Page 13 of The Devil of London

The guy made a suffocated attempt to thank Aricin, who glared down at his disfigured, ruined face in utter contempt. After a beat, he focused on Khaos, nodding his dark, sandy-colored head in respect.

“Now, as for my girl? You do not look at her, talk to her, or put hands on her ever again. If I so much as catch your scent within a mile of her, you die.” The guy turned his head to look at me, which caused Khaos to go off once more. He shoved the guy back and then began landing blow after blow. “I said don’t fucking look at her!” The asshole went down hard, and Khaos let him, too busy glaring at everyone watching. “That goes for the rest of you. You stay the fuck away from her and her shop.”

Aricin nodded before he spoke in a heavily accented voice. “I was not aware Bjorn had trespassed against your woman, Nasir. Had I known he had assaulted her, I’d have handled him myself.” Warmth spread through me, which Nasir quickly doused with ice water.

“She’s not my woman. Aderyn Caine is mine.Period.No one touches her but me. This entire town knows she belongs to me. Make sure your men know it as well. You and I have been friends for eons, which is why your man lives. If it had been anyone other than you, he’d be dead and hung in front of my club, as a warning to anyone else thinking of touching anything belonging to me.”

“I will ensure all coming in are made aware of her status and of your warning. I vow to you, it shall be done.”

“See that you do that, Aricin. I’d hate to end our plans of uniting our people to create a new syndicate.”

“Sorry, dear girl,” Aricin stated, slowly studying my face. “Forgive me, my lady. I’ll inform my men to steer clear of you and your shop.”

“Thank you, Aricin.” Admittedly, Aricin was the ideal fantasy of a Viking lord in every historical romance ever told of them. His dark blond hair was braided as if he were about to pillage and plunder while on a raid. Tattoos covered the sides of his head, flowing down his neck and vanishing beneath the expensive designer suit he wore. Smaller tattoos outlined the contour of his face, making him look like a Viking from the legends told of the raiders. They hailed him as a Norse legend, the Wolf of the North, but he was not a Lycan or a shifter. Either way, he was hot, and I knew he could fuck like a god and fight even better. Aricin didn’t care that his partner’s screams were heard beyond the master’s chambers. Shit, half the time, I was convinced he had known it and liked others hearing his prowess in the bedchamber.

“You done?” Nasir hissed between clenched teeth, jerking my focus from Aricin to him. I shivered at my foolishness because I knew better than to stare at any man in front of Nasir.

His irises had been swallowed by inky darkness, and delicate black lines flowed from his eyes, stretching throughout his face. His palms were the same, but the wispy tendrils of ink-colored smoke were actually coating his hands, not in them. A shiver rushed down my frame as he threaded his fingers through mine and lifted my knuckles to his lips, tenderly kissing them. Swallowing the urge to rip my hand free and bolt from the room, I remained perfectly still, waiting for the punishment he’d deliver.

“Merikh, deliver fresh drinks to my office for me and Aderyn. Afterward, notify the staff we are not to be disturbed until I’ve finished with her for the night. Ryat, please guide Aricin to the medical facility so his man can be treated. If you’ll excuse us,” Khaos susurrated before he turned and strode out of the lounge, dragging me along behind him.

As we passed the booth where we had previously been sitting, he snatched his suit jacket up and kept walking. He didn’t speak or slow as he turned down a long, winding hallway. Three doors away from the lounge, he punched a code into the panel on the wall, which slid open. Through it were several doors with names above them. Khaos stopped in front of the one labeled as his, punched in another code, and then pushed me inside the moment it slid open.

“What the hell is your problem?” I snapped as my foot tweaked from being pushed a little too roughly. When I righted myself, I pushed out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry, Khaos. It has been a long day.” When he still had not spoken, I slowly turned toward him.

Khaos was perfectly posed with his normal mask firmly in place, but there was violence drifting from him in waves. My heartbeat began thundering against my chest, echoing in my ears as he slowly adjusted the sleeves of his bloodied, ruined dress shirt. Stepping back, I winced as my ankle screamed with pain. A wolfish smile played on his lips as he prowled closer, forcing me to continue inching back from him.

“Did all the blood make your pussy wet?” he asked softly. I backed into something hard, which caused a cry of surprise to escape my lips as his hands slammed down on the desk, hard. “You’ve always been such a blood-thirsty bitch, Aderyn.”

He ran his nose over the curvature of my collarbone before biting it until a squeal of pain and pleasure broke from my lips. His feverish breath continued up to my ear, forcing my eyes to close as need and want clashed into a dangerous combination of longing. Nasir adjusted his lengthy frame. His body lifted off mine far enough for his fingers to reach the hemline of my dress, forcing it up to my hips.

“Nasir?” I whispered past the swelling of lust in my throat.

“Shut the fuck up, slut. If I wanted you to speak, I would have asked you to do so.” When he stepped back, I stayed where I was, squirming under his merciless gaze. “Turn around and arch that pretty ass for me.” Struggling for the ability to think beyond the emotions rolling through me like waves churning in a vast sea, I spun around.

After I placed my hands on his desk, I arched my back and spread my legs apart. Then I closed my eyes and waited for the punishment to begin. When it didn’t come, worry churned in my abdomen. His fingers slowly roved over my hips, then ran over the outline of the tattoo I’d gotten. A snake with its body covered in moons, stars, and runes. Around the snake were flowers of various colors, and in the snake’s mouth, was the sun. The official term was Serpent Spell, but the runes I had placed in the ink offered my soul protection from any who sought to take it. Even Khaos.

“You didn’t ask for permission to get a tattoo, brat.”

“I didn’t think I’d need permission to get a tattoo,” I admitted in a quivering hum of words. His hand slid to the middle of my back, and without warning, he pushed me down onto the solid wooden surface of his desk.

“We had this conversation long ago. You need permission to change anything on your body. You once tried to dye this beautiful dark hair of yours blonde, which earned you quite the spanking, if I recall.”

His palm landed against my backside without warning, extracting a yelp of distress to leave my lips. The second punishing slap had tears burning my eyes as I whimpered against the severe, piercing burn his large palm created. By the fifth one, I was mewling in the agony combined with pleasure gathering between my thighs.

“Fucking hell. Your ass looks so pretty with my handprint marring it,” he growled huskily as his palm soothed the heated skin. A knock sounded at the door, which caused me to lift from the desk. Khaos forced me back down and laughed cruelly. “Do not move. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” I whispered as heat singed my cheeks.

“Enter,” Nasir called out. The door creaked as the sound of Merikh’s footsteps thundered in my eardrums. I heard Merikh pause at the sight of my exposed backside. “Isn’t she lovely, Merikh?”

A hiss of breath sounded before he replied, “Very. Your drinks.” From the corner of my eye, I saw the drinks being placed on the desk. “If that is all, I’ll take my leave.”

“Stay.” Nasir chuckled as the hair on my nape rose. “Settle an argument for me. Does Aderyn’s dress scream ‘fuck me’ or ‘I’d like your companionship’?”

There was a naked pause between the question and Merikh’s hesitant reply. “It screams ‘fuck me’,” he dutifully supplied the response. “Why would she need companionship? She could simply return to the family and have it aplenty.”

Tears pricked my eyes to slide down my cheeks at his statement. It was never that easy with any of them.

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