Page 104 of Vipers and Vendettas

I pull my shirt over my head. ‘You don’t want to help me put it on?’ I ask innocently.

His eyes flick down to my tits framed by one of Daemon’s purchases, and he’s across the room with his hands on them in an instant.

‘We don’t have time for this,’ he mutters with a growl but doesn’t stop, drawing a nipple into his mouth and making my knees go weak as I draw my fingers through his hair.

Then he kisses the top of one breast hard, pulling my skin into his mouth and sucking. I squeal, and he pulls away, giving me a smug grin. ‘Get dressed,’ he murmurs.

I look down. ‘You marked me!’

He laughs. ‘Never had one of those before?’

I shake my head.

His eyes travel over me once more, lingering on the bruise. ‘First of many, pretty girl.’

He’s out the door before I can say another word, and I put on the dress. Of course, it fits perfectly and even drapes down in a way that the bump isn’t visible at first glance.

I make my way down to the library once I’m ready and pretend I don’t notice the hungry stares I get when I walk into the room.

‘Ready?’ Maddox asks, his eyes taking me in as if I’m the only person there.

I nod, and he opens the door. The portal takes us straight to Daemon’s office.

‘You can stay in here until we’re finished,’ Daemon says, ‘or you can come to the meeting with us. You might be a little bored, though.’

‘Do you mind if I come?’ I ask, wanting to see what they actually do.

‘Weloveit when you come,’ Jayce says with a wink, and I laugh.

‘You know what I mean.’

‘Of course, we don’t mind,’ Iron says, putting an arm around me and ushering me from the room.

In the club, they keep me between them, and I’m surprised that it’s so busy. There’s no show happening on the stage, but the place is wall-to-wall bodies, and the bass is pumping loudly.

‘What’s with the crowds?’ I yell over the music.

‘I forgot. It’s a shifter holiday,’ Daemon responds, tucking me closer to him as we walk upstairs. ‘The packless alphas come to party here. Stay near us.’

I nod as we enter the quieter VIP area. There’s a long table set up, and there are already a few suits sitting around it.

‘You’re late,’ growls a voice from the table that I recognize from my stint in the human world.

I peer around Maddox and gasp. ‘Stephan?’

‘Marie?’

He stands up, and makes his way over to me. ‘Jesus, where have you been? You just quit with no …I went by your place. I even spoke to Jack. He told me you were okay, but he wouldn’t give me any details except that you had to leave town.Areyou okay?’

I blink up at him. ‘You know Jack?’ I ask a little faintly.

Stephan looks a tad awkward. ‘Yeah, we work together sometimes.’

I gape at him. I mean, Supeland can be small sometimes, but what are the odds … I frown as I realize that it was Jack who told me to look for work in that part of town since it was so close to the Veil.

‘How did you know thatI knowJack?’ I sputter, growing more suspicious that my vampire mentor has been manipulating events in my life. ‘Did you know about me? Did Jack ask you to hire me?’

He puts his hands up. ‘No, no, nothing like that. I just smelled him on you one night. That’s all. I didn’t know he was a mutual friend until then, I promise.’ He pins me with a reproachful look. ‘Why did you leave like that? I was worried as hell, Marie.’