Page 12 of Her Blood Revenge

‘Peachy,’ he replies, glancing behind him to the bedroom we’ve left our girl. ‘She damn near ripped her arm off to spite me. Little bitch.’

‘She’s pissed off. It will pass.’

He shrugs off the hand I place on his shoulder.

He watches me as I roll down my bloody sleeve. ‘She’ll be angry that you and Dorian used your marks.’

‘She’s about as angry as she can be, Shaw.’ I laugh. ‘We lied to her. Used her. Put her soul at risk and brought back the blood queen who has teamed up and run off with her rapey-ex. What’s one more thing for her to be pissed about? She’ll forgive us. As you said, she hasn’t got a choice.’

He doesn’t reply.

‘Are we heading out again tomorrow?’ I ask.

We’ve been scouting the towns and villages for days, checking for any sight of Neve and her kin.

‘Yeah. Sundown, you and me.’ He smacks me on my shoulder.

‘I saw that sculpture on my way back in,’ I add. ‘That great big “fuck you”. She’s gettingbetter.’

‘Yeah. She’s great at coming up with a variety of ways to tell us to fuck off.’ He takes the hall to the left. ‘Get rid of the wine in the kitchens. I’m finding out who we have left and if they intend to abandon us as well.’

‘What will you do if they want to leave?’ I call after him.

He glares darkly at me as he rounds the corner and disappears out of sight.

‘Death and carnage it is…’ I grumble.

Well. What a shit welcome home.

I make my way to the kitchens.

I should have done this the first night we got home. I pour out bottle after bottle, feeding the wine and whiskey to the patch of grass beneath the kitchen window.

Shit. We must have a severe drinking problem. I never realised how much booze we all go through!

Outside, the clouds are dense.

Bring on the rain. Anything to encourage me not to go outside. I long to shift, and if I endure another day like today, I will give in to that urge.

I need to store up my supply of power until I feed again. I have one shift in me. Maybe for half an hour, if I’m lucky.

Which I rarely am.

As the first raindrops fall, the giant steel axe resting by the wood pile catches my eye, and an idea pops into my head.

Yes. A great idea. Right up there with us making her dinner when she first arrived.

This will cheer her up. I’m sure of it. I leap out of the window as the rain starts to fall, scoop it up and get back inside.

With the axe resting on my shoulder and whistling a tune, I head to one of the ground-floor rooms, kick the door open and stand smugly in the long-forgotten study.

‘Perfect.’

I walk in and slam the axe into the stone floor.

This is going to be perfect.

Chapter three

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