Page 52 of Midnight Secrets

That would annoy Xavier because it was true. Since he found the woman he was obsessing over in the Midnight Rooms right under his nose, his mind tended not to be on anything other than Cassandra.

Xavier:She can stay with me.

Me:Fine. You tell her that you don’t trust her. Lucas does it all the time.

I could almost feel his rage pulsing down the airwaves. Xavier always assumed the in-charge position of our group, and that had never bothered me before. My gaze moved to the woman in question. There was no way she was sleeping anywhere except under my roof and my protection.

Xavier:I’ll be over tomorrow.

Me:Should I tell Lucrezia to pack her bags? She’ll have to move her workshop over that she has set up in my old office as well.

Jordan:Well played, man!

Me:Fuck off.

“Everything okay?” Lucrezia stared at me with those huge brown eyes with long lashes. A woman’s eyes had never been my thing in the past, but she controlled me with some sort of voodoo magic that she emitted from hers.

“Yeah. Zee is having a fit because you are in London and not under his control.”

She flinched. “Why do the men in my family feel the need to control me?”

“All done?”

She nodded. “Harold said he’ll email me when he has the prototypes.”

“Anywhere else you need to visit?”

She flushed and ducked her head low before waving to Harold and tugging me out. Now I was intrigued. “I made an appointment with Catarina’s doctor in Harley Street.”

My eyebrows rose. “Are you ill?”

“No.” She stared at the ground and shuffled her feet. “Cat gets the birth control shot every few months when she is in London.”

Now I understood.

“I’ve never been active before, so didn’t need to worry about precautions.”

The thought of her on birth control terrified and excited me because there was nothing more that I wanted than to be inside her without a barrier between us.

Her brow furrowed when she looked up at me. “Is that okay?”

“It’s your body, Lucrezia, and it’s your decision if you want us to have sex without condoms.” I tried to remain cool because it had never been anyone’s decision but mine in the past. No semen, no pregnancy no matter what the woman said.

We were at the car and she got in and sat staring at her hands. “It’s just that last night I wanted…” Her voice trailed off.

“Me too.” I lifted one of her hands.

“Ash?” She stared up at me. “I’m terrified of needles.”

My lips twitched into the semblance of a smile. “I’ll hold your hand.”

Relief washed over her face. “Thank you.”

She’d just handed me the keys to the cookie jar and was thanking me? Lucrezia had awoken the possessive beast inside me that craved her with an intensity that terrified me. I had no idea what would happen once he marked her as his completely.

The doctor took her away for an exam and came back with a pale Lucrezia. She sat beside me and grabbed my hand automatically. The doctor rubbed her arm with a medical wipe before plunging a needle into her upper arm.

She smiled reassuringly at Lucrezia. “Give it a few days and you’re good to go.”

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