Текст книги "Sin undone"
Автор книги: Ларисса Йон (Айон)
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Текущая страница: 18 (всего у книги 22 страниц)
Twenty-two
Con’s boots felt like they were full of lead as he trudged across the rocky grounds of the dhampire sanctuary in northern Scotland. The evening breeze brought with it the scent of the ocean, the bite of salt air, and the stench of angry wargs.
Thatch-roofed cottages dotted the mossy countryside, but it was the larger, wooden motte and bailey structure that Con was heading toward. At the base of the grassy hill, where fog had settled like soup in a bowl, heavy trestle tables and chairs were visible in the mist like mountain peaks poking out of a cloud deck. No matter what the weather, dhampires preferred to be outside, whether they were conducting business meetings or celebrating a holiday.
Now, the members of the Dhampire Council were gathered in the area, as were several Warg Council members, including Valko and Raynor. As Con drew closer, the familiar sensation of his skin tightening grew stronger.
“ Conall.” Valko’s deep voice cracked like a whip, and everyone turned to Con. “Where the fuck have you been? Did you know there’s a war going on? The damned varcolacattacked us.”
Raynor swung to Valko. “Because someoneleaked the fact that only we are affected by the virus! You knew what would happen, and now you’re using the attacks as an excuse to exterminate us.”
Valko scoffed. “It wasn’t the pricoliciwho leaked the information. But we willfinish this war. Your curs are already on the run after the battle in Canada—”
“No,” Con interrupted. “The Aegis and human military will finish it. The virus has mutated, and it’s affecting the pricolicinow.”
Every drop of color drained from Valko’s face. “What? Are you sure?”
“Very.”
Valko’s legs seemed to give out, and he sank onto a bench. “Have you found a cure? A vaccine? Where is Sin?”
Hearing Sin’s name come from the warg scum cranked up Con’s temper. “Why do you care? You wanted her dead.”
Valko’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull “She’s dead?”
Con didn’t answer. “Tell me who you hired, Valko.” He moved toward the warg, prepared to beat a confession out of him, but Raynor blocked him.
“Has a vaccine been developed?”
“It’s close,” Con said tightly. “And the irony is that if the vaccine works, it’s all because of the Feast warg you both tried to kill.”
That shut everyone up—everyone except Bran, who barked out a laugh until someone called his name.
A gangly blond female was loping toward them, her coltishly long legs eating up the ground. “My lord,” she panted as she halted in front of them. “There’s trouble… a female demon on the property.”
A lick of unease went through Con, but he tamped it down because no way would Sin have come here—
“She’s demanding to see Conall,” the girl finished, and Con swore.
“Damn you!” Sin’s outraged curses carried on the wind, and despite Con’s increasing anxiety, he felt a flicker of a smile touch his lips. At least, until he saw her, struggling against the grip of two big males, a trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth.
Rage rolled in like a thunderstorm, roiling up from his gut and crashing into his skull. His feet were moving before his fury-soaked brain knew what was happening. He tore off across the wiry grass, each step parting the wispy tendrils of fog that skimmed the ground.
“Release her,” he roared.
Enric stepped back, but the other, Baine, gripped her tighter. Sin took instant advantage of having a free arm and decked him with a right hook and a knee to the groin. Baine fell to the ground, one hand clutching his face, the other cupping his balls. Enric struck out at Sin, but Con, his blood still running hot, tackled him, knocked him clean out with a flurry of blows. He was going to kill Enric for touching Sin. He was going to rip his—
“Con!” Sin grabbed his arm, halting his attack as the Council members from all three societies came running.
Body still wired for battle and clamoring to turn his fellow dhampires into mulch, Con lurched to his feet, hoping someone made a move on him or Sin. She stood in front him, her raven tresses spilling over her shoulders and onto the black leather sleeveless top she wore. A savage light glinted in her equally black eyes, as well as something just as primal, something that called to the male animal in him: desire. And, when he caught the scent of her blood, hunger.
He should have stepped away from her. Instead, he closed the distance between them. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I had to find you.” She licked her lips, the pink tip of her tongue catching the blood in the corner of her mouth. His gaze zeroed in on the action, and his loins filled with heat and his fangs pulsed, and he felt himself fuzzing out, leaning toward her, mouth watering, cock hardening.
He barely managed a grunted “Why?”
“I couldn’t let you do the oath thingie.” She spoke on a whispered breath, her face tilted upward, and he wanted to kiss her, claim her, right there against the rugged backdrop where his people had been mating for centuries. “I can’t stand the thought of you losing your freedom.”
Bran clapped his hands, the harsh crack drawing Con’s attention. “Get her out of here.”
Raynor reached for Sin, and oh, hell no. Con put himself between them, fangs bared. He didn’t say a damned word. Didn’t need to. Raynor backed off, but hatred blazed in his eyes. Icy, ancient hatred that Con had no explanation for, but right now he didn’t give a shit.
Wheeling around, he gripped Sin’s arm and marched her away from the group. Gods, her skin was hot in his palm, and it radiated right to his groin. “You need to leave.” His voice was guttural, barely controlled. “Now.”
“No.” She dug in her heels and jerked them both to a halt.
He blinked. “No?”
“I…” Her gaze dropped to the ground and she shifted her weight, and suddenly he was struck by a blast of need that came off her in an atomic shock wave. “It’s time. I… I need you.”
Fierce male pride made him puff up like a rooster. “You don’t needme.” He clenched his fists to keep from grabbing, kissing, doing that public thing he said he’d never do. “You could have anyone if that were the case. You wantme.”
She snorted, an automatic response no doubt, but then her chin trembled, softening her appearance, and once again, he felt like a bastard. “Yes, okay? I want you. I know you have that”—she lowered her voice—“issue, but we can find a way around it. You don’t have to bite me…”
His mind whacked out at the mere thought, and suddenly he could hear the pump of her heart, the swish of her blood running like raging rapids through her vessels, and, around him, he sensed Bran and several other dhampires closing in.
“Back away from her, Con,” Bran barked. There was a dagger in his hand, and he was focused on Sin. The icy fingers of déjà vu wrapped around Con, strangling him. Following Con’s mother’s death at the fangs of his father, the Dhampire Council had taken a hard stand on addiction.
No more attempts at rehabilitation.
They killed the source, which killed the cravings. Con hadn’t lied when he’d told Sin he was responsible for Eleanor’s death. He just hadn’t killed the leopard-shifter female himself.
Bran had done it with a blade through the brain stem. They hadn’t even given Con a chance at bonding with her.
Con pushed Sin behind him and backed them both up toward the Harrowgate. “I’ll handle this, Bran.”
“You know the law,” the big male said.
“I willhandle this.”
“See that you do,” Bran said, as he ran his finger along the edge of the blade. “Or I will.”
* * *
Sin had no clue what that craziness had been all about, but she kept her mouth shut as she and Con entered the Harrowgate, kept her mouth shut as he tapped out the map until the gate opened up into London’s east end, kept her mouth shut as he stiffly led her to a flat half a block away.
As he closed the door behind him, she studied his tense demeanor, the way his chiseled features sharpened even more when he was angry. But she couldn’t tell if his anger was directed at her or not.
The question was answered when he stalked to her, all sensual energy and rolling muscle encased in faded jeans and a tight black tee. His lips came down on hers, and she opened for him, met his tongue as she plastered her body against him. Desire roared through her, flaming hot, hotter than it had ever been with anyone, even at the height of her need. This was different. As pure as the snow they’d made love in.
Con held her tight, and while his hands stroked her back, they didn’t stray. He dragged his mouth along her jaw, down to her neck, and then he kissed her there, right over her jugular. “That was stupid, Sin,” he murmured against her skin. “You shouldn’t have gone to Scotland.”
“We’re here, aren’t we? Where we should be.”
His entire body tensed, and he pulled back. “Yeah. But—” His gaze dropped to her left hand, and he snatched it up. “What the fuck?” He was staring at her fingers—or more accurately, her missing finger. His voice degenerated to a guttural rasp. “What happened? Who did that to you?”
“I did it to myself,” she said gently. “I gave up my assassin master ring.”
“Oh, Jesus. We need to get you to UG—”
“There’s nothing that can be done, and you know it. It’s healed.” She waggled her fingers. “And I have nine spares.”
Con closed his eyes, and when he opened them, they were the somber gray of an overburdened rain cloud. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You were right. Just because no one owned me didn’t mean I wasn’t a prisoner.” She eyed the full-sized bed that was pretty much the only furniture in the studio apartment, and tugged him toward it. “Now,” she teased, “I’m ready for you to do more of that foreplay thing you’ve been bragging about.”
He stopped her, halting suddenly a few feet from the bed. She turned to face him and sucked in an appreciative breath at the sight of him, his gaze dark and predatory, his fangs extended. He looked half-wild, wholly primitive, and, God, he was so hot. His nostrils flared and his lips parted, and she wondered what he was thinking.
A glance at his groin gave her a pretty bigclue as to the state of his mind.
And that fast, she forgot about the foreplay, because she needed him inside her. Right now. She reached for him and he hissed.
“Have you fed recently?” she asked, the idea that he’d taken nourishment from someone else punching her in the gut. Of course he’d have to. The addiction issue would forever keep him from being able to dine on her. Well, he’d just have to settle for bagged blood, because he was notsticking those fangs in anyone else. “Con?”
“No,” he rasped. “I’m hungry, Sin. Not just for blood… for you.”
For her. He wanted her. He didn’t just need her; he wantedher, the way he’d made her admit to wanting him. A startling jolt of joy kicked her pulse into high gear, but it was cut short by a blast of heat and desire that came off him. Lust tore through her in a twisting, writhing tangle, and she moaned. Her vision alternately sharpened and blurred, and the scent of the aroused male in front of her flowed through her like an aphrodisiac syrup.
She took a step toward him, but her legs went rubbery and her feet felt glued to the floor. Weakness meant she was so far gone that, at this point, she didn’t have the strength to even make it to a Harrowgate to find a male. Good thing Con was here, good thing he was who she wanted, and good thing he liked it rough.
Twenty-three
Con stood with his back to the door, so close to it he could reach behind him, open it, and run. Which, if he was smart, he’d do. But Sin’s pheromones had hijacked him, his lust was boiling over, and that, on top of the blood addiction, kept him frozen to the spot.
She moaned again, and the sound made his groin throb. “Con, now. It’s been too long.”
“I know.” He took a step closer. He could have her. He just wouldn’t feed. And then he’d find a way to explain to her that she needed to stay away from him, or her life would be in danger.
The logical thoughts slid like a drop of oil over a gallon of water, fragmenting, becoming slick and thin and lost as the more primitive instincts drove his body and brain.
She tossed her head, flinging her hair away from her neck, and his line of sight narrowed, focused, filled with only her. The whoosh of blood through her veins became a beacon for his growing hunger. The pump of her heart thudded so loud it seemed to affect his own pulse rate.
“Now.”
Another step. His brutal erection punched painfully hard against his zipper. Another step. She might as well be a she-wolf in heat, and the male warg in him couldn’t resist. He was starving, needed her so badly.
If I touch her, I’ll kill her.
Violently, he shook his head, shattering his runaway fears against the inside of his skull.
“Please.” Her pheromones were clouding his head, making his heart pound and his skin shrink.
His gaze locked on her throat. His lips peeled away from his fangs. Bite. Drink. Kill.
No!Reeling backward, he crashed into the wall. “I can’t.” She reached for him, and he hissed. “Don’t. Don’t touch me, goddammit!”
Sin recoiled, hurt flashing behind the haze of need in her eyes. “You want me to go find another male?”
Another male? Oh, hell no. “I’ll kill him.” His voice was smoky, gravelly, as if it had been plucked from the pits of hell.
“Then what?” Sweat beaded on Sin’s brow, and she winced as she wrapped her arm around her belly. She was hurting. “Con, you’ve got to—”
“I can’t!” he roared. “Don’t you get it? I’m not strong enough.”
“So… let me get this straight.” She threw her hand out to catch herself against the wall and she spoke between panting breaths. “You won’t fuck me, but you don’t want anyone else to either.”
That about summed it up. “Damn you,” he growled angrily. “You shouldn’t have gone to Scotland. You shouldn’t have forced this choice on me.” He wasn’t being fair, and he knew that. But he was pissed at himself, at her, at the alignment of the planets and the fate that had brought this all about.
Her head came up, and defiance flashed across her face. “I’m so sorry I need something you can’t give me so you’re feeling inadequate and grumpy.” She started toward the door. “Go to hell. No, wait, that’s where I’m going, because I’m sure I’ll be able to find some hot demon who can give me what I need.”
He snapped, his control shredded beyond repair, and he pounced, taking her down to the floor and tearing at her clothes. Beneath him, she writhed greedily, wrapping her legs around him and thrusting her breasts up into his palms. He tore open the fly of his jeans and entered her hard, and they both cried out. She was hot. Wet. Perfect. His pulse roared in his ears and his vision sharpened—hell, all of his senses heightened to the point of sensory overload as he pounded into her with raw, punishing violence usually reserved for moon fevers.
His fangs shot out as he peaked, and he dove for her neck. Somehow, he dipped into his last reserves of control, and he bit into his arm instead, coming even as pain streaked through him.
Sin joined him with a scream, and as he pumped, taking himself to another, she came again. But when he should have felt sated, he only felt a burning need coiling inside him. Possessive fury tightened his muscles. Heated his blood until he was fevered.
He tore his mouth away from his arm. “Mine. You’re mine, Sin. No one else will ever touch you, do you understand? You belong to me. You’ll bond with me.” Everything but the ecstasy was a blur as he bit into her shoulder, barely able to keep from taking a vein. Behind his teeth, the bond glands tingled. His next climax was hard and powerful, but as Sin’s sex clenched around him, he noted—barely—a change. She whimpered through her orgasm, and then she was struggling to get out from under him.
“No,” she moaned. “Please, no.”
The despair in her voice pierced his Neanderthal brain. What was he doing? Blinking, he tried to bring himself around. Was he… yes, he was biting her. He released her with a hiss of panic, but the glands were pumping, and horror filled him as he felt the hot sting of a drop of bond fluid drip into the bite he’d left. Oh, shit! Maybe it wasn’t enough. She hadn’t gotten a full dose—
“Get off me!”
He scrambled off her, his mind spinning, his body cramping and whacking out with the need for her blood. He’d tasted it, but he needed more. At the same time, shame ripped him apart. It was not okay to bond with someone without their permission. He’d be as bad as all the scumbags who had owned Sin over the years.
She rolled away, grabbed at her clothes, and eyed him like he was a monster. “What did you do to me?”
Gods, he couldn’t even look at her. “Sin…”
“What did you do?” she screamed, shoving to her feet.
“I tried to bond you to me… I stopped before it went too far, I think—”
“You bastard,” she whispered. “You fucking bastard.” She jammed her legs into her pants. “You want to own me, just like everyone else. I’d be just another possession, wouldn’t I? And what will you do when you get tired of me?”
He didn’t think that was possible, but right now, she wouldn’t believe his denial, and he couldn’t blame her at all. “I’m sorry, Sin.” He stood, zipped up, hated himself for how his hand shook.
“Sorry?” She snorted. “You’re such a hypocrite, Con… You accused me of having a wall around my heart, but do you even realize that you do the same thing? You take risks with your body because you won’t with your heart. You can’t get attached to anything, so you’re always changing up cars, jobs, friends.” She snorted again. “Friends. What a joke, huh? That’s why they’re human, isn’t it? You don’t have to keep them for long if you’re always having to dump them before they get suspicious.”
Shock rippled through him. She was right. Holy shit, she was right on the money. He lurched backward, slapped by the stark truth she’d hit him with. He wasn’t easily bored… he was just too damned afraid to get attached to anything. Gods, what a selfish piece of shit he was. He’d forced Sin to confront her fears, her feelings, and all the while he’d had the same issues. The same wall.
For far worse reasons. He’d gotten himself addicted to a female’s blood, and then, after she’d been killed and he’d been banished from the clan, he’d spent his life blaming everyone but himself for all of it. He’d thought he was carefree, happy, experiencing life just to prove that he didn’t need anyone or anything.
You are a spoiled wretch who should have been brought to heel centuries ago. Bran had been right. Just like Sin.
But now, more than ever, he couldn’t weaken. Not when it came to her. He wanted her so badly it hurt, as if his heart had been wrapped in razor wire. She didn’t deserve a spoiled, selfish wretch like him, and he couldn’t bond with her even if she wanted him to. He couldn’t tie her down like that.
And he couldn’t be with her without being bonded to her.
“You’re right, Sin.” Gods, his chest ached. He rubbed it, and it felt caved in. Hollow. “So there’s nothing left to say. You should go.”
He was pretty sure she’d take him up on that, but sure as Sheoul smelled like brimstone, she was Sin, so she did the exact opposite. She finished dressing and planted her feet.
“I don’t think so. You accused me of running from things, and now you’re doing the same thing? You need to feel, Con,” she said, hurling his words back in his face. “You don’t get to throw me away because I refuse to be a possession. Owning a person is a way to have them without admitting you feel something. So no. You don’t get to do that. You can have me, but only because you want me and I want you. I get the addiction thing, but you know what? Somehow we’ll handle it. Maybe Eidolon can help. Or a sorcerer. I know a few good ones.”
Jesus. She was serious. Even after what he’d just done, she still wanted to be with him. It was tempting, so fucking tempting, and he’d always been a gambler. But he would not gamble with Sin’s life.
“The clan will kill you, Sin. They don’t allow addiction. And even if I manage to get cured, I can’t be near you or it’ll start up again.”
“I’m not afraid of your damned clan.”
No, she wouldn’t be, would she. His stomach turned over at the realization that there was only one thing he could do now. He had to throw rocks. And this time, he had to aim well. Better to see her hurt than dead. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Man up, asshole. Yeah, because it was so manly to kick a female while she was down.
“You don’t get it, little demon.” He deliberately made his voice toneless, but it took effort, and he prayed his voice wouldn’t break. “You were right. You’d be a possession to me. I do care for you. Now. But in a few months, maybe a couple of years, you won’t appeal to me anymore. I’ll want something shiny and new. Probably taller. Blonder.” Yeah, that rock had sharp edges.
A flush spread from her forehead to the swells of her breasts, and she stepped back with uncharacteristic awkwardness. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I shouldn’t have let Luc talk me into that bet. I never should have fucked you even though that’s all any succubus is good for.” A soft gasp escaped her, and shame made the ground shift beneath him. Instinct made him want to fold her into his arms and fix her hurt, but instead, he steeled himself to finish it. “What? Why do you look so surprised? You area sex demon. Did you think we could ride off into the sunset, set up a house and fuck up a bunch of kids? The only thing I’ve ever wanted from you is sex and blood. Fucking and feeding go together for me, and since I can’t feed from you anymore…” He gestured to the door. “Get out, and don’t ever come near me again.”
Before his eyes, Sin changed. Left the building. The female who had finally found a bit of softness, kindness, and acceptance disappeared behind a cold, remote mask. Only the very slight tremor in her fingers as she jammed them into her pocket gave away any sign of emotion. He thought she was going for a weapon—he certainly deserved it.
Instead, she drew out a neatly folded square of bills. She peeled off two fives and dropped them on the floor. “The ten bucks I owe you.”
She walked out of the flat and out of his life. When the door closed, so softly he barely heard it, he retched. Barely made it to the toilet.
He’d done it. He’d finally thrown the rock that hurt her. That drove her away for good.
* * *
Sin didn’t cry. She couldn’t afford to. Not yet. She had to talk to her brothers.
Her brothers.
It struck her that not only did she feel the need to go to them, but for the first time, she truly acknowledged what they were. Yes, she’d known they were siblings, but at some point, they’d actually become family to her. And crazily enough, her first instinct was to go to them.
And didn’t it just figure that the first one she ran into at UG would be Wraith.
“Smurfette!” He grinned as she stepped out of the Harrowgate. “Where’s Con? Some warg was just here and he said Con left the sanctuary with you.” When she didn’t reply because her throat had closed up, Wraith’s smile faltered, and his voice gentled. “Lore’s here. I think he’s in E’s office.”
She started down the hall, and Wraith fell into step beside her, his silence both surprising and oddly comforting. When she got to E’s office, though, Shade was there instead of Lore.
Shade pushed himself off the wall he’d been leaning against. “Where’s Con?”
Why was everyone so freaking curious about him?She wanted to scream at them to shut up, but the moment she let loose, the waterworks would start and all those emotions Con had wanted her to feelwould lay her flat. “Not important,” she said crisply. “What’s up with the vaccine?”
“Initial immunizations have begun,” Eidolon said from behind his desk. “A lot sooner than I expected. So far, the two males I vaccinated and then exposed to the virus are fine.”
“You actually got volunteers for that?”
“Heh. Volunteers. Funny.” Wraith’s grin was pure evil. “They were both on Carceris death row. By volunteering for the testing, they got their sentences reduced to life in prison.”
Personally, Sin would rather have death, but whatever. The fact that death row in a Carceris jail lasted only a week probably scared the poor bastards enough to make them volunteer. Well, that and the fact that the Carceris’s main means of execution was to toss the victim into a pit as bait for the hellhounds.
If you were lucky, they only tore you apart. If you weren’t lucky, and they were horny…
She shuddered. Little frightened her as much as the unholy canines. But she did find it amusing that the souls of evil humans who had tortured animals and were sent to Sheoul-gra got to spend a lot of time in the pits with the beasts. She’d always loved the whole an-eye-for-an-eye thing.
Shade shoved a stick of gum in his mouth. “Now, what happened with Con? Raynor said—”
The only thing I’ve ever wanted from you is sex and blood.Dammit. She didn’t want to talk about it. And yet, her mouth opened up and words came out. “He’s at his apartment.” The tears she’d been holding back finally erupted, but she dashed them away before Eidolon could hand her a tissue. “He tried this… bond thing—”
“What do you mean, he tried? Against your will?” Shade’s voice degenerated into a dark rumble. “And what the fuckhappened to your finger?”
“I had to get the assassin ring off so I could go to…” Con. She’d done it, in part, so she could be with him. What a freaking idiot she was! Anger and misery tightened around her chest, making it hard to breathe.
A snarl from behind her startled her. “I’ll kill him,” Wraith said.
Shade tossed his gum wrapper into the trash. “I’ll help.”
“We’ll make it a family fun night,” Eidolon drawled, his voice calm, cool, and serious as shit.
Gold flecks peppered the blue of Wraith’s eyes, and he flicked his tongue over the point of one fang. “I told you I won’t let anyone fuck with my family, Sin.”
At the time, he’d said those same words to her. Meaning that he didn’t want herfucking with his family. And now… shewas the family. “Don’t. Please.” Somehow she kept her voice from cracking. “I just want to forget.”
They stared at each other in silence for a while, and then Eidolon cleared his throat. “I discovered how you came into existence.”
It was an abrupt shift of subject, but a welcome one. Eidolon was good at that. “Do I want to know?”
Shrugging, Eidolon leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers over his chest. In the short time she’d known him, she’d learned that when he settled in like that, he was gearing up for a medical lecture.
“You told me your mother used a demon herb to attempt an abortion,” he said. “The most common plant used for that purpose is skullwort, but it’s meant for demon physiology, not human. When ingested by most demon species, the mother’s body becomes hostile to the fetuses. But in a human it does the opposite. It strengthened the demon halves of you and Lore instead of destroying them. And because it’s a demon chemical compound, it reacted… badly… with your human half. I suspect your mother ingested the herb immediately after conception, and likely a couple of times after that. The herb is loaded with hormones, and it apparently retarded the normal progress of gene development that should have turned you into a male.”
Retarded. Nice. “So if Lore and I shared the same womb, why would it affect me and not him?”
“You’re fraternal, not identical. You have different genes that are susceptible—or not—to different things. Same thing happens in alcoholic human mothers. She might give birth to one twin with fetal alcohol syndrome, while the other has no symptoms at all.” Eidolon shifted, sitting forward in his chair again. “There’s something else. Unlike Lore, you’re not sterile.”
She blinked. “Then why haven’t I gotten knocked up, like, a million times by now?”
“Because you don’t ovulate, but you do have viable eggs. You can have a family, Sin. You’ll just have to go through an in vitro procedure.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Not only did she not want kids, but who would she have them with? No one but Con had ever wanted to be with her. She’d never wanted to be with anyone but him. And in the end, he’d rejected her. Left her, the way he’d said he wouldn’t do.
God, how could she hate someone and ache for them at the same time?
A hot, angry flush settled over her skin, and she knew she was going to burst into tears again.
“I have to go.” She leaped to her feet, making a slashing motion with her hand when her brothers tried to stop her. She needed to be alone. Like she’d always been.
* * *
Sin hightailed it through UG’s halls as fast as she could without looking like a complete idiot. It was only as she entered the emergency department, where the Harrowgate was, that she realized she had nowhere to go.
She’d lived for so long at the assassin den that she had no other residences. In her haste to get out of the den, she’d left her clothes, her few trinkets, and all her weapons—except what was on her body and a few spares she kept at Lore’s place—behind. Now she was homeless on top of everything else.
“Sin.”
She wheeled around. She wasn’t overly surprised to see Raynor, the dude she’d seen in Scotland, standing there, but still a ball of “oh, shit,” dropped into her gut. He’d been waiting for her. The hunter’s gleam in his eye was a dead giveaway.
“Are you here about the vaccine?” It was a lame question, but she was on the verge of tears over Con, was unnaturally nervous, and her guilt over the fact that she’d started a plague that had killed hundreds, maybe thousands, of his people still ate at her.
“Yes, thank you for asking.” He moved toward her, and she felt like a rabbit in a wolf’s sights. “You destroyed a lot of lives, including those of many of my friends and family.”
“I know,” she said. “I’m sorry—”
“That’s not good enough, you little bitch,” he snapped, the sudden change in him putting Sin on edge.
Somehow, she kept her expression and voice neutral. “Is that why you’re here? Because you want your pound of flesh from me?”
“That’s exactly why I’m here. I have a proposition for you.”
“Whatever it is,” Sin said wearily, “you can shove it up your ass.”
