Page 80 of Vengeance and Vipers

I slow my steps, not above a little spying. When I know they’re just on the other side of the wall and that I’m upwind, I pause to listen.

‘What’s due me,’ Daemon growls.

‘There’s nothing left of our father’s enterprises,’ Alex says, sounding long-suffering. ‘After he and the others were killed and we freed the slaves, the rest was scattered to the winds.’

‘I don’t believe you.’

Alex’s laugh is brittle. ‘I don’t care what you believe, Daemon. I have a mate to worry about now, a baby on the way. If there was money, I would give it to you if only so we don’t have to go through this again. I wanted nothing from our sire. Nothing! Everything he had, everything about him, was tainted. He stole Jane. He and the others did vile—’

‘I know,’ Daemon growls. ‘I know!’

‘Because you waited to tell me what you knew so you could get the most out of it. I may have been given the title of Vicious, but you’re more like Leonel than I ever was. I may have got you back in the clan, but I’ll never forgive you for your part in what happened to her, Daemon. Never.’

I hear footsteps going the opposite way and peer through the ivy-covered archway that leads into the enclosed garden. Daemon sits alone on a stone bench, drinking from a whiskey bottle. He looks half drunk, no mean feat for a demon.

I come out of the shadows, and when he sees me, he takes another long drink.

‘What the hell do you want?’

‘Brotherly reunion not going well?’ I snarl.

‘About as well as can be expected in my family. We aren’t like you and Jayce,’ he mutters somewhat bitterly.

I almost want to tell him there’s still time, but he’s not in the mood to hear it, and I’m not in the mood to say it.

‘You need to stay away from Jules.’ I say. ‘I won’t have you hurting her.’

He laughs darkly. ‘The supe slut get to you too? She’s hard to resist when she’s throwing herself at us all every other hour, huh? Guess it’s worse for you, though.’ He gives me a hard look. ‘Youwerestarving. Can’t really blame you for falling for her, letting your dick take charge. Take it from me, though, big guy. See her for what she is. A liar and a thief and a fucking honey trap. She doesn’t belong here.’

‘Is that what you told her?’ I growl low, picturing him spewing these despicable insults at my beautiful, vulnerable mate.

‘That and more,’ he replies without remorse. ‘And I’ll keep making sure she knows her place until she stays in it!’

‘And what is her place?’ I snarl.

He takes another long drink. ‘I’d see her a slave in the lowest, filthiest human brothel I could find,’ he says with a smirk.

My glamor is down, and I’m on him before he can say another word.

‘You don’t know anything about her,’ I bellow. ‘She doesn’t deserve your ire.’

He struggles under me but can’t dislodge me.

‘No,CrazyKrase!’ he bucks, trying to free himself to no avail. ‘She doesn’tdeserveto be here. Maddox should have snapped her neck when he found her on the lawn and thrown her body down the well! Instead, you’re playing house with a dumb, human bitch who thinks she’s so much more!’

‘She is more!’ I roar, hitting him hard enough in the face to crack his jaw.

His face falls to the side, and the fight goes out of him suddenly. He’s not unconscious; he’s just not going to fight back. He’ll let me pummel the shit out of him. My lips curl at the realization. I’m not going to be his tool for self-flagellation and loathing. If he wants to be punished, he can do it himself!

I lean close to his ear. ‘She’s more than you or I will ever be,’ I murmur. ‘You have no idea, but I hope I’m there when you find out.’

With a final push into his chest, I get off him and stalk angrily back into the night. Maybe it’s time they all knew the truth about Julia Brand.

I know Daemon and Maddox’s anger would crumble in the wake of the facts, but there’s more to this, to her.

Until I know what, I need to keep my silence.

The problem is, Maddox will cast her out within the month, and our mate won’t be safe out there. We’re running out of time.