Page 35

“You don’t trust him either,” Aidan murmured.

Rae merely dipped her chin as she continued her work with the torch, solder flowing onto the band of the ring before she set down her tools, picked up a pair of tweezers, and dropped the metal into a dish, a sizzle filling the empty quiet of the room.

“Did you know Vampires have taken to wearing your jewellery?”

She snapped the goggles off at that. Tossed them onto the bench and stepped away from it.

Displeasure rippled from her, perhaps even a little disgust. She didn’t know.

Aidan handed the joint back, a temporary peace offering, and he realised more than anything he wanted to watch her bring it to her lips just for an excuse to stare at her mouth again.

“What do you want, Vale?” She was flustered, but not from the news about the Vampires wearing her jewellery, and the realisation made Aidan’s mouth turn up at the corner.

“Baelin has your PAD tapped.”

“Tell your Ascendant I hope he enjoyed Bax’s dick pics as much as I did.”

A sound halfway between a laugh and a grunt left him at that. “You wanted him to see.”

“You still underestimate me, even now.”

“Not even for a second,” he told her, letting a little of his sincerity brush against the bare skin of her shoulders.

“Don’t,” she warned him, a little of her exhilaration slipping out with the word. She’d leaned back against the bench and pulled her mask over her head to discard it behind her, the slip of fabric exposing more of her thigh as she did so.

He should have been pressing her for updates about his magic, demanding that she fulfil her end of their bargain, but his anger had simmered enough for him to remember to tread carefully.

That if she wanted to disappear, to take away his only chance at getting his magic back, she could do so at any moment, so instead, he filled her in on the news Cormac had delivered as he watched her tidy up her workbench.

“You think Nim could be there? With Scarlett?” Rae asked when he’d brought her up to speed.

“It’s a possibility.”

She turned to face him, resting against the bench as she untied her hair and ran a hand through it. “But you don’t think we should go yet.”

Aidan’s silence was answer enough. “We go to the facility now, and we risk everyone involved. We were all on that list. Or we try to smooth things over with the council, bolster our numbers.”

“So you can get what you want.”

Irritation rose to the surface, and Aidan ground his jaw tight. “I promise you, the alternatives are not interested in Demesia, in Mazyr. Only what life can be like for Vampires.”

She studied him, a lock of hair falling over her shoulder that he wanted to wrap his fist around as she blew out a breath. “Fine. Council. But I’m coming with you.”

Aidan stepped into her space, his eyes searching hers.

He’d tasted her blood, but it wasn’t enough.

He wanted her mouth. Wanted those thick thighs wrapped around his head, his tongue buried deep inside her.

“They’ll try to corner you again.” He didn’t know why he offered her the warning.

To make her change her mind? Because she might expose him?

In the back of his mind, he knew those were just excuses.

He still hadn’t figured out what it was she truly needed, what the purpose of this game was she’d been playing, but the longer it went on, the more he found he wanted to know the answer for all the wrong reasons.

Rae angled her head, assessing him. “Let them,” she murmured. “Look how well that worked out for them last time.”

He couldn’t decide if she was out of her damn mind or if she was that confident in her abilities.

Probably a little of both, if she’d survived this long the way she had.

Rae was a fighter through and through. More than that, she might have been one of the strongest individuals he’d ever met.

“Malik and his wife Karina are vying for my position in Sysmus’s absence; it could be worse than last time. ”

“Married Vampire aristocracy. They sound delightful.” Not a hint of worry or hesitation fell from her, only her bristling sense of awareness at his proximity as she held his gaze. Her tightly coiled anticipation, colour staining her cheeks.

Aidan hummed his agreement, letting his gaze fall to her mouth for a moment, his attention wholly divided. The aristocracy was a fucking nightmare, he’d concede to that. “Most of them can’t decide whether they want to fuck or strangle each other.”

“Why not both?” Her tongue darted across her lips, her pulse picking up.

His palm found the scar over his chest again, and Rae tracked the movement. This craving went beyond hunger, beyond rational thought. “Regretting your choices?” he asked her.

She closed the space between them until she was an inch away, tilting her head back to look him in the eye, but the speed of her heartbeat gave her away.

“When it comes to you, Vale? Always.” She was playing him.

His brain knew that, but his body had other ideas as every drop of blood within him rushed south.

“I’ve got a lead on your missing magic,” she told him quietly as she placed a hand over his scar, fingers splayed open and a pulse of her magic tumbling from her, mixed with a little of her lust.

It felt like another lie, but she’d pulled that bullet from his chest and he’d felt her worry, her relief.

Right now, he could feel the desire coursing through her, could taste it in the air.

“I’m done playing games, Witch,” Aidan said, stepping into the last bit of space between them, half expecting her to push him away, but when he looked into her eyes, he saw a mirror of the hunger he felt, the need.

“Guess you’ll have to kill me then, Vampire,” Rae murmured. Her gaze dropped to his mouth, her fingers fisting into his shirt. “But you and me… we’re no better than your married aristocrats.”

His hand wrapped around her throat, her lips parting, breaths coming faster, faster. “Tell me you want this,” he said roughly, fighting the pressure against his canines.

Rae leaned into his grip, her head held high as her fingers tightened in his shirt. She angled her head until her lips were close to his, her breath dancing over his skin. “Bite me, and I’ll gut you.”

Aidan didn’t need to be told twice, his mouth coming down over hers.