Page 20 of The Coven’s Sacrifice

He sighed. “No. But I must admit I am envious.”

“Understandable,” I agreed. “I found it was hard for myself, sharing him.”

He shook his head, and even in the dark I could clearly see the movement. “I meant envious of Jacob.”

I sat up fully now, drying my eyes on my dirty sleeve. “What do you mean?”

He seemed almost shy when he whispered, “I had hoped to court you myself.”

“What?”

I’d clearly heard him wrong.

Harland then moved, pushing me down on the dirty ground again, his lips finding mine. His kiss wasn’t anything like Jacob’s, his lips tentative, seeking. My body responded to his, like a switch being flipped. I was so confused, but I couldn’t stop. I returned the kiss, hungry for this stranger I didn’t know.

His lips trailed down my throat, fangs sinking into my neck. I moaned as the same sort of pleasure Jacob had given me the night before flooded my system. A part of me knew this wasn’t okay. Just because I was confused where I stood with Jacob, didn’t mean I was allowed to fool around with his lover, but I was weak for this vampire. I might’ve been put under a spell for all I knew. Or they were all playing around with me, the others waiting their turn on the human sacrifice. I couldn’t seem to find an ounce of care as Harland drank me down, his fingers trailing a soothing pattern under my shirt.

He released my neck, rasping, “Promise me you will give me a chance to win your affection, Colin.”

I found myself saying, “Okay.”

Chapter Fourteen

Colin

I was so fucked.

After being fed from on the dirt, Harland rose and helped me stand, then escorted me back to my room. There was no sign of Jacob and Alexander, something I was glad for even if I was still hurting. Jacob might not want me anymore, or maybe he never did. It was funny how at one moment, I’d felt like Jacob would never lie to me, and then the next, I questioned everything. The only thing I could do going forward was to simply follow my heart. No matter how cheesy it sounded.

“I love what you have done with the space,” Harland mused, walking around my living room. I simply stood there, watching him awkwardly as he moved around my space. “You do not like art?”

“Art?”

He pointed to my empty walls. “You do not have anything?”

“Ah, I guess I just haven’t thought about that yet.” It was the truth. I’d just been glad that the racecars had disappeared.

“I would not mind painting something for you,” he offered.

“You paint?”

He nodded, a small smile lingering on his lips. “You have likely seen my work, as it is displayed on the mansion walls throughout.”

“You’re the one who painted all the portraits?”

He grimaced. “No, that was something Eric was obsessed with, wanting a memoir of every vampire who had been cursed. They are not to my taste, to be honest.”

A laugh escaped me. Harland stood there grimacing at the thought of the very paintings I’d thought to be terrifying. There was something so human about him at that moment.

His smile widened and he laughed softly with me. “I do the landscape paintings,” he then said, pointing to the windows. The curtains were open, allowing us a view of the night sky from here. “I have several paintings of the sky, but my favorites are of the daylight hours, the sun shining down on flowery fields, or those with the sea, the sun glistening on the waves.”

“Do you miss it?” I asked. “The sun?”

He nodded. “More than anything in the world.”

His sadness was obvious and I felt at a loss for words. How did you console a vampire who’d been without the feel of the sun in centuries?

“I can’t imagine what that’s like,” I ended up saying. “To not feel the warmth on my skin as I work in the garden. Or see the sun rise in the early mornings, only to see it go down later at night.”