Page 18 of Siren Sins
Jet’s hand clamped around my mouth as he snarled. “Stop talking,” he hissed. With a jerk of his chin, the women creased their lips and scuttled out of the room. He didn’t release me until the elevator dinged and its doors clamped closed. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? Because if my brother’s plans are spouted in front of the help, then I don’t care who you are. He’ll kill you himself.”
I dabbed at my lips where Jet had smudged the makeup and gave him a triumphant smile. “So, Derekisgetting something that replicates what I can do.” My stomach turned at that realization that Derek no longer needed me to bring Demonspawn into the world, but I kept my fear off my face. “What’s Jin giving him?”
He glowered. “I can’t tell you that.”
Jerking to my feet, I matched his unwavering gaze. “Do you want Demonspawn running the streets? Are youtryingto create hell on Earth?” I gripped his wrist. “Jet, you have to tell me what Derek gets out of this.”
His shoulders relaxed at my touch. “I don’t know.”
“You don’tknow?” I asked incredulously. “There’s a historical alliance between the Incubus King and your loony brother, and you don’t even know what the dragons are trading in return? You know what I did for him, right?”
He frowned. “I’ve met this ‘Demonspawn’ you’re so afraid of, and she’s not half-bad. She explained it all to me. Her people are locked away on the other side, just like mine are locked in Shanghai.”
I sighed. My daughter had actually gotten a dragon to sympathize with demons. Time to stop underestimating her. “I don’t know what she told you, but you don’t want Demonspawn in this world, especially ones who owe Derek a debt.”
He crossed his arms and backed away from my touch. “You wouldn’t understand what it’s like. Dragons have been trapped in Shanghai for centuries. With the Incubus King on our side, he’ll enthrall anyone who gets in our way, and his sons will guide those of us who explore the world and teach us how to keep our presence hidden. This is our only way out.”
I sighed. “Look, I get it. I’ll even cooperate and play good consort, but you have to promise me something.” His eyes narrowed, but he was listening. “Find out what your brother is giving up in return for Derek’s protection. That’s all. It’s something you should know anyway, right?” His demeanor didn’t change, but I took his silence for agreement. “Great!” I exclaimed and grabbed a curling iron. “Now, how do you use this thing?”
A Party to Die For
Sonya
The initiation party was way over-the-top, as I should have expected when it came to cooped up dragons who also happened to be wealthier than the King of Timbuktu. Dragons apparently loved their gold. Golden chandeliers glittered from cathedral ceilings. Golden champagne bubbled in perfectly fluted glasses toted on trays held aloft by scantily clad women, all who wore appropriate streaks of golden makeup.
Fountains overflowed with golden chocolate, and I certainly hadn’t known there was such a thing. Jet dipped a metallic pastry into the flow before offering it to me. “Try one.”
I frowned at the decedent pastry. This whole place was too much. “The hell,” I said, lifting my lip in a sneer. “You expect me to eat that?”
“Suit yourself,” he said as he popped the pastry in his mouth. He fluttered his eyes closed as he chewed.
Ignoring Jet, I tugged at the suffocating strap of gold that wound around my neck. A long, silk dress slipped over my body, making me feel naked in front of everyone here. The shape of the dress pushed my breasts high, allowing the pendant that held my Blood Stone a pedestal to rest on as if it were a cherry atop yet another golden pastry waiting to be savored.
The dragons in attendance kept their gazes on me, but they didn’t linger. They freely sampled the girls wearing gold, but tension made the air taut as if they were waiting for something.
“Where’s your brother?” I asked, tapping my foot. I didn’t want to be handed over to the Dragon King like a pre-packaged prize, but I hated waiting even more.
“Oh, he’s waiting for the fun to begin.”
I teased my lower lip between my teeth. “What, all this eyesore of gold isn’t your definition of fun?”
He jerked his chin to the doors as they eased open. “The only thing dragons love more than their gold is…”
I sucked in a breath when a row of girls caressed in white lace entered the room. Where the world around them was glittering and gold, they were pure. White powder covered their arms and faces as if they were porcelain dolls. Adding to the look were long white eyelashes that fluttered over their cheeks. A soft glitter gave them a luminous glow as they filtered into the room with shy smiles and graceful twirls.
“Virgins,” I finished for Jet.
He didn’t respond, but all the mirth left his eyes, and when I followed his gaze I found out why. I’d never met the Dragon King, but there was no mistaking him. His tattoos swirled with an angry red and fresh fangs curled over his lips. I marveled that they didn’t make him look like a vampire. He rather looked like a Sabertooth Tiger, especially as he prowled through the crowd and looked hungrily at the virgins who danced away from him. His appearance seemed a natural state, as if he’d forgotten how to be human some time ago.
“He’s not what I expected,” I said.
Jet hummed, but kept a respectful distance between us. “Having second thoughts of going through this willingly, little succubus?”
There was a warning in his reptilian gaze. I shot another glance at his brother and tried to find what linked them together that Jet would give me up so easily. The Dragon King was only like his brother in the sharp angle of his jaw and the wavy midnight hair. But everything else about him was completely different, down to the cold golden sheen of his eyes and curled fangs. Jin had broader shoulders and didn’t seem to share Jet’s attractive leanness. And that’s when I realized a dangerous truth. They were too different to be full-blooded brothers, which meant that Jet and Jin only shared one parent.
Jet was a bastard.
Jet had slept with me not just because we had a connection that he still hadn’t recognized, but because I was a toy meant for his legitimate brother. My stomach lurched as I realized how wrong I’d been in seducing him, even if he was one of my four—he could resist our connection because of his dragon. In spite of that, I was in the wrong, too. I’d hoped to seed dissension and chaos, but that’d been a foolish mistake. The brothers already naturally hated each other. Any fuel I added to the existing fire wouldn’t change anything. Jin had the world, and Jet was a pawn to be used. Being my bodyguard made sense now. Jin would want to flaunt his trophies in front of his illegitimate brother just to remind him who was boss.
