A broken couch lay burst into pieces across the ground, like a tornado had ransacked the home.

I turned back around. Was that a male sized hole in the wall? I caught myself before I asked what happened. None of my business.

“There was a slight disagreement,” Tobias murmured. His palm pressed against my spine to guide me toward the kitchen. I shuffled forward, and he prodded again, so I picked up speed until he no longer touched me.

Asher leaned on the kitchen island, elbows propped on top as he stared off with obvious contemplation. He caught sight of me and a smile spread on his lips.

Jax stood near the stove with his hip leaning against the granite as he downed a blood-filled bag. His eyes settled in a half-lidded position. He saw me and pulled it away from his mouth, blood staining his lips and dripping off his chin. Red splattered on the front of his shirt, absorbing into the cotton fibers.

“What is she doing out?” Jax stormed forward and I stumbled until my back slapped against Tobias. His anger bared down at me, the blood painting his lips, and his flashing fangs caused an uptick in my pulse. Flinching, I hugged my chest with my good arm.

“Even Pets get to walk around.”

I whipped my head toward Asher’s drawled words. Asshole!

He strolled close with the slightest smile and tapped the bottom of my chin. I yanked my head away from his touch and backed away from Tobias.

“The construction crew is arriving to fix the mess you all made at the entrance.” He looked at Jax derisively. “We had to pay a pretty penny to get them to come in the middle of the night.” A hollow knock echoed down the hall from the front door. “And there they are.”

Asher’s silk shirt flowed with his quick steps, his loafers brushing against the floors. People were here. I could try to sneak them a look, or give them a sign to get me help?—

Jax clutched the back of my hair and jerked me a few steps forward until my front was flush against his chest. I exhaled in a hissed breath, wincing from his tight grip.

“Try anything and I’ll kill them in front of you.”

I pressed my lips together. That was pure evil since he could compel them to forget instead of straight murder. But I kept my seething thoughts under wraps.

“Do you understand?”

A boulder settled in my stomach. He treated me so harshly. I turned my head away from him, refusing to speak.

“Enough.” Tobias wrapped his fingers around my arm, pulling me tight against him, the stern hold Jax had in my hair tugging at my scalp.

I stiffened, but didn’t move away because at least Tobias wouldn’t feed from me. I also enjoyed the ripple of irritation in Jax’s features.

He leaned down and I shrunk into Tobias, but I could only get so far.

“You think he can stop me if I want to kill you?” His sweet breath brushed against my cheek.

Panic viced around my chest and my limbs locked when I should be running the other direction. I kept my lips shut and focused on his mouth. His angled jawline rippled with irritation and bowlike lips tensed into a thin line. If he could incinerate me with his glacial blue eyes, he would have.

“Get out of her face,” Tobias said casually as if he were commenting on the weather. Jax’s eyes narrowed, and he straightened. I followed his retreat with wide eyes. He didn’t turn left and down the hall upon exiting the kitchen, instead, going straight through a metal door facing the kitchen. I’d seen it, but never saw one of them open it.

He gripped the handle latching the door shut and pulled it up. It rubbed with a hiss and upon opening, the metal handle thudded upright.

A flood light powered on, and he disappeared downstairs, leaving it open. Any semblance of energy leaked out of me, and I leaned against the solid form against my back.

Everything about vampires drained me.

Fingers pressed into my waist with a large palm spanning my side. Tobias squeezed. I sucked in a breath, freezing up. Something grazed the top of my head.

Was he sniffing me?

His cock swelled against my back.

Fuck no.

I jumped forward . . . at least tried to. Tobias didn’t release me, so I bounced back against him.

His arm banded around my stomach, flushing me tight to him. He exhaled shakily.

Every facet of his torso curved into me.

He pressed his cheek against my temple. Smooth, silky skin rubbed on mine.

I squeezed my eyes shut—I would not react. Why did he have to smell so good? Why did I have a weird obsession with getting bitten? I wasn’t a blood-whore, I could control myself. I could tell myself that’s all I wanted, but my pussy knew otherwise. His cock in me would satisfy all sorts of cravings . . .

Shut it.

“No,” I spat out. I didn’t know how I mustered the will, but I did it.

Tobias stiffened. His chest shuddered.

The low tones of conversation echoed from down the hall. Then the loud sounds of some sort of machine revved to life.

“It appears you will have to eat later.” He grabbed my arm, still gentle, but tension remained lining his form. I stumbled after him, struggling to keep up.

A man with work goggles sliced into the damaged wall dividing the foyer and the living room. I stumbled past, trying to look at the man, but Tobias hauled me upstairs. Once reaching the landing, he turned a sharp right to Asher’s room—the third door.

His palm urged me forward at the small of my back. I quickly stepped forward. If I did as ordered, he might not chain me up, giving me an opportunity to run.

Just as I hoped, he waited for me to cross the threshold and grabbed the edge of the door as he backed out.

“Tobias.” He hesitated with one foot out the door. “Can you take this off?” I thumped my heavy foot cast on the floor.

Tobias’s expression was unreadable. A moment passed and then another. His stiff expression didn’t twitch. He seemed to sink into his mind. I cleared my throat. Finally, he looked at me.

“I’ll have Jax remove it.” Why Jax?

“No!” I shouted, before he shut the door.

Tobias frowned.

“Jax has experience with injuries.” I didn’t give any shits how much experience he had. I wanted that vampire to stay away from me. All of them should, but I needed this off.

“You . . . please.”

I needed to be unhindered if I wanted to try to escape, and Tobias was the only one I could semi-handle.

As selfish and self-centered as vampires were, Tobias seemed to try not to be. Even if he failed.

He sighed. In a few steps he knelt at my feet and slipped his fingers into the edges of the cast. He tore it easily. With the same precision, he removed the one on my arm. It happened so fast I didn’t have the chance to be shocked.

The plaster thumped on the ground and without saying anything more, he left.

The knob jiggled with the turn of the lock from the other side. I hurried to check. He’d locked it.

I gritted my teeth and hugged myself. The night had just begun, and I had no doubt another vampire would visit.