Page 26 of The Vampire Kingpin (The Vampire Syndicate #7)

Lark

S pider grabbed my wrist and hustled me through the gritty tunnels. I went meekly, in shock about Grimclaw and Troll. It was like the ground had been pulled out from under me, leaving me dangling in mid-air, struggling to find my footing.

I glanced at Spider’s set face. Even though something was clearly bothering him, his grip was firm and reassuring. A lifeline, in fact.

I turned my hand so my fingers were intertwined through his. “Thank you,” I said in a gruff voice. I cleared my throat and tried again. “I—Troll was going to… The bastard said he wanted to ‘see what the fuss was about.’ I held him off as long as I could, but he was too strong...”

“You’re all right?” Spider asked, tight-jawed.

“Yeah. You got there just in time.”

For some reason, that seemed to make him angrier. He swore under his breath and flashed me a furious look, his eyes touched with his vampire. “You should’ve told me about Darkman.”

I lifted a shoulder, let it drop. “I figured it wasn’t your problem.”

His expression darkened further. “I’m your alpha. If some asshole is gunning for you, I need to know.”

“You keep saying that. But we both know it’s not true.”

I tried to pull my hand free, but he just tightened his grip. “I wouldn’t piss me off if I were you.”

“Yeah?” Maybe it was partly reaction, but I was starting to get angry, too. “Well, you’re not making any sense. You told me not to fall in love with you. Why the fuck would I think you’d care about me and Jared Darkman?”

That made his step hitch. He rounded on me. “Damn you, Lark. You didn’t even ask.”

I blinked at the raw hurt on his face. “Ask what?”

He growled. “For help .”

“But—”

“I’m a powerful man.” He started off again, pulling me along with him. “I have connections. People who owe me favors. You think I’m scared of some dickhead syndicate princeling? But even when I straight out asked you, you wouldn’t give me a name.”

“You don’t know him. He’s got connections, too. I didn’t want him to hurt y—” I trailed off at his livid expression.

“You were protecting me ?” A vein throbbed visibly on his temple.

“Yeah. What’s wrong with that? I lose you, I don’t get paid.” That was a low blow, but I was angry now, too.

He stopped and took hold of my shoulders. “So you’re gonna double down on that shit? Even without those asses threatening you, you’re still trying to convince me it’s just business?”

I shoved him full in the chest. Infuriatingly, he barely moved.

“Fine,” I snapped. “It was more. I lo— like you, you ass. And I like your lair—they’re good people. I didn’t want them hurt because of me. You don’t know what a vindictive fuck Jared can be.”

“Let him try.” Spider bared his fangs. “I’ll make his life a living nightmare. This way.”

He steered me down a narrow passage and into what appeared to be an old bank vault, complete with an 18-inch-thick reinforced concrete door. Matte-black metal boxes lined the shelves, circling a sleek gray industrial desk and a couple of rolling chairs.

Shady, a slender, dark-haired vampire I’d only met once, snapped the lid shut on one of the boxes and slid it back on a shelf, but not before I caught a glimpse of the crisp stacks of bills inside.

An oil painting leaned against a shelf, and beside the laptop on the desk was a rustic wood bowl holding a fistful of uncut diamonds.

I momentarily forgot my turmoil as I took it in. “What is this?” I asked Spider.

“My office.”

“You have an office?”

“Yeah.” He nodded at Shady. “Leave. You can finish later.”

The other vampire sent me a curious look and silently obeyed.

For a few seconds, Spider and I just stared at each other.

I gulped a breath, as a cavalcade of emotions slammed into me—relief, anger, a guilty sense of freedom.

Troll could burn in Hades for all I cared, but Grim had been my last relative.

Maybe I should be sad, but I wasn’t. Grim had sucked as both an alpha and a cousin.

There was no denying the sheer weight of his constant threats and manipulations.

With him gone, it felt like a heavy, suffocating blanket had been lifted off my shoulders.

Grim would’ve always been there in the background, threatening me with exposure. He would’ve drained me dry. And when he couldn’t get any more from me, he would’ve sold me out to Jared without a second thought.

I heaved a breath. “Maybe I should’ve told you about Jared,” I told Spider.

“But I didn’t wanna drag you into my mess.

You’ve been good to me—better than I expected.

This—this time with your lair has been the best. The.

Best. You and your people—you don’t know how freakin’ awesome you are.

I thought the best thing I could do for everyone was keep quiet. ”

Some of Spider’s tension eased. “And you didn’t trust me.”

“Not completely,” I admitted. “I had to be careful, you know? But I would’ve told you eventually.”

He lifted a dark brow.

I lifted a shoulder, let it drop. “Probably.”

He ran his hands up and down my upper arms. The adrenaline had worn off, and tiny trembles were hitting me. He frowned as I gave a shiver.

“You’re shaking.”

Velma slipped through the doorway, pale but looking better. “I hear you had some trouble with Troll.”

“I thought you were resting,” Spider grumbled, still caressing me.

She touched her bandaged shoulder. “I’m better, and I figured I should be here for this.”

Spider just shook his head. “Sit down, at least.” He nudged a chair toward her with his foot. “You, too,” he told me.

I sank into the chair next to Velma’s. Spider produced a bottle of blood-whiskey and passed me a double shot. “Drink this. You need blood.”

I accepted it gratefully, wrapping my trembling hands around it. I drained it in two gulps, relishing the burn of the alcohol and blood.

Spider took the glass. “Want another?”

I shook my head as the burn spread through me, warm and with that special energy blood imparts. The shaking was already easing.

Spider took the chair behind the desk. “Now,” he said, “tell us what happened in Vegas.”

“Before I do, there’s something you should know.” I glanced from him to Velma. “Both of you. Troll told me that someone on the inside is feeding intel to Jared Darkman.”

They exchanged a look. “Did he say anything else?” Velma asked.

“No.” I bit my lower lip. “I don’t even know if it’s a man or a woman. But I think he was telling the truth.”

Velma pursed her mouth. “It tracks. We’ve wondered ourselves if we have a snitch. If you think of anything else, let us know, alright?”

“I will.” I hesitated because who likes to be a snitch, but DeeDee made me uneasy. “Have you looked into DeeDee? She’s the newest member of your lair, right?”

A line formed between Velma’s black brows. “She checked out clean. I know she’s jealous of you—she has a thing for Spider—but other than that, she’s been a good fit for us.”

“It’s just a feeling. Maybe it’s just that she’s jealous, but it’s felt like she’s been gunning for me since Day One.”

Spider rubbed his lower lip. “I can tell her to back off.”

I winced. “No—that’s okay. Just keep an open mind about her, okay? Something’s off about her.”

“We’ll dig a little deeper,” Velma promised, and I had to be satisfied with that.

“So.” Spider leaned back in the chair and eyed me. “How did you end up in Darkman’s sights?”

I blew out a breath. Embarrassed and a little humiliated at what it said about my family, but Spider and Velma needed to know the truth if we were going to solve this.

“Because my parents couldn’t resist easy money. Jared made it clear he was interested in me, and I played along because he would’ve made Las Vegas too hot for us if I hadn’t.”

“What a dick,” Velma muttered.

Spider nodded, a muscle in the side of his jaw jumping.

My laugh held zero humor. “He is. A rich, thinks-he-can-have-any-toy-he-wants dick. But nothing happened. We danced a few times, we flirted—that’s all.

But he started acting all possessive, like I was already his.

I told my parents that he was bad news, that we needed to leave before things blew up in our faces. ”

“So why the fuck does he think you owe him?” asked Spider.

“Because,” I said, knowing I sounded bitter but not really caring, “behind my back, my mom and dad sold me to him. They signed a fucking contract with him. I found out just in time, and told them I’d had it.

Then I got the hell out of there. They…didn’t.

” My voice broke. I swallowed and kept going.

“But I didn’t know he was coming that night—I swear I didn’t. It all happened so fast.”

Velma whistled. Spider cursed.

The last part burst from my lips. I’d been holding it in so long it was a relief to have it out. “Maybe if I’d stayed, they’d still be alive.”

“Fuck that.” Spider straightened in the armchair. “They knew they were taking a risk. You’re not gonna tell me that’s the only job that ever went south.”

“No. But it’s the first time I told them no way, that I wasn’t gonna be a part of it.”

“You weren’t allowed to say no?”

I moved a shoulder. “Yeah, I guess. But it was too late by then. They went behind my back. They said they never meant for me to go through with it—the plan was to take Jared’s money and disappear.”

My stomach tightened. The familiar shame gnawed at my insides—that I’d left my parents to face Jared on their own.

“So they did this behind your back.”

I grimaced. “Yeah. I found Dad practically salivating over the briefcase of cash he’d gotten for me.”

“Sweet Kali,” muttered Velma.

Spider’s handsome face was dark, but he kept up with his patient questions. “And you were what, twenty-three? Twenty-four?

“Twenty-four.”

He cursed. “So you were a fucking adult—they should’ve gotten your agreement before signing any contracts with Darkman. You’re not the one who should feel guilty.”