I felt as if I was betraying her all over again, ripping out my own heart with each thought.
Dad’s face hardened, his voice became urgent. “You must find a way to fix or strengthen the bond you’ve created, or it will break all of you.”
A muscle in my jaw twitched. I didn’t know how to tell him about the spell I’d cast. That I’d tried to influence Sierra’s affections without realizing the consequences.
But I couldn’t keep quiet about it. “There’s something else,” I confessed, my voice barely above a whisper.
He raised an eyebrow, his eyes steeled.
I started to spill - the desire-enhancing spell, Heath’s skepticism, Riley’s warnings. Everything but the fact that the Dark Ones had urged me to do it in the first place. But hell, truth was, I also wanted it. I’d wanted to fuck and punish her since we’d met.
He merely sat there, face impassive as he listened. When he finally sighed, it was filled with resignation. As if he fucking knew it all along.
And he probably did, I realized, thinking again of the cave when I’d seen him in the underworld as I lay dying, before Sierra had saved me.
I nearly choked on a sob. “What do I do?”
“You must fix this.” A ghost of a smile played on his lips. “You and your coven brothers will need to rely on each other to do the right thing. All of you.”
And with that, he rose slowly from the chair as if his bones ached and laid on a hand on my shoulder before heading for the door.
The right thing.
“And just what is that?”
“You’ll have to do what our ancestor didn’t.” With that fairly useless remark, he left.
I pressed my fingers to my temples. I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. Sierra was the key to everything - the power of the Unconsecrated, my family’s survival, our ascent. She would help us – whether she was good or evil, but especially if she’d gone over to dark magic. And if she had, we’d tear down the walls between light and dark, fling open the gates to the underworld. Let the damned walk amongst the living. No more hiding or waiting. We’d own them all.
I’d expected to feel excitement, power at the thought. But there was only a hollow pit in my stomach.
With a grimace, I shoved my hands through my hair.
I stalked over to the mini-bar I kept, splashing vodka into a glass and downing it in one gulp. I poured another and swallowed till it burned down my throat. Then another. Maybe drowning myself in liquor would solve everything.
But it never did.
The room spun around me, darkness pulling me under like a riptide. Yet I couldn’t escape the images of her in my mind. Sierra - chained to the wall, begging for mercy, her eyes wide with terror, but also...something more.
The vision changed. I was at Ravenswood, in front of her dorm. I twisted the knob and pushed it open.
Her room was a mess. Clothes strewn about, drawers emptied on the floor. Like she’d been searching for something. Or running from something.
I stepped inside, closing the door behind me.
Her scent filled the air - sweet like cotton candy and mixed with something feral.
My heart picked up its pace.
The darkness within urged me forward, pushing me towards her bed, where her crumpled form lay beneath the blanket.
“Sierra?” I asked again, my voice strange and unrecognizable.
She didn’t answer.
Fear gripped me, cold fingers squeezing tight. I reached out and pulled her covers back, slowly.
I gulped when I saw her there, as if she was asleep. Long lashes fanned out against her cheeks, but there was an unknown energy to her.
I swallowed hard. She looked so...fragile. Her breathing was ragged, soft moans escaping her lips.
I’d made her like this.
I couldn’t stop staring at her. Every inch of her was mine, my marks blooming on her collarbone, her breasts, her thighs.
I knew I should leave, get Heath and Riley, but my feet were glued to the spot.
She shifted, tossing her hair over her shoulder, revealing a smear of blood on her lower thigh. I bent and cleaned it with my tongue.
The next moment, I was back in my bedroom, the scent of vodka rising from the carpet where I laid.
What the fuck was all that?
CHAPTER 6
HEATH
WARNER ESTATE
