Page 19 of The Vampire Kingpin (The Vampire Syndicate #7)

“Yesss,” she hissed. “Spider…”

“Shh,” I said, drawing her tender little nub into my mouth.

She bucked like I’d zapped her with an electric toy, constricting around my fingers as she came. I lifted my head in time to see her face stretched in ecstasy, eyes closed, mouth open in a silent scream.

I didn’t give her time to regroup. Removing my fingers from her, I crawled on top of her, thrusting into her so hard her tits bounced.

I sucked each tight, cherry-pink tip, then took her hands and stretched them above her head, holding them in place with one of my own.

Her fingers curled around my hand, her thighs cradling my hips as I fucked her.

“Look at me,” I ordered.

Her eyelids opened as if from a dream. Soft color tinted her cheeks, making her eyes appear even greener. A smile dawned on her face, crinkling her eyes and spreading to her mouth.

My fucking heart knotted. She looked so happy to see me. To be with me.

The shop door tinkled, and from the shop came the saleswoman’s muffled voice. “Hello, Madam.”

Lark moaned, and I released her hands and covered her mouth with my palm.

“Quiet,” I warned.

She gave a cute growl—and bit my fingers.

I bared my fangs at her, saying, “Now you’re in trouble.” But I didn’t mean it. I didn’t want a kitten, I wanted a wildcat.

She struggled beneath me, trying to shake my hand off, but I just gave it to her harder until she stopped fighting, her hips raising to meet mine.

“That’s it,” I grated between my teeth. “Give me that hot pussy. Show me how much you want this.”

She said something, her voice garbled, and I took my hand from her mouth, watching, fascinated, as a strip of blue glowed into life around her irises.

“More,” she told me in a rough voice I barely recognized. “Give me everything.”

Fuck, yeah. My last fragment of control snapped with an almost audible click. I lost myself, thrusting into her again and again.

A high, this-hurts-so-good cry burst from her lips. She babbled my name, interspersed with “yes,” and “please.”

Our gazes snagged. The world fell away. Even sound was muffled, like we were in a pink-and-black snow globe. I didn’t hear the saleswoman or the customer or anything but the slap of our bodies and the low groans neither of us could help making.

I caught her wrists again, pinning them on either side of her head, my hips moving fast and hard now. She playfully bared her teeth at me, and I growled back.

“My woman likes to be held down,” I said against her lips. “Doesn’t she? She likes to know who she belongs to. Tell me. Tell me you’re mine. That nobody’s ever fucked you like this.”

For a long moment she didn’t speak. Then she said, “Yours,” in that feral, sandpaper voice…and tightened around me in a second climax.

Pleasure detonated up my spine, my lungs emptying in a rush of air. I buried my face in the side of her neck and came with a drawn-out groan.

My lips opened, silently imprinting the word, “Mine,” on her skin.

After, we cleaned up in the tiny bathroom attached to the dressing room. I finished first, then waited while Lark washed her face and finger-combed her hair.

I wrapped my arms around her waist. Her hair was messy, her cheeks still flushed, and she had a tiny mark on her throat where I must’ve scraped my teeth over her at some point.

The primal thing preened itself. “You look just fucked.”

Our gazes locked in the mirror, and I braced myself for her to say something about that moment we’d shared. But she didn’t, just gave me a Lark smirk. If I hadn’t been looking straight at her, I wouldn’t even have noticed that it didn’t reach her eyes.

“That was hot. Like send-for-the-fire-engines hot.”

“Mm,” I said. I should’ve felt relieved that she was making it about sex. That was what I wanted, right? But instead of relief, I felt flat.

I moved her hair to the side, pressing a kiss to the delicate nob of her spine just above her shoulders. “Let’s get outta here.”

When we exited the dressing room, the saleswoman was waiting with the dress in a black garment bag, her expression carefully neutral. “If you need shoes, the shop next store has a good selection,” she said as I handed her the cash for the dress.

“I do,” said Lark, so we grabbed her a pair of high, pointy stilettos in the same purply red as the dress before heading back to the Cavern.

Velma caught up to us as I keyed in the code at the Chelsea Market entrance. She’d followed us at a discreet distance ever since we’d left the Underworld. I’d given up telling her not to; she never listened anyway. Anytime I was aboveground, she worried I was vulnerable.

Tonight, her thick dark hair was braided into a crown. In her fitted leather jacket, short black skirt and ankle boots, she looked like a hundred other women in lower Manhattan if you didn’t know about the daggers strapped to her thighs beneath the skirt.

“Hey,” she said to me with a nod in Lark’s direction.

“Hey,” I returned. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah. It’s pretty quiet tonight. Want me to take that?” She reached for garment bag slung over my shoulder.

“Nah. I’ve got it.”

The door swung open and we filed down the stairs, Velma in the lead and me bringing up the rear behind Lark. When we reached the Cavern, Lark held back after Velma went inside.

“Thanks for the dress and everything.” She lifted the white-and-black bag holding her shoes.

I cupped her jaw with my free hand, tipping her face up for a kiss. “You’re welcome.”

As far as I was concerned, she’d already thanked me, but saying that was a little too much like she’d paid me in sex. Of course, she was paying me in sex. But not for the dress and shoes—that had been a gift.

And yeah, I’d made a mess of this.

That “Mine” I’d mouthed against her neck at the end? I’d meant it.

The rest of the Underworld would laugh their damn heads off if word got out that I’d blackmailed a woman into being my thrall—and then fallen for her.

Spider got caught in his own web.

Lark shifted from one boot-clad foot to the other. “I have something to ask you.”

“What?” I stroked a thumb over her pillowy lower lip.

“I—you trust me now, right? You invited me to join your lair and all.”

I pursed my mouth. It was a trick question because yeah, I trusted Lark. On the other hand, she was Grimclaw’s cousin and I wasn’t completely sure where her loyalties were.

Her face fell. “I see.”

“Why d’you ask?” I hedged, releasing her.

“Because. It’s been almost two weeks since you brought me back here.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So am I still your prisoner? I mean, tonight was the first time since Halloween I’ve been outside the Cavern.”

“Ah.” I suppose I should’ve seen this coming, but I liked knowing that when I returned to the lair, she was waiting. That she was safe .

Maybe that was me being possessive, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t in danger. Something was clearly off, and until I knew what, the primal thing wouldn’t be easy with her running around the Underworld.

Her mouth tightened. “Don’t make me beg,” she said as the silence drew out. “Not about this.”

“I’m thinking,” I muttered.

“I’m not going to run away. I mean, why would I? I need that twenty-five grand. I’m not going anywhere until you pay me. And you literally asked me to join your lair.” She crossed her arms and jutted her chin, a mix of defiance and vulnerability. “Or would I still be your prisoner?”

My mouth turned down. I really didn’t like being reminded that eventually, she’d leave, with me powerless to stop her, meaning she’d be out there, alone and unprotected.

But that wasn’t what she was asking.

“No, you wouldn’t be my prisoner.”

She narrowed her eyes. “And now? I can come and go as I please?”

I expelled a breath. “Yes. I’ll let Velma and the others know. But stick to this area. By now, the word’s probably out that you’re my…thrall. That makes you a target.”

I’d almost said she was my woman. She didn’t seem to catch it, though.

“Understood.” She rose on her toes to kiss me. “Thanks, Spider-Dude.”

Spider-Dude ?

But I kinda liked that she had nicknames for me. Even Amina hadn’t dared.

I wrapped my free arm around her waist and pulled her closer, making her arch her back, something she did with the ease of a dancer. “I’d say watch out for the booby traps,” I said against her mouth, “but I don’t think that’s a problem for you.”

Her bubbly, yeah-I’m-a-badass giggle coaxed a smile from me.

I dropped a kiss on her still-curved lips. “And be good, alright? Don’t make me regret this.”

“I won’t. Scout’s honor.”

I snorted. “If you were a Girl Scout, then I’m a green-skinned elf.”

Her smile increased. “Well, I wanted to be a Scout.”

I shook my head at her and indicated the Cavern’s door. “Lemme show you the combination.”