Page 75 of Siege of Blood and Betrayal

Fucking bitch.

One of the last remaining vampires lunges at Scottie, but I’m there before he can reach her, driving my fist through his chest and ripping out his heart. He crumples at my feet, and for a moment, there’s silence, the area filled with nothing but the sound of our ragged breathing.

I glance around at the carnage, my hands slick with blood, my chest heaving. Scottie lowers her baton, her eyes scanning the shadows for any remaining threats.

There are none. All the turned vampires—including Daeva—have bugged out.

Tucker straightens. His expression is grim, but there’s a faint gleam of satisfaction in his eyes.

Huntley wipes blood from his mouth, giving me a weary grin. “Not bad for a night’s work.”

I let out a breathless sigh, adrenaline still thrumming in my veins. “But I’d bet the most dangerous fight is only getting started.”

Scottie steps closer, her furious glare sizing me up. “Right you are, asshole. What the actual fuck, Zane?”

I’m about to respond, to make up some placating excuse for why we left without her when my senses pick up her scent. Aside from the anger, sweat, and blood, there’s an unmistakable ode to orgasm.

My brain shorts out and my beast rages. I have Tucker by the throat, slammed up against the wall of the next building before I can even wrap my head around it. “You two had sex? I’ll fucking gut you for touching what is mine.”

Tucker palm strikes my chest and knocks me off my feet. He straightens his arm with the force of a freight train, and I sail through the air backward and slam into the wall of the next building.

He chuckles, low and deep. “Scotland isn’t chattel, Zane. You don’t own her, and you don’t get to decide for her. From what I hear, you already made that mistake, and it ended badly for both of you.”

I’m back on my feet, crouched, and attack again. “You know nothing about us.”

I’m almost within striking distance when Scottie steps between us. Her baton cracks me across the chest and shoulder, knocking me spinning to the side. “Get a grip, Zane. I can fuck the entire city if I want to, and you get no say. I’ve been gone for years. Do you think I’ve been celibate? Have you?”

Huntley barks a laugh, and I send him a warning glare.

“I didn’t think so.” She glares at me. “Tucker and I are both attractive, unattached adults. There’s no reason we can’t explore the connection we share, and it’s no business of yours if we do.”

“Itismy business,” I protest. “You’re my Sacred Squire.”

Scottie laughs. “No, I’m not. If I were, you wouldn’t have taken off the minute I was upstairs. If you truly respected me as your squire the way your father respected mine, you never would’ve fucked off and left me behind.”

“Scots, I’m?—”

“Don’t Scots me,” she snaps, holding up her hand. “We need to clean up this mess and then get your asses into the truck and back to the house. That’s it. That’s all. The end.”

She storms off, throwing me her middle finger over her head. Tucker takes her in and chuckles. “You gotta love a girl with fire.”

Yeah, that’s the problem. Idolove that girl.

So, step the fuck off.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Scottie

The ride back to the house is thick with tension. The truck’s engine hums steadily, but does nothing to drown out the anger boiling inside me. I sit in the passenger’s seat, arms crossed tight over my chest, glaring daggers through the windshield as Tucker drives.

A thousand sickening scenarios of what could’ve happened tonight swim in my head. My knuckles are bruised, my arms scraped up from the fight, but I’m too furious to care about that pain. It’s the pain of betrayal that burns hottest.

He fucking did it again.

He unilaterally decided what was best for me and in some fucked up act of what he likely considers gallantry, he walked away. Again.

He could’ve been killed.

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