Sin Undone

Con pushed, and instead of running, she’d pushed right back.

“Sin?” Tayla’s hand came down on Sin’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Instead of replying, Sin asked a question of her own. “How did you let Eidolon in?” A blast of affection flowed over Sin like a blanket, and that weird, warm longing came back. “I real

ized I was a better person when I was with him. So I told him my darkest secrets. I let him see the worst sides of me. And he wanted me more than ever.” Sin had already told Con her secrets. He’d seen her at her worst.

And he’d said he wouldn’t leave her.

She turned around, looked at Tayla. Looked at the stairs that led to the room where her brothers and Con were gathered. Where they’d taken care of her. Saved her life.

She was in a house full of people who were there for her. The knowledge leveled her. Laid her out like she’d been kicked in the head.

She really did have a family, and the emotional tether between her and them was getting stronger. Tightening. But would it become an embrace, or a noose? Con paced in the bedroom, weaving between the Sem brothers as he waited for either Tayla or Sin to return. Relief that she’d survived the assassin attack was tempered by the fact that she seemed to have reverted to her distant self, the Sin that no one could get through to.

Maybe Tayla was having some luck. He didn’t know the Guardian well, but he did know she was tough, and she hadn’t had an easy life. It was possible that she could relate to Sin on a female level no one else could.

The brothers were all watching him speculatively, but he ignored them. “Those bastards we killed outside the house, they were all assassins?”

Lore nodded. “I checked their bonds. The ones who hadn’t disintegrated before I got to them, anyway. Three worked for two different masters, but the other four belonged to Sin.” “Son of a bitch.” He paused. “Did you see a dude on a stallion?”

The brothers all shook their heads. “Why?” Lore asked.

“I saw what looked like a knight on a horse when my house was firebombed. He barely missed Sin with an arrow, and then when we were under attack at the warg settlement, he saved us. I’m confused as hell. Do you know of any assassins who work from horseback?”

Lore folded his arms over his chest, which was criss-crossed by a loaded weapons harness. Not even Wraith was that well armed. Of course, Wraith didn’t need to be. “No, and that would be a stupid way to do business for an assassin. Not very subtle.”

“We need to get Sin out of here,” Con said. “It’s only a matter of time until assassins get past Rivesta’s barrier.”

Eidolon nodded. “We’ll get her to the hospital. She’ll be safe there.” He turned to Wraith. “See if you can find Luc. If he’s cool with it, we can run the infection experiment on him.” “He’s not going to be cool with it,” Wraith said. “But I’ll see what I can do.” No, Con did not see Luc volunteering. The guy was truly an all-for-one-and-one-for-me type, and risking his life for complete strangers wasn’t in him. And though Con might not say it to Luc’s face, he really didn’t want the warg to volunteer. Luc had grown on him. Like a fungus, maybe, but still… he’d grown.

“How’s the virus?” Eidolon asked Con. “In you. Is it under control?”

Jesus, how could he have forgotten to mention that earlier? “It’s gone. Since last night.”

“Then you won’t feed on Sin anymore, right?” Shade’s dark eyes fixed on Con, and somehow… Shade knew. He was well aware of the addiction issues. But how?

Con glanced between the other brothers, but as far as he could tell, they didn’t know, nor had they picked up on Shade’s underlying concern. “I don’t need her blood anymore,” he assured the demon. “Now, we’d better go.” Shade blocked the door. “Hold on, dhampire.” The shadows in the male’s eyes writhed madly, and Con knew what was up before Shade said it. “So you’re done with the feedings. But what else is going on with you and her?”

A knowing smile curved Wraith’s mouth. “Duh. He’s boning her.”

“How serious is it?” Lore asked, and no, this wasn’t embarrassing at all.

“There’s nothing going on.” He hoped he sounded more convincing to them than he sounded to himself, because there was something going on between them, no matter how much he tried to keep it from happening.