Page 52 of The Vampire Kingpin

Back in the bedroom, I found him closing his safe. I’d noticed he checked the contents at least once each night, making sure the dagger was safely in its box. Up until now, I hadn’t said anything. Not my business, right?

But suddenly, I wanted it to be my business.

I came up behind him. “That dagger—it’s special to you, isn’t it?”

“Hm?” He turned around, his gaze inward.

“The dagger,” I repeated. “It’s special to you.”

He focused on me. “Yeah.”

I waited for him to add something, and when he didn’t, wondered if I should back off. He clearly didn’t want to talk about it.

But I felt something for him—and he felt something for me, I was sure of it. He’d called me “Mine,” there at the end. He hadn’t meant me to hear—he hadn’t even said it out loud—but I’d felt his lips move and known that’s what he was saying.

As for me, I’d been all-in on the “Mine” train.

“Give me everything.”

I replayed that moment when I’d told Spider I was his, then begged him for more. For everything. Thank Luna, Spider believed it was only me caught up in the moment.

As for myself, I wasn’t so sure what I’d been pleading for—or what primitive instinct had prompted me to say it.

But with the memory fresh in my mind, I asked the next question because I needed to know. “Was that Amina’s?”

His eyes shuttered. “What d’you know about Amina?”

I swallowed, shrugged. “People talk.”

He grunted, and I thought he wasn’t going to answer me, but after a pause, he said, “Amina gave me the dagger—had this lady bladesmith make it for me as a surprise.”

My stomach dropped. The way his voice softened when he said her name…

And I’d stolen the dagger—a present from his lost love. No wonder he’d come after me himself.

Did he still love her? Had he meant to make her his mate like DeeDee seemed to think?

And if so, how was he still standing? For a supernatural, losing your mate was like having your heart carved out. Most of us followed our mates into their final graves within a month or two.

No, something inside me objected. Not hers.

Mine.

My eyes widened, my mind skittering away from the simple pronoun like it was a double-edged silver razor. Because if I was feeling possessive of Spider, what did that mean?

My expression must’ve given me away because he touched my cheek.

“I like you, Lark—a lot. More than anyone for a long time. But Amina got staked because of me.” His Adam’s apple bobbed, and my heart cracked a little for him. “Another alpha saw it as a way to strike me where I was weakest. When we buried her ashes, I swore I’d never put any woman in that kind of danger again.”

I searched his rich brown eyes. “What’re you saying?”

“That I’m not looking for a mate—or even a steady woman. It would be like painting a bull’s eye on your—her—back.

“I…see.”

But I didn’t see, not really. That had been two decades ago. Spider had clearly grown as an alpha. He should be able to protect his woman, and it’s not like I was completely helpless.

“I want you to stay,” he said. “But I also wanna be upfront with you. Okay?”