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She swiped her finger across my undead little swimmers on her cheek and popped her finger in her mouth, licking it clean with a hum.

I slid down the wall, until I was on the floor. Jaxon raised an eyebrow at me as he buttoned his jeans with a smirk plastered on his face.

Bastien watched from the bed, gaze on her. His mindless side was in the driver’s seat, based off the intense focus on her. When he was normally himself, he could mask his obsession—for the most part.

“I came to fetch you.” The pressure in my chest forced me to take another breath. She’d made me fucking breathless. “I have a surprise for you.”

Catalina’s eyebrows furrowed and she looked leery. I couldn’t blame her. She crossed her arms over her luscious breasts.

I reached over and grazed my finger across the swell. Her mouth parted and an almost dreamy look crossed her face. I curled my fingers behind her neck.

“Wait.” She pulled away, managing to get free. I huffed. A downside to her becoming a vampire. I hadn’t thought there would be one, but here I was, hating my inability to pull her around. “I need clothes.”

We hadn’t had any deliveries yet. Maybe Baron had something she could wear—no, I didn’t want another’s clothes on her.

While I’d been mulling what to do, Jax strolled up. He yanked his shirts over her head. I knew it was his, because it was basic as fuck.

She sputtered her hair out of her face while Jax scooped it out of the clothes. It fell around her shoulders, the tips fluttering around her arms. We’d get her bundled in all new clothes, but this would do until then.

The way he touched her, so carefully, as if she was made of porcelain, fascinated and excited me. I wanted him to have her sweetness too. The corner of my lips twitched. He’d not removed his gaze from her.

I fucking knew it. No, more likefinally. I was tired of his stubbornness. It was bound to ruin everything and this time, I refused to save him. But she didn’t flinch from his touch. Getting to my feet, I dragged my pants up and tucked my drained cock behind the fabric.

I caught her hand and pulled her from the bedroom. She followed behind, slightly stumbling, but I didn’t stop hurrying down the hall. I wanted to show her the new office. While she’d been in bed, leaving me out of the fun, the rest of us were trying to get the estate in order. Making call after call and coordinating duties with Tobias. It’d swallowed up all my time, or I would have been with her sooner.

I’d placed a call to Talia to keep me updated on the club. Baron would fill the spot of Maddy. She was equipped enough—as long as she didn’t give Catalina a difficult time.

I’d already expressed to her the severity of the punishment if she stepped out of line. Extradited from the Coven, or death. Depending on what Pet wanted.

Baron was one of the few humans Jax turned into a vampire.

When Imogen arrived at the manor, I’d sensed problems a mile away. At the beginning, I hadn’t known what would happen to the Coven, all I knew was Catalina was mine. And since Imogen had seen the inside of the manor, I no longer wanted Cat anywhere near there long term, so I’d begun to search for an estate with Ren. But to do that, I’d needed help, so I’d reached out to the one vampire that wouldn’t betray me for the sole reason that she hated Imogen. But the problem rested in her little obsession with Jaxon.

Good thing Ren had been in agreement to find a new place. Tobias had been wrapped up in revenge and Jax had been fighting himself.

Catalina gawked at the high ceilings. Hopefully she liked it. I’d thought of her when choosing it. She slowed, taking in her new home.

Putting her on the deed would save this place if Imogen managed to get her way and everything was split during the trial. In preparation for that, Tobias had begun to switch most of the monetary assets so they were under Catalina’s name.

TWENTY-NINE

catalina

The hallway exitingthe bedroom was long and winding. Other doors littered the halls, but they remained closed.

“There are so many rooms.”

“All empty other than beds,” Asher announced cheerfully. “Yours is the only one fully furnished.” He kept pulling me after him, but fortunately, I’d gotten him to slow down.

“How bigisthis place?”

“This is the fourth floor. There are three levels with this same layout, barring the room I’m about to show you, and then the first floor, which is different.”

My bare feet padded across the smooth wood surface of the floor. The slap, slap, slap of my feet echoed down the bare, unfurnished hall. A dead end came up, and at the sharp right there was a narrow staircase. I only had a peek of the steps, because he pulled me past them and into the adjacent hall, heading directly for the two doors facing us. They were wider than all the others I’d seen, but just as tall.

He peeked over his shoulder to grin at me.

An antsiness hovering over my psyche spilled through my veins. Excitement. Genuine excitement I had not experienced inso long—or maybe ever—at least not at this level. Asher’s grin was infectious.