King of the Asheville Coven (Winterset Coven #1)(6)

Sadey huffed a sigh and licked the envelope to the card she’d brought for Aric, then shoved it into her purse. She shoved the door open and jogged across the street.

“Hey, we’ve got a new girl,” one of the human girls said in a friendly tone.

A blonde looked troubled, though. “Who are you here for?”

“Uuuuh.” That was a weird question. “Aric?”

The blonde’s frown deepened further. “He just fed a couple nights ago, but okay. If he called you in, maybe he had a bad night at work.”

“What do you mean?” Sadey asked, a sliver of worry snaking in her gut.

“He’s a firefighter, and sometimes his shifts are bad. He has to feed more if he’s going to be around all that blood and not hurt the injured ones, you know?”

“Oh. Yes, of course.” The silence grew too thick, and she was crap at small talk, so naturally she made it awkward. “So you’re all here to feed the vamps?”

The friendly brunette pursed her lips. “Well yeah, the pay doesn’t suck. Aren’t you?”

Sadey opened her mouth to vehemently deny that she would ever do something so repulsive, but the door opened suddenly, and a tall man with dark hair and green eyes smiled at them and said, “Y’all come on in. Your boys are ready for you.”

Sadey’s pulse tripped as the man’s eyes landed on her and narrowed. “What do we have here? Fresh meat?”

“Garret don’t give her a hard time. She’s here for Aric,” the blonde explained. “The first time is always nerve-wracking, too, so cut her some slack, okay?”

Garret smiled at the blonde and murmured, “So long as you’re here for me, darlin’.”

The blonde blushed a pretty color, ducked her gaze, and looked pleased as punch. “You know I am.”

The girls filed in one by one while Sadey looked longingly behind her at the rental car that sat on the circle drive by the others. Her chariot awaited, but the thought that Aric was right inside, just a few walls away from her, made it impossible to flee. Apparently, her damn animal had grown a keen and terrifying interest in men even more dangerous than Brock. This was the part she hated about being a shifter—the marrow-deep instincts she couldn’t ignore.

So like the epic fate-tempter she was, Sadey stepped into the house behind the others. The decorator had been a fan of dark woods. Dark floors, dark wainscoting, dark bronze sconces, and a massive black chandelier hung above her in the entryway. To the left was an entire wall of security panels with video, retinal scanners, and glowing squares of buttons that probably helped make this place a fortress during the day. Made sense. Vampires didn’t have much defense when they were sleeping.

Garret led them down a hallway and a set of stairs to a sprawling basement with tall ceilings. Down here, the lights were dimmer, and it smelled of sawdust and new paint, like the coven had recently renovated this place. The brunettes filed off one at a time to bedroom doors and disappeared inside, while Garret draped his arm over Blondie’s shoulders.

“You don’t have to worry,” Blondie said. “It’s not scary like rumors say. This coven is gentle and don’t even leave scars behind. Aric will treat you well for your work.”

Work. Donating blood to vamps was considered a job? Sadey tried to smile, but she was pretty sure it was a grimace highlighted by a lip tremble. Some predator shifter she was.

As Garret opened a bedroom door and waited for Blondie to saunter inside, he tilted his chin to the door at the end of the hallway. “Aric is in there.” Garret looked like he wanted to say more, but he frowned at Aric’s door instead. And when she hesitated with her hand raised to knock, Garret said, “Take good care of our king. He shoulders a lot.”

King? Holy hell. Royalty was notoriously ruthless. They had to be to secure entire covens under them. She was about to let herself into the king of the coven’s room. Crap, oh crap, oh crap.

“Don’t worry,” Garret said. “Aric will be gentle with you, especially your first time.”

Fantastic. Clenching her fists to stifle the instinct to flee the house, she knocked lightly.

There was commotion at the end of the hallway, and when she turned around, the nice brunette was pinned onto the wall, hips rolling against a handsome man with pallid skin and bright blue eyes. They were making out hard core, and from the sounds the brunette was making, she was thoroughly enjoying it. The vamp slid his icy gaze to Sadey right as he opened his mouth and exposed his fangs, then sank them into the brunette’s neck. He made a hissing sound as he ground his hips against her.

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!

The door swung open, and Aric froze like an ice sculpture. His face went slack, and his gray eyes morphed to the black of a raven’s feather. He wore nothing but low-slung jeans. She’d known he was well-built through his firefighter shirt, but he was more cut than she’d even imagined. The dim lighting made deep shadows between his hard pecs and between each hard ridge of his six-pack. The tattoos she’d seen peeking out of his shirt were dark against his pallid skin. He was intimidatingly sexy.

With a rapid blink, Aric looked at the sexual feeding frenzy down the hall and yanked Sadey by the arm inside of his room.

The door clicked closed, and he was there, standing too close, his hand digging into her arm too hard. “What the hell are you doing here?” he whispered. “I’m not drinking you!”