As Victoria began to explain what had happened, Vail listened to her patiently. He could tell she was still struggling to keep from growing hysteric as she thought about what she had been through, so pushing her to speak faster wouldn’t help either of them. Instead, he simply held her gaze and ran his hand down and up her back in a soothing gesture, hoping she would remain calm enough to tell him everything before she broke down from the overwhelming emotions. When she described how her fiancé had found out about them, it seemed his guess about Spencer had been right. After the last night they had been together, his scent had been strong enough on her body for the rival vampire to catch. He clenched his jaw, feeling her tremble beneath his fingertips. He could already tell that the Wynter had reacted poorly to the discovery from her body language alone. Despite his intention to remain calm, he could feel his blood beginning to boil at the thought of what the Lord might have done to her in his anger. As Victoria went on, he forced a slow breath. Not only had Spencer defiled the Lady by stripping her, it sounded like he had hurt her as well. And that wasn’t even the end of it. He couldn’t hide the look of shock that crossed his features when she described how the Wynter had drained her of her blood. The knowledge made him stiffen as his reign on his temper grew less stable. He couldn’t stand the thought of another vampire feeding on her in such an abominable way. To drink it from a [i]bottle[/i]? It was completely unnatural. Besides that, the possessive part of him loathed knowing that anyone else would taste so much as a single drop of the precious liquid that flowed through her veins. He wanted it all to himself, wanted [i]her[/i] all to himself. It sickened him to know that another vampire had stolen her blood when he hadn’t been around to stop it. She was his prey to have at his pleasure, and he wasn’t willing to share. He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again when she went on to reveal, to his horror, that there was still more to the story. At her final words, anger flashed across his face. Somehow, knowing that Spencer had tried to take advantage of her weakened body was even more infuriating than finding out that he had drained her blood. He was as protective of her as if she was [i]his[/i] betrothed, and he wouldn’t stand for any other man who wished to take from her what she had given to him. “I’m going to kill him,” the words came out in a dangerously quiet snarl. He trembled slightly with barely restrained fury. “I don’t care if it’s not safe. That devil has done enough. I’m going to end him for this.”