Page 116 of Vengeance and Vipers

‘What is it?’ I ask, glad he’s finally getting to it.

‘I don’t think that you should leave after the masque.’

He delivers the bombshell calmly, but I’m only just about able to keep my mouth from falling open.

‘You don’t want me to leave?’ I ask faintly, and I frown at him. ‘I don’t understand. The only reason that you wanted me here was because—’

‘Yes, well.’ He clears his throat. ‘I’ve received some information that changes the situation somewhat.’

His eyes turn predatory, and I lean back a little, feeling like a deer in the headlights. I don’t usually see this side of Maddox.

My eyebrows rise in surprise as I realize what he’s getting at.

‘You want me to contract with the clan,’ I murmur.

‘Yes,’ he says. ‘If we’re to remain on the right side of the law after tomorrow evening, your presence here will need to be legitimized. You will be paid handsomely, Julia.’

I shake my head. ‘I don’t understand. Why me? You don’t even like me.’

‘That’s not entirely true,’ he mutters.

Bullshit.

‘You don’t trust me then.’

‘Fair,’ he mutters.

‘What on earth could you want me to stay here for?’

‘For Krase,’ he whispers, his eyes boring into me. ‘I don’t know how, but there’s something about you that has enabled him to somehow come back from a place no one should have been able to bring him back from.’

I cross my arms over my chest as I feel my ripped jacket sliding apart slightly.

‘Why do you think I had anything to do with it?’ I ask.

‘I don’t have another explanation at the moment, and I’d rather not take the chance of losing him again.’

He glances down at my arms.

‘Are you cold?’ he asks, changing the subject.

‘Yes,’ I lie because I don’t want him to know that I have nothing on under this … or be forced to come up with an explanation as to where my clothes went.

He looks slightly perturbed but says nothing more as he turns and opens his safe in my presence. I don’t let my look of surprise show as I watch him key in the long code. He doesn’t even try to hide it.

Does he trust me? He can’t.

‘All I ask is that you think about it,’ he says, handing me an envelope. ‘The contract.’

I take it from him carefully and sit back, letting out the breath I’ve been holding. ‘What about our other deal?’

‘This would circumvent our other bargain, and you wouldn’t get paid until your contract was up,’ he replies. ‘But if you’re staying here with full room and board as well as anything else you need, what do you require the money for now anyway?’

He has a point. If I stayed here, if I did take him up on his offer, I wouldn’t need the money until I left.

‘And would all of you feed from me? Axel and Jayce—’

‘Yes.’ He levels me with a hard stare. ‘You would be the entire clan’s.’