Page 105 of Vipers and Vendettas

I glance at Daemon who grimaces. ‘I’m sorry. I had to … get away, you know?’

‘You’re an on-call girl?’

‘Uh, not exact?—’

‘Who is this shifter to you?’ Maddox interrupts me to ask, his tone cold.

‘Sorry,’ I say. ‘This is Stephan. He was my boss at the club I worked at while I was … away.’

‘Stephan?’ Maddox says with a grin.

‘Uh, sorry, Marie, my name isn’t actually Stephan behind the Veil.’

I shrug. ‘That’s okay. Mine’s not Marie on this side either.’

He gives me a small smile. ‘We need to discuss this business stuff first, but afterward, you and I should talk.’

I nod.

He and the clan take their seats, with Maddox at the head of the table.

I sit between him and Daemon and take in the other males in the room. Besides my former boss, there are five others. All of them are normal shifters like Stephan, except for one. The guy next to him is something else. He has ice-blond hair and light blue eyes that flash orange every once in a while. He’s a shifter, but he’s not a wolf or a dragon like the others.

The meeting turns out to be boring as all hell. Everyone talks in some kind of code, and nothing is referenced specifically. I pretend to pay attention, but after an hour, I sort of wish I had listened to Daemon and taken him up on his offer to stay in the office. I stifle a yawn behind my hand and feel Daemon’s fingers on my thigh, lightly playing with the slit in the fabric.

I suddenly get an image of myself being tied up on the stage out in the main room of the club. I’m masked, and my arms and legs are tied to a huge wooden X, like I saw in the show when I was here before. My breathing stutters, and my eyes fly to Daemon’s, but he’s not paying attention to me. He’s listening with rapt attention as one of the other shifters drones on about shipments of lumber.

Am I imagining this scenario, or is Daemon somehow putting it in my head?

I’m drawn back into the scene. There’s an audience, and most are watching in echoes of what happened at Dante’s table but with none of the danger because Daemon is in charge.

He takes a clamp and puts it on my nipple, smiling darkly as someone calls out for him to tighten it. He does what the audience member suggests. I gasp audibly at the table.

‘Are you all right, darling?’ Maddox asks, looking concerned.

‘Yes,’ I grate out. ‘I’m fine. Sorry. Just baby stuff.’

They return to their conversation, and I’m drawn back into the scene. Daemon has my legs spread, and he’s kneeling between them, pushing a plug into my ass while he licks my pussy.

Stop it!

The scene disappears, and I sit back in the seat, breathing heavily.

I realize that Stephan and the others are standing up, and I give him a faint smile and thumbs up when he points downstairs and makes the sign of a drink with his hand.

When they’re gone, I punch Daemon hard in the arm.

‘Ow! What was that for?’ he exclaims.

My eyes narrow. ‘You know what it’s for! How did you do it? A tacturn?’

Daemon shakes his head, the picture of innocence, but I know better.

‘Don’t do that again!’ I hiss.

‘You didn’t like it?’ he grins. ‘Krase thought you’d love it. It was his conjure.’

My eyes round on Krase, who’s just standing up at the other side of the table. He puts his hands up and backs away. ‘Daemon borrowed it. He didn't tell me what it was for, lass.’