Blood Cursed Read Online Free PDF Page B

glow.
    Curiosity tingled my palms. Glassfae were strange. Improbable. Those churchwindow wings looked so delicate. For him to fly, all that dangerous muscle had to be fairylight. What would that ultrasmooth chest feel like under my fingertips? Blown glass? Cold, like crystal? Or soft, like skin, warm, slick, inviting? …
    I swallowed and dropped my gaze, my cheeks warm. Like trouble, that’s what. All the same, these cocky gangboys. Too damn intriguing for their own good.
    He spied Jasper and turned back, elegant for such a bulky guy. He had the grace to look embarrassed, gold glimmering deep in his ruby eyes. “Oh. That.”
    Was that sympathy? Warmth spilled over my heart, and I quenched it. Everyone knew Diamond went through girls like toilet paper. Use ’em up and flush ’em when you’re done. “Yeah, that . Seriously, am I invisible or something?”
    “It’s nothing. Just biznificality.” Rainbows danced in his long glassy hair.
    His fairy boys will be sluts insouciance tickled warm indignation through my limbs. I plonked my glass on the bar. “Oh, sure. That makes me feel better, coming from you. Where’s your tart-of-the-evening? Broken her already? You get them from vending machines, or what?”
    “Moron.”
    “Excuse me?”
    His gaze caught mine again, glowing violet. “Jasper. He’s an idiot. If you were my lady, I wouldn’t be fucking some other girl. I’d be fucking you.”
    Stupidly, I blushed. He flashed me an unreasonably scintillating smile, and before I could collect my wits, he’d tilted my chin up, exposing my wounds, already half-healed by virus-soaked vampire spit.
    I jerked back, but he held me, ducking to peer at my cuts. “Let me lookify.”
    Mortification stained my sweat bloody. “It’s nothing. Let go.”
    He tugged me closer, probing my slashed skin with surprisingly gentle claws. His voice clanged, discordant. “Who did this?”
    “No one.” I twisted, but he stroked me, soothing my bruised skin, easing the wound open to look for corruption. More a caress than an examination. His hair tumbled on my arm, not sharp but springy and soft. He leaned closer, his rosy warmth inflaming me, and I wanted to squirm away.
    My wings tingled, aware. His tenderness embarrassed me. I didn’t care what he thought of me, but somehow I didn’t want to tell him I’d done it for a strange fiery gemstone and one of Jasper’s smiles. I swallowed, feeling his fingers move on my skin. Maybe he wasn’t the thoughtless puke I’d imagined. “It doesn’t matter, okay? It was an accident.”
    “Not on my patch. You’re one of ours. Tell me who bit you, and I’ll rip the skanksucker’s fangs out.”
    My blood iced. So matter-of-fact. That was all he cared about. His patch. His possessions.
    They were all the fucking same. If some guy gave me a hard time or looked at me the wrong way, Jasper would invariably break the guy’s nose. Not because he cared how I felt. Because he owned me, and no one else was allowed.
    Why did I expect Diamond to be any different? I shouldn’t be disappointed.
    But I was.
    I grabbed his shining pink wrist and yanked my chin away. “Leave it, okay? It’s nothing. Jasper told me to. He wanted me to steal from the guy. I swapped my blood on purpose. You got a problem with that?”
    He broke my grip, his effortless fairy strength both threat and promise. Shiny contempt flashed his eyes silver. “Hey, it’s your choosings, angel. You wanna put out for favors? Go right ahead. But don’t fucking cry about it when they stick it in.”
    His scorn ripped me naked, a razorsharp mirror of my own shame. Fury burned my moonrich blood bright. Before I could hold back, my hand flashed out and I slapped him.
    Right across his beautiful crystalline cheek.
    My palm stung hot. His face glowed brighter, and shock lit magenta flames in his eyes, but I didn’t care. I was too incensed at his goddamn attitude. “Don’t you judge me, sparkleboy. You don’t fucking know