Page 9 of The Sins That Bleed

Bite Me

VALESKA

B eing this close to him is testing my control—and my patience.

I’d felt every conflicting emotion and rush of desire he’d felt for me the first time his eyes landed on me up close. Barely any time passed in that moment but so much happened—he heard the call of my dark, decaying soul and couldn’t resist its pull.

The same pull I suspect is tugging at me from his bright one, despite his attitude.

“What do you mean a bigger problem? What do you know?” Agent Rai’s demand forces me to still, so I don’t reach out and strangle him.

“Don’t get me wrong, Agent Rai,” I purr, “you look cute when you’re pissed off and all, but I will not tolerate it being taken out on me.

I will walk away right now and leave you to spend the next decade trying to dismantle this trafficking ring, or I can share what I know.

I can provide you with some extra resources that will reduce your time frame significantly, so you can retire before another wrinkle of stress graces that pretty face of yours. So, princess , what will it be?”

I cross my arms as I watch my words land and his reaction microscopically plays over his features. To a human he looks calm and collected, a man in control. What I see is a man barely hanging on to his composure. It agitates me to see him in distress, but I’m unable to put my finger on why.

Several times I’ve seen him regard Sunny and if I had a heart still thumping in my chest, it might be beating faster than his. He can sense something is off about us but it’s her I worry about, if they found out, it would be devastating.

His fingers smooth out his moustache and I feast on the movement, wishing I was the one doing that for him, my fingers itching to have the friction against them.

He takes his time mulling the suggestion over, giving me an excuse to continue taking him in.

I’m grateful for the sunglasses, so nobody can see exactly how much of him I’m perusing.

Agent Nico is grinning at me and Sunny. He has the good sense to know this offer is too good to refuse, but he’s waiting for Rai to get on board.

“Fine, tell me everything you know.”

I chuckle. “If only it was that simple, I nee?—”

“Of course, there’s a fucking catch, why am I not surprised.” He cuts me off and I can tell he’s about to explode.

Whilst I don’t appreciate the disrespect, my plan rides on him being in his current position and I won’t let anything jeopardise that, not even him. I get in his face, raised to my full height as I stab him in the chest, hard, with one pointedly sharp, long, red nail.

“Listen here, motherfucker, I’ve warned you once already to watch your tongue. I’m doing you a favour that could draw a lot of unwanted attention to me. There is no catch, and you’d know that by now if you hadn’t cut me off and started acting like a brute.”

Nico snorts and I hear Sunny giggle. I have to fight a grin of my own, the corner of my mouth threatening to tip up at how ludicrous this situation is right now.

I carry on talking to avoid it slipping out while Rai puts his hands on his hips, trying to tamp down his anger.

It surprises me that he makes no move to shake me off.

It has me wondering if he likes being manhandled.

“I was going to say, I need you to come to a secure location. It’s too risky here, too many eyes on us and what I have to share is enough for a large-sized bounty to be placed on all our heads.

I don’t know about you, but I quite like mine being attached to my body.

Meet us at eleven tomorrow night, downtown in little Paris, Latrotoxin Towers, this Saturday. You know it?” I growl.

My finger is still poking into Rai’s chest; I can’t bring myself to sever this small connection between us.

What the fuck is happening to me?

He huffs out a sigh, my hand moving with his breath and I watch, riveted.

His scent swirls around me, mixing with the earthy scent the rain—now a drizzle—brings with it.

It’s decadent and rich, laced with cinnamon, a treat to be enjoyed and savoured.

I want to peel him apart, layer by layer as I devour him.

“Yeah, of course we know it.” I give him a scathing look, and he clears his throat before adjusting his tone. “It’s hard to miss a tower that looks like a large tourmaline crystal. We’ll be there.”

Everyone in this city knows about the tower, it would be hard not to and not from the fact that it does indeed look like a crystal protruding from the earth.

Although, it being the first of its kind to offer different establishments to the public in one building, depending on their mood, certainly helps.

“Good.” What I actually want to say is ‘good boy,’ but I refrain. “Use the words ‘Bite Me’ and that will get you to where you need to go.”

I hesitate and then drop my hand; there’s no reason to touch him without it getting weird.

I turn to leave but his strong grip on my upper arm stops me.

I turn my head slowly to look down at the hand gripping me.

I hold in the growl threatening to unfurl from deep inside me because while I may hate someone thinking they can put their hands on me as they please, with him, I want them to be everywhere at once.

I despise myself.

I look up into the owner of that hand’s enchanting face.

“I think you better let go of the lady, princess.” Nico’s amused voice breaks some of the tension, causing Rai to drop his hand from my arm.

It burns where he touched me, my body at war between disdain and desire. I want to beg him to put it back, but I shove that thought deep down. I walk away without saying anything, Sunny matching my stride, his words landing on my back.

“This better not be a waste of my time, Valeska. If you’re fucking with us, I will make you pay.”

I throw him a wave over my shoulder. Okay, more of a middle finger that screams ‘fuck you’ but that’s basically the same thing. Nico barks out a laugh while Rai whispers a curse under his breath he thinks I can’t hear. Sunny snorts beside me and my grin is so wide it hurts my cheeks.

We head around the side of a container, the final words they exchange reaching us before we disappear.

“Well, you handled that well, princess. What the fuck just happened to you?” Nico can barely supress his amusement.

The last words I hear from Rai are spat out. “ Valeska happened.”