Chapter 12
Maya watched Harper’s brake lights disappear in the night, unable to turn her eyes away.
That kiss… She had never experienced anything even close to it. Every other touch paled compared to that tantalizing moment when her lips had grazed Harper’s. As though all previous kisses were merely practice for the one they had just shared.
Maya’s role here was practical. Necessary. But the source of that necessity had changed when they first met in this parking lot. When she’d grabbed Harper’s shoulders, feeling the woman lean into her touch rather than cringe away.
Her orders were meaningless. She would have taken on this role for no other reason than that it brought her within viewing distance of Harper’s soft, blue eyes.
And then the taste… Ambrosia would envy Harper’s blood. Sweet, sharp, and so invigorating, it was as though Maya’s veins had filled with sparks. As soon as she’d brushed her thumb over Harper’s lip and a bead of scarlet had risen on her skin, she could taste it in the air.
So different from what she’d gotten used to. So filled with life, filled with want. Beckoning her closer. Screaming for her to forget the rules and wisdom that told her to keep her distance and instead take what was so obviously made for her.
And that was only from a few drops. She could only imagine what a full taste would feel like.
A sudden ache flared through her jaw. Icy realization followed, sprawling over her thoughts like a spider web and causing the world to tilt so severely that she had to grab a nearby car to avoid stumbling.
She never, ever, thought about that. Feeding on the living was an act of terror, pain, and death, and she had buried any urge for it so deep within herself that it only showed up in her nightmares.
Haunting memories of her ravenously tearing bodies apart.
Of her consuming blood so thick with fear that it coated her throat like smog.
Her immortal life hadn’t started until she was far away from the Court of Night. Until she had been sold off to a mad necromancer, who wanted to bind a vampire to his will and had made her miss when she was treated as little more than a blood bag.
Maya was his one success. And there were dozens of failures. Others who hadn’t survived his plentiful experiments.
He hadn’t even known what he was doing. He had just carved, punctured, and injected her with toxins until something happened. The sun not burning her skin wasn’t even intentional. He hadn’t wanted a day-walking vampire. Just a pretty toy he could show off.
The Chains had intervened. Had killed him and unleashed her in the process. Her first minutes of freedom were nothing more than a frenzy, with her losing herself to hunger and then murdering a group of borderline teenagers.
That was who she was. What she was. These past weeks she had suppressed all those monstrous aspects of herself and pretended to be normal, but doing so was a goddamn lie. The urge still flaring through her canines made it obvious.
She wanted more than the kiss. Wanted to find Harper again, pull her close, and make her come apart while sinking her teeth into her neck. Wanted to mark her soft, warm skin with aligned scars. To let everyone know Harper was hers.
That should disgust her. But it didn’t. Instead, it just… was. It made her feel whole.
Made her feel like a vampire.
“Stop it.”
She buried her fingers in her hair, pulling at it as she started pacing.
This was wrong. So fucking wrong. She had scars of vampiric possession on her own skin, and now she was fantasizing about producing them herself?
It was twisted. Selfish. As was what she had just done. When she saw Harper drive off, she had been too stuck in the present to see more than a few minutes beyond it. To see how messed up this was.
She’d done her job in the most sickening way. Had gained Harper’s trust, worn down her defenses, and with a few more days of sweet-talking, Maya could lure her away from this place.
And then Harper would learn everything.
She’d feel betrayed at first. Then angry. And then she would be as scared as everyone else.
Could she even be blamed for that? With what Maya was wishing for? These intense, constant, violent thoughts had no business being anywhere near Harper. She deserved more than that. Safer than that.
And despite it, the thought of anyone else giving her that safety started a furious fire in Maya’s chest.
A loud crunch sounded under her feet. Something hard scraping against asphalt, and it pulled her out of her spiral enough that her attention could shift.
Mortal eyes wouldn’t have seen anything of note. The snow and darkness would have masked it. But she saw it. Strewn all over the ground, covered by a thin layer of frost.
Broken glass.
A year ago, she wouldn’t have given it any thought. This wasn’t a great neighborhood, so it could easily be dismissed as petty vandalism.
But a year ago, she’d been human. The predator inside her saw this scene for what it really was.
An empty parking lot. A recently broken streetlight, right above Harper’s car. A manufactured darkness, fit for hunters to lie in wait.
Maya let her eyes drift over the nearby shadows. Concrete dividers and thick shrubbery lined the parking lot, both providing decent cover. But only from people who didn’t know what they were looking for.
She should have seen this sooner, but her attention had been on Harper rather than the monsters still snapping at her heels. She had not only forgotten why she had been sent to this city but also why she was there alone.
Fangs extended, Maya rushed forward, breaking through the snow-covered branches. They swiped at her exposed skin, stinging, but she barely noticed. Her entire focus was on the glowing eyes she’d spotted in the dark.
She crashed through the shrubbery, colliding with Kieran so hard they both got knocked to the ground. Shocked gasps followed as the group of people around him started back so fast that a few of them slipped in the snow.
She knew why they were there. What they had planned. And if Harper had left before Maya went to check on her and walked to her car on her own, they would have succeeded in their sickening goal.
“You fucking coward.”
She twisted Kieran’s head to the side, baring his neck, but he wrenched free from her grip before she could do anything more than scratch him.
With a snarl, he reversed their positions. He pushed her onto her back, pinning her to the ground by shoving his arm against her throat. Searing pain followed. It pulsed from her stomach as though a flaming torch had been driven into her flesh.
Only three things could harm vampires. Sunlight, stakes… and silver. In her fury, she’d been blind to everything other than making Kieran bleed, so she hadn’t thought to restrain his hands.
The silver-coated dagger embedded in her side was the cost of that mistake.
“The Chains are the cowards, you fucking freak.” His eyes shimmered as he twisted the knife. A slow, deliberate movement that drew a scream from her lips.
Kieran laughed. “What’s the matter, vamp? Not as tough as you’re letting on?”
He pushed her wrist against the ground, a sick grin on his face as he pulled the knife free and plunged it through her hand.
She screamed again.
“What a soothing sound,” Kieran snarled, pushing down on the knife. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you caved this quickly. Taking what isn’t yours. You Chains love preaching justice while spitting in the face of ancient customs. But guess what. You overextended your fucking reach.”
He leaned in close, resting his weight on the knife handle. “You came where you weren’t wanted. Tested the wrong people. Touched something that did not belong to you. Harper has been Claimed, and you fucking knew that. You knew she was mine.”
He was wrong. Every cell in her body insisted he was wrong. That Harper wasn’t his to Claim. No matter which laws he followed that let him take her in that way, they held no power in this city.
Vampires grew more powerful with age, but even a fledgling could hold their own against a single therian, provided they weren’t being poisoned by silver.
It gave him an advantage. Had he not moved close to her face, like a fucking moron.
With fangs pressing against her bottom lip, Maya yanked him forward by the collar. Only a few inches. Barely noticeable. But it put his throat just within reach.
“She doesn’t want to be yours,” Maya snarled, sinking her teeth into his pulsing carotid.
His blood was foul. She was used to the metallic taste of dead blood, but this was so bitter that it almost turned her stomach. Vampires could only feed on humans, and Kieran was more than that. Hardier than that.
With a loud curse, he scrambled away. He pressed his hand against the side of his neck, dark blood oozing out between his fingers.
No one moved. Both Kieran and the onlookers just stood there, staring, as a familiar, smoky scent filled the air.
Her stomach felt like it was on fire. Her hand, still impaled by the knife, was even worse. Even if she wasn’t outnumbered, these people could have subdued her with no effort.
But the day-walking Chains vampire had a gruesome reputation. One that caused these wolves to hesitate when one unified pounce could have gotten them victory.
They were afraid. That wouldn’t do. When she was done here, she would make sure they were fucking terrified.
Gritting her teeth, she grabbed the bloody knife. A silvered switchblade, the hilt worn from prolonged use, and a pained cry slipped out as she pulled it free.
She gripped the knife tight and forced herself to her feet, even though her body screamed in protest. Tremors were setting in, born from pain and fury alike, but it didn’t matter. When she stepped forward, spitting Kieran’s blood onto the snow, the surrounding wolves all took a step back.
“This wasn’t what we agreed on, Kieran.” Maya glared at the bleeding man. “You were told to stay out of Chains business. But now you got overly involved.”