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“Fuck you!” I spat. Rage burned through me like a knife. How dare he think that he could uproot my life based on a whim. I was so angry. At him. Myself. Charlie fucking Kent. This situation. At everything. I wanted to scream at him, punch him, dosomething, but I was tied to this chair, a fucking prisoner being held at the pleasure of the Morozov King himself. “Fuck you.”

Damyr looked away, a muscle ticking along the edge of his jaw. Then he turned on his heel and walked to the door. “I’ll be back,” he said over his shoulder.

“Don’t fucking bother,” I replied softly, defeat and exhaustion finally curling around my bones. Maybe the better choice was sucking Dr Kingsly’s dick after all.

Chapter Eight

Damyr

Itried so hard not to be impulsive, to make calculated moves and informed decisions, but occasionally my volatile nature broke the surface, and I ended up doing something completely reckless.

Like kidnap a twenty-five-year-old med-student and move him into my house. Even now, I still wasn’t sure why I’d taken him. Was it his connection to Charlie? Or was it because I wanted to sink my teeth into that plump bottom lip?

I kept telling myself that I needed to question Benjamin, that he was there purely because he had something to do with Charlie, however slight their interaction, but it didn’t seem to fully justify why I was still keeping him here.

The truth of the matter was, that I wanted him here. I wanted something from him I wasn’t quite ready to admit to myself, and until then, Benjamin would stay here. With me.

What the hell was wrong with me?

Benjamin Barrett was an innocent human, and I’d dragged him into my world of monsters. I wasn’t even sorry for it. Perhaps the blood loss from the bullet wound and the fact that I hadn’t fed had caused this impulsive decision.

Which was bullshit, but I was trying to cling onto any justification for my actions that I could.

The computer came to life in front of me and I slotted the flash drive into the side of the screen. Snapshots of my ledgers and files filled the screen but something was wrong. The information was incomplete. Why did Charlie only give me half back?

Wait. There was something else in the files. A video.

I reached out through my Coven Connection to Vlad and called him here. As leader of the coven, I was linked to every member by a telepathic connection. It was my responsibility to protect and care for them all, and with the connection, I knew where every member of the coven was at any given time. Usually, I just left it running in my subconscious. It was there, and I could feel the connection with everyone, but I wasn’t actively engaged in wherever they were or whatever they were doing. As much as I like stalking my prey, I didn’t like stalking my family.

There was a curt knock on the door and Vlad entered.

“What’s up, Damyr?” he asked, his voice a deep baritone. He was dressed in a crisp white shirt, charcoal slacks and had a tie hanging loose around his neck.

“Am I interrupting something?”

He shook his head, a wry grin curving his mouth. “Not yet, but family comes first. What do you need?”

Right, back to business. It was one thing that I loved and hated about Vlad. He was loyal, to a fault, but sometimes it was at the expense of his own happiness. One day, I was sure there’d be someone he would make me wait for.

I pointed to the flash drive. “Found this on Benjamin.”

Vlad’s brows dipped over his chocolate-coloured eyes. “He still in the basement?”

“Yes.” What was he getting at?

“Hmm,” he mused with his lips pursed.

“What?”

He went to say something but stopped himself. “Nothing.”

Now I was getting twitchy. “Tell me, Vlad.”

“Fine,” he grumbled. “But don’t cut my head off.”

“When have I ever—”

“I could give you a list either alphabetically or historically of people with missing heads,” he cut in with an asinine smirk.