Feet pad across the marble floor, but they might as well have also been made of stone for the loud echoing in my brain. She comes to a stop just before me. “You are a bonded vampire, yet your mate is not here.”
“Back. The. Fuck. Up,” Fearghas growls, his grip tightening on my arm.
“And you are most delicious. A fae. I’ve never had fae before.”
“And you never will,” Rainey snarls.
The woman chuckles. “Silly, silly hunter, you have no power here.”
“You have that backward,” Delaney’s voice, louder than anyone else’s, echoes through my brain mere seconds before the pain vanishes and my vision clears. I blink rapidly as Fearghas releases my arm. I stare back at the woman, noting the subtle features she and Bella share.
This woman is the reason we’re here.
“Interesting trick, witch,” the woman snaps her fingers, and a black dress shimmers into existence, covering her naked body.
Cole’s naked body is covered in sweat as he pushes to his knees. His body contorts, bones snapping, fur growing as he transforms back into animal.
The woman pouts. “I rather enjoyed looking at you, shifter.”
“Watch your fucking mouth,” Delaney warns.
“If you had any power other than to shield, you would have killed me already.”
“Wrong,” Rainey replies. “I wanted to hear you confirm that you are Bellamy’s mother.”
A wide grin splits the woman’s face. “That would be accurate, though, I’m afraid my daughter is not home at the moment.”
“We know,” I tell her.
For less than a second, the woman looks momentarily shocked at my words. But just as quickly as the emotion was present, it vanishes. She narrows her eyes on me. “Interesting. So you know where my daughter is.”
“Not in danger of being raped,” Rainey shoots back.
“Rape? That’s what Bellamy has accused me of?” The woman presses a hand to her chest, then glances back at the only two succubae still standing. “Rape does not exist to our kind. We are sex. We are pleasure.” She moves toward the human man and runs a sharp fingernail down his chest.
“You were going to force her to have sex so she could become something she doesn’t want to be. What would you call that?”
“Raising a daughter to accept who she was born as,” the woman deadpans.
“You’re scum.”
At Delaney’s insult, the woman turns back to her. “And your shield cannot hold forever.”
I make eye contact with the succubus directly across the room. She grins savagely at me as though she holds all the cards. Little does she fucking know I’m about to steal the hand.
Summoning all of my energy, I blur across the room. I snap her neck and toss her to the ground before sprinting back to the safety of Delaney’s shield. I’m nearly there—inches away—when pain sears my spine. I fall to the ground.
“Let him go,” I hear Rainey warn. My cheek presses against cool marble as something in my back is twisted. I groan, arching up in pain. It’s fire, a blazing wildfire spreading from my back to every inch of my body.
“Not a chance in hell. He’s killed two of mine. So, I tell you what, you bring me my daughter, and we’ll make us a little trade. Him for her.” A sharp fingernail runs down the exposed side of my face. “But you’d damn well better make it back in time. He looks positively delicious, and I’m starving.”