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“My father and the prince told me I could do whatever it is I wanted with you,” I said, crossing my legs and sinking into the heated leather seat. “I decided that, as a reward for yourheroicactions, I’d like to take you out.”

“Too late to say no now,” she muttered under her breath. Her golden eyes shot toward the divider between us and the driver.

Still not looking at me?

“They can’t hear us,” I confirmed. She merely shrugged.

I enjoyed the attitude she put on, and it made me want to get back at her even more. She couldn’t possibly understand what she caused me to lose in there.

“You’re going as my plus one.” I inched closer to her, pulling her gaze toward me. “A smallparty. More than a few vampire family heads. Lots of blood. Dancing…andother things.Guards aren’t allowed in, but tonight you’re just there as my human companion. Which means you and I have a role to play.”

There it is.The anger. It flashed so quickly across her face that I almost missed it. She had been so good at concealing it, but all her efforts were thwarted by that single slipup.

“If it’s what I think it is, I will refuse.”

I clicked a button on the side of the door that connected us to the front.

“Stop. Pull over.”

The silver-haired guard steadied herself at the sudden jerk of the car. When we came to a full stop, I gave her a shit-eating grin.

“We aren’t that far,” I said and motioned to the door. “You can get out.”

Obviously, she hadn’t been expecting my offer. Suspicion was heavy in her gaze, and I could hear the grinding of her teeth.

“What do you think it is?” I asked her, tilting my head to the side. Her jaw clenched.

“Something I shouldn’t be going to. Why are you bringing me?” she asked.

Why was I bringing her?I lifted a brow at her. Why wouldn’t I be? I already told her that the prince and my father told me I could do whatever I wanted with her.

Not many guards would have the balls to ask. I was well within my rights. But I liked the little mouse’s fire more than her compliance.

“You ruined things for me. Interfered with something you had no part in,” I reminded her, leaning forward and running my eyes down her form.

She was lithe, but surprisingly muscular, underneath her uniform. If I were any crueler, I’d ask her to strip for me so I could see just what she was hiding underneath her clothing, but I would save it for another day.

“You mean when I saved your life?” she growled. “You were going todieif I didn’t save you. All while those other guards just stared at you, doingnothing. Is that what you wanted? For your last moments to be you begging for breath while those fuckers watch?—”

I pushed myself to the floor in front of her, placing my hands on her knees and leaning up so our faces were centimeters away.

Her skin was warm, even through the pants. It had been so long since I allowed myself to indulge with a human that I forgot just how much their blood warmed their skin.

“I had a plan,” I whispered, my eyes trailing down her face to her neck, where I could see the veins pulse with fresh blood. My mouth watered just remembering the taste. “Father was going to find me. The blame would be placed on the prince, but now that poor boy died because ofyou.”

Her hand shot out to my throat, much like it had when she forced me to drink her blood. Hot, unbridled fury twisted her face into a snarl.

“That was all you,princess,” she whispered. “You did this as some type of ploy to get what you wanted? It was immature. Stupid. And honestly embarrassing for someone of your stature.”

Krae.Her words felt like lava running down my skin, warming every possible inch. I never took myself for much of a masochist, but fuck did her words cause my cunt to flutter.

“That was at first…” I murmured, leaning into her hold on my neck.

I couldn’t breathe. The air in the limo was too charged. The hate in her eyes was too intoxicating. I wanted it all. Wanted to feel how much she hated me.

“…but now I realize that you’ll be the perfect cover.”

She raised a scarred brow, her grip on my neck loosening.