Chosen by the Vamprie, Book One

Chapter Nine

Silence dragged over my skin like jagged edges of glass, while my hurried steps rushed me down the hall.

They know everything.

I gulped down the sickening sensation rising through me. Eira's words stayed with me, her voice ringing in my ears. What did the Sinful know? I stopped dead outside my bedroom, my hand resting on the metal knob. How would they know my real mission? Had my mistake been saying too much during the secret test... admitting I came here on purpose?

Stupid.

Stupid.

Stupid.

What was I thinking? Except my admittance just happened tonight, so it couldn't be that, right?

He wants you, did you know that, Asena? They all want you.

The only way she knew my name was if she'd heard someone else talking about me.

I was shaking my head, staring over my shoulder. The hall stood silent, dimly lit, and I watched the shadows, expecting a Sinful to step out, but they never did. I sucked in a ragged breath. Shivers raced up my legs as I remembered poor Devika's humiliation, her punishment.

Arkyn's fingers on her nipple, and I fought the pure pleasure coursing through me so fast at the mere memory, at the heat pooling between my thighs, picturing myself under their attention, their touch, their desire.

But I shook my head, pushing away the fire swelling through me. My body shouldn't respond that way to these monsters, shouldn't want them when they'd hurt so many people. I lied to myself thinking my reaction had anything to do with shock... I'd never been with a man in the ways they promised, and these Sinful, they were unlike any man I'd encountered before. They did things to my insides that left me confused and longing. It was safe to say my body was betraying me when it came to these Vampires.

It was wrong, all of it a game, and I hated myself for letting them affect me this way.

Instinct had me pushing open the door and darting into my dark bedroom, shutting myself in without making a sound.

Breaths raging, I tugged my dress up and over my head and drew on the nightdress the servants had left in our room earlier in the day. I pushed the wild strands of russet-colored hair out of my face, letting them fall against my back before I climbed into bed next to Willa. The soft snores from her and Chaska were comforting in knowing they wouldn't ask me questions about where I'd been. I slid under the blanket, laid my head on the pillow, and shut my eyes, trying to sleep while my brain replayed the night's events over and over.

They settled on Eira... she was still alive, but she was no longer free. The fact that she was chained up and being used as food by the Sinful terrified me... Was that how we'd all end up?

* * *

The next evening the three of us woke early, washed and dressed, then waited to be called for breakfast. I spent those few early hours with my nose in a book. Willa and Chaska kept to themselves, withdrawn, barely saying two words to me or each other.

Shock.

Reality punched into us last night, and now... now we dealt with the repercussions of what we were really dealing with.

Danger.

Imprisonment.

Seduction.

I lowered my gaze to the book in my hands, filling my thoughts with how Wolves hunt their prey rather than thinking about the monsters at my doorstep.

When Wolves make a successful kill, they don't eat in moderation. They can eat up to twenty-two pounds from one kill. The Alpha always eats first, and what remains can be scavenged by the rest of the pack.