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“After your bath, come find me,” she said.

“Why? You’ve drilled so many rules into me, my ears are bleeding.”

She slapped the back of my head fondly. “You’ll get a break tonight. We’ll go to a bar.”

My eyes lit up. “For drinks, like booze?”

She smiled. “Why else would you go to a bar, silly boy?”

To steal. All the drunkards in the bar made it easier.

“I don’t have money yet, Dixie,” I confessed. “Prince Louis hasn’t paid me a penny for my hard work, and it’s not the best time to chase his vamp ass at the moment.”

“You haven’t told Prince Silas or me what exactly happened with the vampire prince,” Dixie said.

“My memories are a bit blurry,” I said. “It’s the PTSD.”

She didn’t look convinced.

I didn’t want to badmouth Louis, and not just because he was dangerous. I knew he hadn’t intended to hurt me. He’d lost his shit, as my blood was too powerful for anyone to handle, and he’d been in a jealous rage when he came to me.

“May I borrow some money from you?” I asked. “Prince Silas hasn’t talked to me about my pay either. I won’t work for free, but he seems to be in a constant bad mood.”

“The prince is under a lot of stress,” Dixie said, her brows pinched in worry. “His ambitious sister, a year younger than him, has been gunning for his position as the heir. She’s been gathering power around her for a few months now, yet she refuses to challenge him.” Then she blinked and shook her head, her nose ring making a faint sound. “Why am I telling you this? Anyway, forget what I said. And don’t worry about your stomach. No shifters go hungry in the house.”

“I still want to get paid though.” I pouted. “I’m a boy, and I have needs.”

“You’ll start with the minimum wage in the House of Shifters, squire,” she said and walked away before I could protest or curse.

19

I snuck into Luna’s two-bedroom, one-bath apartment she shared with Javier, that panther prick. They’d both gone out on an errand for the prince. It wasn’t the first time I’d helped myself to their place. Even though they were shifters, they wouldn’t be able to smell me if I covered up my scent well.

I quickly checked out the apartment. Javier’s room was as messy as usual, and Luna’s was a lot tidier and cleaner. Luna was secretly dating Dixie, and she mostly went to Dixie’s place to get laid.

I went to their small kitchen first, finishing a slice of cold pizza, then strode to their bathroom.

If I had more leisure time, I’d bathe in the lake in Underhill, the most dangerous place for everyone but the safest place for me. Luna’s shared bathroom would do for now. She’d think the panther showered earlier if the bathtub remained wet when she returned, and Javier would assume the same. They wouldn’t ask about each other’s hygiene habits, and it’d never cross their puny minds that someone else had been using their bathroom.

Shifters might be paranoid, but they weren’t the think-outside-the-box kind. That was why I came in and boldly consumed a slice of pizza. Sometimes, I took a cookie. No one would miss a cookie. The key was not to be too greedy, even though I’d been tempted to take the whole cookie jar with me, since I really liked almond chocolate cookies.

I was no stranger here, so here I came.

Houston! Sy added.

I shut the bathroom door, stripped, piled my clothes on the counter, and stepped into the tub.

A stream of water poured onto me from the showerhead, and I sighed happily. One of the reasons I liked to shower here was that the water was strong. Shifters’ house magic was water element, so that was a perk.

I grabbed a lavender-scented soap, lathered myself up nicely, and hummed a song I’d once heard from an old record, ‘Cry Me A River.’

As I swept the soap across my perky tits, I suddenly felt a large, powerful hand cupping my left breast, then kneading my nipple, gentle at first, then hard and possessive. The soap slipped from my fingers and hit my toes, but I had no time and no desire to pick it up.

My back arched as unholy pleasure glided over my skin like hot waves wrapped in a tongue of fire, humming and caressing. I wanted more. I needed more.

I gasped at the sensation, but I wasn’t fool enough to just let anyone touch me, no matter how pleasurable it was.

Sy surged to the edge of my skin, thrilled and alarmed as well.