Page 68 of Entombed By Blood
Frost
The scent hitsme the second I step out onto the veranda. Blood, sweat, dirt, and lust. Being half-ghoul comes with a nose that’s a thousand times stronger than a human’s, and I can smell Eve wrapped up in Draven a mile away.
Everything in me wants to follow it, track them down, and rage at the two of them. I don’t know if I’m more pissed at Eve for fucking someone else, or at Draven for touching my girl. Common sense says she’s not my girl. Not yet. I have to earn that right back, and even if I do, I agreed to this. Our pack had discussion after discussion about this exact scenario. We could have kept pushing, or found a different way to get Eve out of that tomb, but she’d been in there too long already.
Cain offering to remove her, as long as the other four were her thralls, was a fucking miracle. It was Gideon’s idea to slip her my blood and Finley’s on the off chance that it might let us bond her as well.
And it fucking worked.
I promised to share her. Swore not to get in the way if the others developed feelings for her. I knew they would. How could they not when Eve has always been a fucking goddess? I’d make the same decision over and over again if I could. Sharing her is a small price to pay to have her back.
Doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck balls to scent her with them. It doesn’t mean that knowing she’s with someone else doesn’t make me killing-mad inside.
The ghouls, already gathering on the very outskirts of the property, sense my frustration. I canfeeltheir eagerness under my skin. Finn assures me I’m technically just scenting their pheromones. It doesn’t feel that way.
On days like today, it’s like a hundred tiny beasts clawing at my insides. Each one demanding the same things.
Food. Blood. Death.
It only takes a second of concentrated effort to extend my own influence and force them back to dormancy. Ghouls don’t really sleep, but they can enter a stupor when there’s no prey nearby, conserving their energy for the next victim to stray too close to their nest.
When Draven and Eve break through the tree line half an hour later, they’re covered in dirt—which is unusual for the normally immaculate Draven. I’ve also never seen my friend stand quite so close to anyone before. Normally, he makes a point of keeping a distance from everyone. Even the pack, andespeciallythe women he fucks.
I don’t have to ask what makes Eve different.
I say nothing as they catch sight of me, but I can’t stand there and watch the two of them for much longer. I turn on my heel and retreat back into the house, clenching my jaw as I reach the kitchen.
The fridge door takes the brunt of my frustration. I nearly wrench it off its hinges in my quest for blood. Normally, Finn would happily open a vein for me, but he’s not here, and the scent of Eve’s blood has my thirst roaring. If she’s coming back inside—never mind how the hell she left in the first place—the smell will be trapped in here with me.
The microwave beeps just as the door opens behind me, and I sink my fangs into the bag before my nose can convince me that a better option is to turn around and take what I really want.
It takes a lot of willpower not to listen to the soft words Draven says as he leaves her at the door, or track her footsteps through the house and up the stairs. The shower comes on, and my brain torments me with images of her in there, wearing nothing more than softly scented bubbles.
I slam my hand against the counter and the stone cracks beneath my fist. I look down at the small crater I’ve made, my cheeks warming with guilt.
Shit. I need to get myself under control before I bring the house down on our heads.
I take a deep breath, finish drinking, and chuck the empty blood bag away. I carefully pull the microwave forward to cover up any evidence of the damage. I’ll let Gideon find it for himself. If I don’t confess, he’ll probably assume Draven or Silas did it. Those two break so much stuff that he doesn’t even bother lecturing them for it anymore.
The sound of the van turning into our road cuts off my train of thought, and I head to the sofa to distance myself from the evidence. As soon as I sit, I stand back up and pace.
Fuck, Eve is right there. One floor up. Literally within shouting distance.
She wants nothing to do with you,I remind myself.You have to give her space.
Have I already fucked this up?
I’m not normally one to indulge in self-doubt. As the leader of what remains of the resistance, it isn’t a luxury I can afford. Indecision gets people killed in Cain’s fucked up new world. But Eve has always been able to get me tied up in knots.
The front door bangs open, shaking me from my thoughts. Silas and Finn elbow their way through the space, each of them loaded with armfuls of bags.
“How much stuff did you buy?” I ask, incredulous. “We’re on the run, we can’t possibly lug all of this around.”
Finn just grins, completely unrepentant. “Sorry, bossman. Silas and I had a bit too much fun…”
Silas leans back and pecks a soft, smiling kiss on our omega’s lips. “He got all excited. It was cute.”
I don’t even need to take a sniff to know they fucked. It’s written in every relaxed line of their bodies.
