Page 20 of The Vampire Kingpin (The Vampire Syndicate #7)

Lark

D ressing-room sex might be my new favorite thing. Or should I say edgy, you-could-get-caught sex?

Not that the saleswoman would’ve let anyone walk in on us. She’d recognized Spider. I’d seen how she’d straightened when we entered the shop, Spider all smooth, hard-muscled power in a black leather jacket and blue silk shirt.

I’d also seen how the woman’s eyes had eaten him up as she hustled over, beaming with welcome. She’d barely glanced at me in her eagerness to greet him.

Not that I blamed her. The man did look fine.

Anyway. My legs were still wobbly.

Even Spider threatening to stop if I couldn’t keep quiet had been off-the-charts hot. There was something so sexy about him getting all alpha with me. And then in the end, he’d fucked me like he’d lost control…

Yeah, I’d done that to him.

Take that hungry-eyed saleslady .

I smothered a smile as I followed Spider through the Cavern. He opened the door to his bedroom and ushered me inside.

“Want this in the closet?” he asked, indicating the garment bag.

“I’ve got it.” I took it from him and hung it in the walk-in closet. The shoebox I stowed on a shelf above.

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?”

“Yeah, sure. Appreciate the honesty.” I dredged up a smile even though that crack in my heart was wide enough to fall into now.

I heard that he was trying to protect me, but I also heard that he was using me, just like Grimclaw had. Yeah, Spider wanted no-strings-attached sex, and Grimclaw had used me to enrich himself.

But being used is being used.

“Alright, then.” He turned to leave.

I swallowed and decided the hell with smiling my way through this. “One question.”

He halted, hand on the doorknob. “Yeah?”

“Do you think that’s what Amina would’ve wanted? You spending the rest of your life alone?”

His fingers tightened on the knob so hard his knuckles went white. Then he blew out a breath. “I don’t know. But it’s what I want.”

My stomach hollowed. I pressed both hands to it. “Right.”

“Look, I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Sure. I’m still your thrall until the month’s up, right?”

That made his jaw tighten. Good—I’d meant it to hurt. Meant to jolt him, to remind him that this thing between us had an expiration date.

I held my breath, a part of me still hoping he’d…what? Tell me he was sorry, that Amina was his past.

But he just nodded and left, closing the door gently behind him.

Okay . I released a sad exhale, and reminded myself I couldn’t stay anyway. Even if Spider begged me.

That didn’t stop a couple of tears from sliding down my cheeks.

I scrubbed them away and headed into the shower. Because yeah, I felt like crap, but crying over some dude wasn’t my style.

I was combing my hair when two quick knocks came on Spider’s door. “Lark?” called Zayne. “Can we come in?”

“It’s open,” I called back, putting down the comb and returning to the bedroom.

Zayne entered along with DeeDee. I stiffened. DeeDee had dropped the overt aggression, but she was a human so I could sense her dislike. The feeling was mutual.

Zayne grinned at me. “How’d the shopping go?”

“Good.” I let my mouth curve just to mess with DeeDee.

Zayne chuckled. “Now I know why Spider went with you.”

DeeDee didn’t smile, but for once, she wasn’t giving off hate vibes.

“Show us what you bought,” Zayne demanded.

“Yeah,” said DeeDee. Her eagerness felt sincere, too.

“They’re in the closet.” They trooped after me into the walk-in closet, and I showed off the dress and shoes. After that scene with Spider, I wasn’t as hyped about the Midnight Masquerade, but Zayne’s squeal of delight and DeeDee’s obvious envy helped.

Zayne took out the stilettos, examining the pointed toes. “They’re La Scarpe’s?” She eyed the box. “They as comfortable as people say?”

“Yep.”

“They’re perfect for your dress,” chimed in Dee.

“Thanks.” I zipped up the garment bag and hung it on a rail.

Zayne returned the shoes to their box and put them back on the shelf. “You buy a mask?”

“No. We…forgot.” At that point, I’d still been in an orgasm-induced haze. I’d barely remembered to put on my underwear. “Where’s a good place to buy one?”

“Abracadabra on Twenty-First Street,” said Zayne.

“But I can make you one,” DeeDee volunteered.

“Yeah?” I eyed her. “What would it look like?”

“She’s good,” Zayne confirmed. “And there’s time, right? The Masquerade isn’t until the end of the month.”

DeeDee took out her phone. “Can I take a photo of your dress? I can match the style and color that way.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted DeeDee making my mask but I didn’t see an easy way out, so I unzipped the garment bag again.

“How about something lacy?” She snapped a couple of photos.

I shook my head. “Too girly.”

“I’m talking black-mesh lace. With wine-colored lace around the outside. Like this.” She showed me a similar mask on her phone.

“That’s…wow.” The mask was gorgeous, dammit. And opaque enough to hide my features.

“I can make Spider a mesh mask, too. Not lacy—more edgy.”

“All black,” I said, giving in. “That would be great. I’ll pay you, of course.”

DeeDee gave me a razorblade of a smile. “Good, because I don’t work for free.”

Okay, there was the DeeDee I knew. I relaxed a bit. Nice DeeDee made me uneasy, but this version I could deal with.

“Then you have yourself a deal.”

Back in the Cavern, I played a couple rounds of pool with Zayne, who was improving by the week, then put down my cue stick and slipped out the door.

I spent the first hour or so learning the area around Spider’s lair—the tunnels, the cross passages, the spurs leading to nowhere.

Of course, I had to avoid their trip wires and other traps, but that was kinda fun, like a real-life video game.

The only cams were right outside the lair—I knew that from my previous recon.

Why wire the tunnels with cams when you could set booby traps?

The whole time I was making my way to where I’d hidden my phone and the stolen jewelry. And yeah, I knew that checking your loot was a rooky mistake—best to forget about it until you were ready to retrieve it. But I wanted my phone.

So when I got close enough, I ducked into the shadows and zipped down a side corridor near Spider’s lair.

When I dropped back out of the shadows, I counted the tracks from a crack in the wall, stopping at the third track, where the phone was in a plastic bag covered by a layer of dirt.

The jewelry in the bag under the fifth track, I ignored.

I was powering up my phone when Troll’s mocking tones made me freeze.

“Well, look who’s here, Grim.”

I straightened from my crouch on the tracks and slipped the phone into my pocket, my gaze darting from him to my cousin.

The hair on my nape stirred. Grim looked like he hadn’t fed for a week. His eyes bulged and his cheeks were hollow.

“Hey, Grim. What’s up?”

Troll folded his beefy arms over his chest. He didn’t look so good, either. “What’s that in your pocket?” he countered.

“My phone.”

“Show me.”

I considered refusing, but it was two against one. “Fine. See?” I flashed it at Troll.

He snatched it from my hand and looked it over. “Why didn’t you have it with you?”

“Well, hell, I don’t know.” I stuck out my hand for the phone and after a brief hesitation, he handed it over.

I shoved it into my back pocket. “Maybe because I didn’t want to chance losing it to Spider when I lifted his dagger.

Who, by the way, chased me down and told me he owned me. Why would he think that, Grim?”

My cousin had the grace to look ashamed. Then his lip curled. “You landed on your feet, didn’t you? Word is you’re the kingpin’s new pet, but he’s still after me for his goddamn tribute.”

“How is that my problem? You set me up, remember? As far as I’m concerned, you can go fuck yourself. Now, this has been real fun, but…” I started to fade into the shadows.

Troll grabbed my arm. If I didn’t shake him off, I’d pull him into the shadows with me and he’d be able to track me. So I halted the fade.

“I’d stick around if I were you,” he said, the corners of his lips curling into a predatory smirk. “We have info you’re gonna want to hear.”

My stomach plunged. “What?”

They moved in on me from either side, boxing me in against the tunnel wall. “Someone’s offering a fuckton of money for you.” Troll dug sausage-size fingers into my upper arm and gave me a shake. “You’ve been holding out on us, bitch.”

Jared .

Nausea pressed into my throat. I licked my lips. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Grim snorted. “The name Darkman mean anything to you?”

“I know who they are, sure.”

“Seems like Darkman, Junior has a jones for you.”

Every instinct in me screamed, “ Run .” But I could tell they were expecting that. That they wanted me to run.

Assholes.

I turned to my cousin. “Look, I get you need money. Maybe we can work something out.”