The Dark City Chronicles ⁓ Book Three
The apocalypse looms ever closer! Steamy romance, heart-stopping action, seductive vampires, magic that defies nature, sprinkles of dark-humor, and, as always, the everlasting bonds of friendship.
Hannah's strug...
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There were many moments in his life when he felt wrathful.
But he had never felt this angry, with shaking fingers and a ghost of a throb across his knuckles.
Since that night, he'd felt shattered. He wasn't himself. He was a pathetic impersonation of the man he had been before he walked into that phony meeting.
Thoughts ran through his mind, making him doubt.
Was Gabriel right, and was it his fault for not obeying? It wasn't blind loyalty that Kiernan gave Gabriel. He knew that the vampire was shrewd, ruthless, and a leader worthy of following.
Maybe Kiernan had twisted what happened because of Mercalli.
Gabriel had said it, hadn't he, back then? That Mercalli broke him, and the man's ghost haunted him.
No.
He knew that he wasn't the one who was broken.
The fury he harboured wasn't for Dallas, who gave him no semblance of personal space. He tasted his hatred for this man as an iron tang of bloodthirstiness that promised violence.
Dallas laid his large hands on the side of Kiernan's face, muttering lowly, but Kiernan couldn't hear any words.
It was probably seen as a grounding gesture to the vampires fanned out around the blood-covered club.
To Kiernan, it felt like a shove off a cliff into a rocky expanse below.
His ears rang.
His stomach swooped, and he felt as if he was asphyxiating on his rising despair, and then...he was fucking livid.
At Gabriel.
Who dared to send this cretin tonight.
When he texted Gabriel for aid, he knew what might happen. Deep inside, he understood he wouldn't be welcomed back to the coven with fondness. But he hadn't thought Gabriel would be this vindictive, forcing him to be near Dallas so soon.
Dallas was another threat.
Gabriel had always known Kiernan better than he knew himself. Wasn't that how the man kept him acquiescent for so many years? Gabriel was a master of gaslighting and manipulation. He presumably saw that Kiernan would break sooner rather than later and needed to exert his authority again.
Calloused thumbs moved beneath his eyes in a mock gesture of tenderness. He saw Dallas's mouth moving but heard nothing.
Kiernan wanted to look for Lucas. But his world was filled with the intense thuds of his heart and his thoughts, puzzle pieces that had never fit before. Now, with the sharp clarity of anger, they were finding their places perfectly.
Dallas was a sadist to the extreme—Kiernan learned that firsthand. The vampire was dangerously ambitious, and they had a sordid history. But that wasn't why he was here tonight. It wasn't why Dallas agreed to participate in Gabriel's deranged game, either.
