Page 97 of Vengeance and Vipers

My eyes narrow as I watch him speaking to one of them. He knows them well. It must have been while he was out on his own after Maddox kicked him out of the clan. I knew he’d have gotten involved with some of the seedier organized crime syndicates. It’s the only way he’d have survived out there. But I had no idea he’d stooped to working for the vamps.

I wonder if Maddox knows. I’ll bet he doesn’t. He would never have let Daemon back in if he did. The bloodsuckers don’t just let you out once you’re in their pockets.

He starts walking away with Jules, and I intercept them, grabbing Jules and pulling her a little too hard towards me. She stumbles into me, and I catch her, murmuring an apology and noticing she still looks jarred by whatever the vamp was saying to her, though she’s hiding it well. She looks up at me with wide eyes, and I get lost in them for a moment.

Until I hear Daemon’s low growl, I focus on my clan brother, stifling my own snarl.

Has he forgotten she isn’t actually ours?

‘How deep in are you?’ I sneer.

He takes a step back. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Sure you don’t.’ I smirk at him. ‘Maddox wants to talk to you,’ I lie.

‘What about?’

I shrug. ‘Probably about McCathrie if he just saw you talking to his guys.’

‘I wasn’t talking to them,’ he mutters. ‘I was making sure the dumb human didn’t get herself lured into one of the private rooms to get fucked and sucked.’

Jules opens her mouth, looking affronted, but I take her arm and turn her away, taking her to the other side of the bar where it’s quieter. I can practically hear her teeth grinding.

‘He’s right, you know.’ I say, ordering her another martini. ‘The vamps are dangerous.’

‘Please,’ she mutters. ‘Act like I’m a dumb human, like I have no clue what’s going on. Underestimate me, Iron.’ She snorts. ‘It works for me every time in Supeland.’

My hand snaps out, and I take her chin in a firm grip, making her look at me.

‘Thinking of making trouble for us again?’ I ask, unable to keep the anger from my voice.

She bats my hand away and doesn’t look scared even a little.

‘Why don’t you make me tell you if I am?’ she hisses. ‘Oh, no, wait, that doesn’t work on me. You have to torture me for hours and then trick me to get me to tell you shit.’ She glances around. ‘But this isn’t the right time or place. Too bad.’

‘Isn’t it?’ I murmur too low for her to hear.

Her drink appears on the bar, and I hand it to her. She drinks it in one, staring at me angrily.

Another show starts on the stage, and the lust in the room increases. It’s enough to sate me for a few days, but don’t even look at what’s going on up there. I want something else, something I’ve been denying myself when it’s clear half the members of this fucking clan aren’t doing the same. I want a piece of the pie.

‘Come on,’ I say.

‘Where?’

‘I’ll show you,’ I say cryptically, ensuring she’s curious.

I move away from the bar, not bringing her with me but making sure she’s following. There’s a hallway with private rooms and an unmarked door with a keypad at the end. I put in the code and go into the dark room.

I’m already second-guessing myself, but I can’t resist as I wait until she’s inside, and I close the door behind her.

‘Are you scared?’ I drawl in her ear.

‘No.’

But she is. I can hear it in her voice just a little.

I move away from her, reaching up and turning off the security camera before I turn on the dim light.