“You’re not feeding from another male tonight.”
She stood, all grace and elegance that went handin-hand with her snooty “I’ll feed from anyone I want to feed from.”
Possessive rage turned his vision red. “Who fed you during the turning?”
“Myne.”
Darkness swallowed him at the sudden, unbidden image of Nicole lying with Myne in her bed, her teeth in his throat, his expression etched in pleasure. That was bad enough, but had things gone even farther?
Territorial jealousy seared his veins. Myne had now been there for both Bastien and Nicole. It should have been Riker’s privilege to help his son integrate into the clan and help Nicole survive her transformation. He should be grateful; he knew that. But he didn’t think he’d ever get past the fact that Nicole and Myne would be connected forever in a way Riker never would be.
“Hurry up,” Rasha snapped. “You have babies to make.”
Nicole started toward the door, but Riker wasn’t ready for her to leave. He doubted he’d ever be ready.
“Wait.” He lunged against his restraints, and fresh blood streamed down his wrists as the shackles dug into his skin. “Did you do more with him? When he fed you?” He hated himself for asking that. And for sounding like the wrong answer would destroy him.
Nicole pivoted, her body taut as a bowstring.
“Again, none of your business. But screw you, Riker, for thinking I’d kiss you after leaving his bed.” She disappeared, leaving him with his regrets, his bad attitude, and the ShadowSpawn bitch.
Rasha entered, her seemingly permanent scowl etching deep grooves in her face. “I have to take you to your chief.”
“I’m staying.”
“For the female?” She snorted. “You’re a fool.”
Her to-the-knee fuck-me boots clack ed on the pavings as she sauntered over. “I’ll give you until tomorrow.”
She stomped on the chain connecting his wrists to the wall, wrenching his shoulders so hard he saw lights behind his eyelids. “And you stay in chains.”
Chapter 30
It turned out that while being a vampire was generally awesome, what wasn’t awesome was that vampire emotions seemed to be a lot more intense than those of a human. Things that might have been only mildly irritating before now had Nicole struggling not to break objects against the wall. Grant and katina both had warned her that the adjustment wouldn’t be easy, and if anything, they’d understated the problem.
Because between Riker’s ridiculous show of jealousy and her current situation, Nicole was ready to rip some heads off.
And as a vampire, she had the strength to do it.
“I can’t believe I’m trying to manufacture a fertility treatment with sticks and rocks in a lab that’s little more than a supply closet,” she muttered.
The vampire assigned to assist Nicole, Aylin, shrugged apologetically. “We don’t have much use for science here. My father says science is for weaklings who can’t survive in the real world.”
Nicole shot a glance at the blond female, who, except for her pronounced limp, was nearly identical to her tall, blue-eyed twin sister, Rasha. The similarities ended at their appearance, however. Aylin was quiet and reserved, where Rasha was arrogant, loud, and crude. And she dressed like a streetwalker.
After meeting kars, the twins’ father and ShadowSpawn’s leader, Nicole understood Rasha’s personality and where it came from. Aylin, on the other hand, was a mystery.
“Do you believe what your father says?” Nicole glanced at Aylin from across the makeshift table constructed of a sheet of plywood lying atop two sawhorses and held steady by massive stones.
Sticks. And. Rocks.
“No.” Aylin fiddled with the buttons on her shirt— red, to match her sneakers. “I think surviving isn’t all about being physically strong. If it was, I would have died a long time ago.”
Nicole couldn’t imagine Aylin being considered weak in any way. She appeared fit and healthy, and she was definitely smart.
“What happened to your leg?” Nicole dumped a tablespoon of habanero pepper powder into the liquid base she’d prepared from items taken from MoonBound’s kitchen, lab, and infirmary. Well, the last two were one and the same, really. “Were you injured?”
“I was born this way.”
Odd. Nicole had never heard of any vampire suffering from a birth defect. In fact, the utter absence of birth defects was under study at several universities worldwide. “Where’s your mother?”
Aylin pushed a bowl of pulverized aspirin to Nicole. “She died during childbirth.”
“I’m sorry,” Nicole said, knowing how inadequate the words were.