Free Blackthorn [3] Blood Torn by Lindsay J Pryor

go only to place his selection from the buffet table onto the compartmental tray he held.
    Resentment coiled in her stomach to the point she finally lost any semblance of appetite, despite how enticing the smell of the herb-infused toasted bread and sautéed potatoes were. Instead, she opted for a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice along with a bread roll, before following behind Jask.
    But whereas he headed over to the table at the back of the room, Sophia held back. Seeing an empty table for four against a wall, she opted for that.
    She placed her juice on the table, yanked out a chair and plonked herself down, glowering over to where Jask was pulling out a seat beside a blonde female. Corbin, his back to Sophia, was sat opposite them both.
    The blonde eyed her with curiosity as Jask leaned forward to say something to Corbin, Corbin glancing across his shoulder in Sophia’s direction.
    They were clearly talking about her. Worse, they were smiling.
    She looked down at her bread roll before glancing back up to meet the blonde’s gaze. The beautiful female swiftly responded with a hint of a friendly, if not slightly wary smile. With her baby face, full lips, sun-kissed complexion, and enviably waist-length braided hair that trailed over her full chest, she was everything Sophia wasn’t.
    No wonder Jask had found it so easy to turn down her advances, to be so dismissive of her flirtatious remarks. It must have been her clothes and fragrances in his room.
    A knot of embarrassment, of envy, formed in her chest as Jask draped his arm around the back of the blonde’s chair whilst he continued to talk to Corbin. She instantly wanted to hate her, but the female who glanced back at her again was only trying to make her feel a little more comfortable – one female reassuring another, despite the species divide, that she understood her awkwardness.
    So Sophia forced a hint of a smile back. She had to at least let her know she appreciated her effort if nothing else – even if she clearly was Jask Tao’s mate.
    But as Jask recaptured her gaze, one laced with the triumph of having got her in there, even if not to sit with them, Sophia tore off a piece of bread. And plotted how to even the score.
    * * *
    ‘Is she not willing to mix with our kind?’ Corbin asked.
    Jask placed his breakfast tray on the table as he pulled out the seat beside Solstice.
    Sitting down, he looked across at the serryn.
    She looked so small sat alone at the table for four – shirt held down between her thighs with one clenched fist, her long, shapely legs slightly parted, her heavy mid-calve boots unflattering to their slenderness. Her scowl darkened her eyes, her body tense with resentment. He would have found it amusing had it not been so childishly annoying.
    ‘I think that might have been asking too much,’ Jask remarked, tearing his gaze away to focus his attention on eating.
    ‘Why’s she in your shirt?’ Solstice asked.
    ‘A small lesson,’ Jask replied.
    ‘And from the death stare she’s giving you, I’d say this is round three to you,’ Corbin declared with a smirk.
    Jask smiled back.
    ‘Round three?’ Solstice asked, her gaze switching between her companions.
    Jask swallowed a mouthful of food. ‘Will you get some clothes for her, Solstice? And leave them up in my room. Anything else you think she might need as well.’
    ‘So she’s staying a while?’
    ‘Long enough for her to need to get dressed.’
    ‘Is this what the call was about earlier? Is this why Rone and Samson are in the chamber?’
    ‘They crossed the line,’ Jask declared.
    ‘Did they do something to her?’
    ‘No, but they found her where they shouldn’t have been.’
    ‘Vampire territory?’ Solstice glanced across at the serryn again, eyes wide with concern. ‘Was she attacked?’
    ‘Bitten, yes.’
    ‘Did Rone and Samson intervene?’
    ‘Not exactly. Not that Rone and Samson should have been there to see it in the first place.’
    ‘Which is why