Page 16 of The Vampire Kingpin (The Vampire Syndicate #7)

Spider

A n hour later, I rolled off Lark. She cuddled up to me, a hand on my chest.

Now that the edge was off, I couldn’t get the conditions that she’d been living in out of my mind. Toying with her hair—the same hair I’d pulled as she’d screamed out her last climax—I asked, “You think any more about staying permanently?”

She pulled away. “I don’t think so, ya know? But thanks for the offer.”

The side of my body where she’d been curled up felt cold. I turned to face her. “You’re not going back to Grimclaw’s lair.”

“You telling me or asking me?”

Sweet Lord, I was tired of her evasions. The woman was more slippery than a fish. “Yes or no,” I snapped.

“Fine. Then no, I’m not going back.”

“Then why not stay with us? I’d take care of you. You have my oath on it.”

“Yeah?” The naked yearning on her face made my chest compress.

This woman would want all of me. But I didn’t have all of me to give, did I?

I flashed on the pile of ash and charred bones that had been all that was left of Amina when I’d finally tracked her down. And like a yellow-belly, I backpedaled, pretending I hadn’t meant anything other than an offer to join my lair.

“Sure. We’re family here. I take care of everyone in the Cavern.”

“I’ve seen that. They’re lucky.”

“Your alpha out West wasn’t like that?”

“I never had a real alpha. Grimclaw was the first.”

“Him?” I curled my lip. “He’s a goddamn cartoon alpha. I’m surprised he’s lasted as long as he has. But how did you survive without an alpha?”

A shrug. “My parents were good at surviving.”

“We’re talking about California?”

She hesitated, and I wondered why I kept pressing her, why I couldn’t let her keep her secrets like everyone else in the Cavern.

“Not just California,” she said. “Arizona. Nevada. Washington State for a while. We kept moving.”

I knew that from the check we’d run on her, but now I wanted to know why her parents had been taken out—and who the fuck was responsible. “What happened six months ago?”

She didn’t move or even tense up, but I felt her withdraw like she’d slammed a metal barricade between us. “You know about that, huh?”

“Not really. All we could dig up was that three of you dropped off the grid around then.”

“Yeah. Well, what happened was they did something stupid.” Grief washed over her features. “So, so stupid.”

My stomach churned. I was starting to understand why a woman like Lark was hiding in the Underworld. I planked myself over her, my forearms on either side of her head. “So Grimclaw’s all you have?”

She snorted. “No. I’m all I have.”

I frowned. She was a dhampir in the Wild West of the Underworld. I didn’t like the idea of her being out there without protection.

“Stay with me, Lark. You go out there without an alpha at your back, and another vampire will snatch you up, make you a blood slave. You don’t have the same rights as a human. Everyone would look the other way.”

She swallowed and briefly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she said, “Just let them try. I’ll drive a stake into my own heart before I let someone make me a slave.”

I ground my back teeth together. Why was she being so damn stubborn? “I could make you stay.”

She speared me with a look and I knew we were both recalling my promise to let her go after thirty days. But instead of throwing it in my face, she arched up, rubbing her wet pussy against my erection. “Yeah? How?”

“Cuttheshit. Distracting me won’t work.” But my hips rocked against hers, my dick not caring that she was playing me. It just wanted back inside her hot, tight channel.

“Is that what I’m doing?” she asked, all wide-eyed and pouty. The woman should’ve gone to Hollywood—she could do innocence like an A-lister. “I thought I was being a good, obedient thrall. One who’s on a thirty-day contract , remember?”

And there it was. My jaw worked.

Fucking agreement.

“I remember,” I admitted.

“Just making sure.” Her breasts heaved, the tips brushing over the hair on my chest. “Look, I’m fine, alright? Leave it in the past where it belongs. You’ll just kick up a hornet’s nest.”

Hornet’s nest?

My whole body tensed. “Tell me you weren’t part of this ‘stupid’ thing your parents did.”

She met my eyes. “If I was, d’you think I’d be here, talking to you? But to be clear—no, I wasn’t.” Her lips thinned. “That was all them.”

I studied her, certain she was holding something back. But I also understood she thought her only choice was to prevaricate. Whatever had happened, it had scarred her, and living with Grimclaw had just made things worse.

“You sure? Because I have a rep, you know. Gimme the names and I’ll tell them to leave you the fuck alone. And if they don’t, I’ll make them sorry.”

She blinked a couple of times. “You’d do that? Even when I’m not officially a member of your lair?”

“Join my lair and that’s not an issue. Because if you’re in trouble, I can help. You just have to trust me.”

She worried her lower lip with her teeth, and I thought I’d gotten through to her. Then she stretched her mouth into a fake smile, the kind that didn’t touch her eyes.

“I appreciate the offer, but staying isn’t my style, alright? People like me and my parents, we keep moving.”

“Bullshit. You’re afraid.”

“Oh, so now you’re in my brain? You know what, get off me.” She pushed at my chest, trying to slither out from under me.

I shoved my disappointment down deep. The woman didn’t want to stay, fine.

Spider didn’t beg.

Why are you pressuring her like this, anyway? You can’t keep her. She’d be a weakness, a way to get to you…like Amina.

But it made me a little crazy to think Lark might be in danger and was refusing to ask for help. The anger I’d felt when I’d seen that hole in the wall she’d called home reared its head again.

“Settle down.” I lowered my body, pinning her to the mattress. “You don’t wanna tell me, that’s your prerogative.”

She eyed me, making sure I meant it, before relaxing back onto the mattress.

“Now, open your legs,” I told her.

“Again?” she asked.

I arched a brow. “Did that sound like a question?”

Her breath hitched. Slowly, her knees bent until her thighs hugged my hips.

“Keep them like that,” I ordered, grabbing a condom and rolling it on.

I nudged my dick up against her opening. She was still wet and swollen from the last time, which was good, because I wasn’t in the mood for foreplay. I wanted to be inside her, showing her who her master was. Using her like I’d paid twenty-five grand for.

I extended my fangs, sinking them into her at the same time I thrust deep inside her snug pussy. She gasped, and a part of me enjoyed it, the part that wanted to dominate her, extract every last fucking secret from her.

A better man might’ve apologized, but I wasn’t sorry. Being inside her in this way, my mouth filled with the taste of her, felt too good.

I drank greedily, and thrust again. Taking what I wanted because this at least, I could control.

Except Lark didn’t seem to mind. Instead, she wrapped her arms and legs around me, her body straining toward mine, trying to take me deeper.

“Harder,” she rasped against my ear.

Slay. Me.

I groaned against her soft skin and gave it to her harder.