Betrayal Bites (Tales of Sydney Sedrick Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

the why of it didn’t matter. Kieran needed to be taken down, and Cian would be the perfect and obvious candidate to replace him when the time came. Cian would just have to convince the Elders, and be there when his brother fell from their grace.
    Taking his finger, Cian traced a bloodied nail along Kim’s jaw line, pressing the jagged edge into her flesh. “Surely you’ve overheard some details. You are Kieran’s personal aide, assigned to his every physical need.” He smiled, letting his fangs spring forth for effect.
    “No, Master Cian, I promise! Kieran has not told me anything. He’s only told his Knights what’s going to happen. I swear it. Please, please don’t hurt me. I don’t know anything.” The woman continued to sob annoyingly. Her blubbering was making this take longer than was necessary. He’d be done with this if she’d only been able to keep herself together.
    “Well, if you don’t know anything of import, then you are useless to me. Tell me, fragile Kim, what do you have for me that could possibly persuade me not to kill you?” No matter what, she was going to die. Silly humans. They always believed there was hope they would survive if they gave him what he wanted. They foolishly believed he was capable of mercy. Little did they know, he’d get what he wanted, one way or another.
    Kim sniveled, trying to regain an ounce of strength when she replied, “I do have something that may help you. Kieran plans to behold a gift to the Elders, something special. And the Judges will be at the ball, too. That is all I know.” Kim dared to stare him straight in the eyes and begged, “Please, let me go. I’ve told you everything. There is nothing more.”
    “That is a pity you weren’t more informed. Now the only use you have to me is being a tasty snack. I do love how your blood is so freshly laced with fear. Maybe it would be worth keeping you around just for that.”
    Cian grabbed her jaw and forced it to the side to bare the precious skin of her neck. The pulse beating back at him taunted his taste buds, making his fangs ache at the gums. How could his brother not love to have his donors experience a little fear before the meal? The taste was unbeatable, the power, the rush that filled him was beyond addicting.
    He wanted more.
    Kieran had to be removed from his post. He was too close to changing the Elder’s edicts about how vampires were allowed to treat their humans. Vampires were predators, meant to enjoy the hunt and the kill. It didn’t make sense why anyone would want to tamp down their true nature. Co-existing with the wolves was just another step in the further censoring of their true selves. Vampires shouldn’t have to worry about offending the local werewolf packs. Having to watch where he got blood because the wolves may not like it wasn’t his idea of living.
    Cian would just have to kill Kieran if the Elders didn’t see things his way.

Chapter 4
    Nothing life-altering happened while I passed the time stocking the shelves, taking care of customers, and dusting the eclectic pieces, used for Wiccan ceremonies, that my aunt had scattered throughout the store. Shortly after sunset, the door chimes jingled in the front of the store. Even from back in the storeroom, I knew it was a vampire that had crossed the threshold. The temperature had dropped a good ten degrees.
    That was one of the gifts that came with being the Selected. It allowed me to easily detect vampire and werewolf presence by temperature change.
    Unfortunately, the only one who could feel the change was me. That made me very important to the vampires and werewolves who wanted to use my ability against each other. Because of my ability to feel their presence, the vampires and werewolves want me to find each other’s secret locations, so they could kill one another. That wasn’t something on my to-do-list, nor would it ever be.
    The trouble with this kind of ability is it made me not only important to them, it made