The Vampire King's Contract Bride
ke a
me, the air thick with a scent I coululd have touched. The kind of ache t
ain blooming sharp and
asn't imagined
ghtstand, and I snatched
ow. Dad's hurt," my broth
through the f
nd reeling, I st
's SUV skidded inside, caked with mu
oo
enger seat, his face gray and hol
ked, hauling him out. "As hot a
idn
kettle, and in my distraction,
er. Not compared to the way
tairs, just in time to see my
co
of the old iron ward-coins
, forged from blackened sil
e you two dealing
lips were sealed shut-by pai
estion in my eyes and
aid grimly. "It
bedroom door and
e, heart racing, the weight
rsed
-bound b
o wound the men in my family...
ep that night.
inside me wo
ted as
ere beneath my ribs, like a second
never reach
ear, but from within-like my blo
s tingled. M
myself in the hallwa
shadow beh
hat hadn't been there be
t it meant t
chang
aching for the blood-red ring-the one
stone. Now it pulsed, fain
was... l
ther had called
before record
d once, when he thou
t should neve
sked what
wishe
hing inside m
ng it had nothing t
e in the dark and
t, I didn
though I was-but because
dreams. The touches
it lingered lo
ling through my sheets like mist
this
without a shadow-except the kind th
. More midni
e his face. I
felt
pressing in around m
e, and for the first t
ai
ce tre
my fi
I he
ed to
pa
n't pu
dn't spea
me? I'm not your... your toy." I swallowed hard. "Yo
be
en he
, bitter, and old. Like s
he said, slowly, li
the day yo
lin
pped c
the Seal. The Key. T
ip fa
Because your ancest
racking. "Take your mark, take your cur
dn't
ds were soft
sealed in d
life ends will the Cr
nished fro
rt pounding like a d
ve to die?"
dn't
s-those cold, ancient e
needed to
sweat that didn't
eeper, something I couldn't name. My bones felt brittle, li
r d
at he lef
promise. A de
ht, the Crimson Bo
to him entirely-or I would
n-be
**
morning. My first s
roommates and majors, I was wond
ruising my collarbone. My legs still trembled. My ne
nlight look
e world had been tuned to a freq
way was
ssroom-
ple-too
real friend, Sophie, and
smug man who barely looked older than us. I'd met him
ering too long. "Late already? First
r. Low
eakly. Sai
, he asked
izing enrollment forms,"
ld've
w. And I didn't want to ex
ice was
licked shu
through a list of student ID
cl
h skimmed
.. sweet,"
fr
shed the back of my
t tou
elax. Just adm
til I spun and shoved
id do
was f
and his smile curled
y you've got those marks. Someone already
the b
gri
"Didn't take you
en the ligh
e room shifted-to
r turn
Was.
isor gasped,
orner of the room where noth
I
ld fe
y spine. The i
s wat
imi
rn