fiery balls of fury. His gaze hardens, his jaw clenching. His entire body tenses at once, and he sucks in a sharp, staggeringly loud breath. I can hear his teeth grinding as his gaze narrows.
“She what?” Jasik seethes. His words are sharp, like daggers directed at my soul. They penetrate deep, and I freeze. I stumble over my words. I don’t know what to say, what to think, what to do. I just want to fix this.
I’ve never seen Jasik so angry, furious with something I’ve done. Even his hatred for Will was laced with concern and fear, but now, even that’s gone. What remains is raw, pure outrage.
“I—I… She made me. I didn’t know what it was. I—”
“Did you drink from her?” he asks. He speaks slowly, calmly, and I’ve never heard so few words hold so much weight.
I shake my head. “No, of course not.”
“What did she make you do?” Jasik asks. He rises abruptly and rounds the table. Standing beside me now, he towers over me. I break his gaze, unable to look into his eyes any longer.
“I—um, she cut my palm and then cut hers, and then she made me promise not to look for Liv by myself.”
He exhales sharply and shakes his head. Closing his eyes, he squeezes the bridge of his nose. With shaking hands, he mumbles under his breath, but I don’t understand him. And I’m almost too scared to ask him to repeat himself.
“Hmm? What?” I ask softly.
“I said, I can’t believe she’d do this.” He opens his eyes and looks at me. They’re void of emotion. Empty pits that spill into an abyss. “To do this to her vampires is one thing, but with you…” He shakes his head and breaks our gaze.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
He turns quickly, shoving his hands through his hair, tousling his already messy style. He slams his fist against the island counter, and the noise radiates through the kitchen walls. I tremble where I sit, watching him, unsure if I should walk over to him or wait for him to respond. When he faces me again, he looks different.
“You are mine, Ava. You do not belong to her,” Jasik says.
Never have I seen him so…dominant. He radiates power and strength and a raw animal drive to claim what he sired. Something inside me stirs. Jasik awakens a primal instinct, and it takes everything I have not to touch him, not to push my body against his and let him demand what is his.
I’ve never wanted to be overpowered, but at this moment, I want Jasik more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. I’m shaking, quivering down to my very soul. Jasik watches the effect his words have on me, a sly grin curling the edge of his mouth. I swallow hard and gnaw on my lower lip.
Jasik walks toward me. He strides around the center island, and when he reaches my side, he grins down at me, a mischievous glint in his eyes. My breath catches.
He rests his fingers under my chin and angles my head to look into his eyes. I stand, resting my palms against his chest. His eyes are a pool of darkness and desire. It steals my breath and races my heart. The room is swirling around us, and I’m suddenly light-headed. I can’t break our gaze or move away from him.
Someone clears his throat, and I jolt away from my sire as if I were doing something wrong. I jump back so fast and slam against the chair I was sitting in. My knees buckle, and the back of the chair juts into my kidney as I fall into it. I wince at the pain, but Jasik steadies my fall. His skin is scorching hot against my own flesh, and I back away from him, not expecting the surge of electricity that works its way into my body at his mere presence.
I glance over at our intruder and quickly smile at Malik, who watches our exchange with a curious look. I suppose all the ruckus he overheard made it sound like Jasik and I might be fighting. Instead, he walked in to find an unexpected embrace.
My emotions are erratic around my sire, and I assume the rest of the house can feel it too. We’re hot and we’re cold, never giving into our feelings but not exactly straying away from them either. It’s frustrating and annoying, and I can only tolerate the inner turmoil for so long.
“I