The Veiled Series Collection by Stacey Rourke

Author:Stacey Rourke [Rourke, Stacey]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Anchor Group Publishing
Published: 2020-06-10T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Vinx

Sitting on the edge of the bathroom sink, I sucked air through my teeth at the prickles of pain awakened by Carter dabbing a wet washcloth to my neck. The puncture wounds from Vlad’s sizeable fangs would have already healed, thanks to my upgraded cellular regeneration, had he not been wrestled off me by a small army of his own people. His locked jaws sawed through layers of flesh and tendon, leaving the magi with no choice but to lasso Vlad with silver chains to pry him off my slumped form. It took a full bag of blood and two of the pseudo-vamp serums to revive me, making it the second time in as many days that I had to be brought back from death’s door. As budding hobbies went, this one wasn’t the best.

Face folded in a deep frown, Carter wrung out the washcloth beneath the running tap, tinging the water a dirty copper shade. Rewetting it, he resumed his delicate cleaning. “I have never felt more useless in my life. He had you pinned there, and I … froze.”

“You mean you couldn’t single-handedly fend off the father of all vampires? What the hell am I even doing here, then? That’s my only reason for hanging out with you.” Catching his hand, I forced him to meet my eye. “Seriously, Carter, did you see how many people it took to pull him off me? Vampires and magi. I counted roughly thirteen before I lost the ability to decipher shapes.”

Jaw tensed, he used the knuckle of his index finger to lift my chin. “That doesn’t make me feel any better. He nearly ripped your damned head off.”

White-washing my face of all emotion, I blinked in his direction. “Tell me the truth … did he fuck up my hair? Because gushing throat wounds I can handle, jacked up hair I cannot.”

With a bitter shake of his head, he swallowed down his boiling rage. “Can we please just … for a minute.”

I took the washcloth from his hand, folded it into a makeshift gauze, and slapped it to my neck. “You must mean business. There was a complete lack of verbage in that sentence. Sloppy work, Mr. Reporter.”

Filling his lungs, Carter glanced my way, his handsome features marred by sorrow. “You’re not the kind of girl who needs, or wants, to be saved. It would just make me feel better, if a situation ever got out of control, that I could … you know.”

“Verbs are not your strong suit, today.” Scooting forward, I hopped off the edge of the white marble countertop.

Carter caught my wrist, and tugged me closer. “Protect you. All these life and death situations you’re thrust into every day, and I feel powerless to keep you safe.”

The warmth of his breath coursed over my cheeks, awakening a tingle of awareness in my core that his lips lingered mere inches from mine. Gazing into the luminous pools of his azure stare, I toyed with questions I was in no way prepared to answer.

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