Page 61 of Vengeance and Vipers
‘Then I’ll stay for a little while, deamhan àlainn, so long as you lay in the bed and try to sleep.’
She nods again, looking so innocent.
‘Give me the towel then. It’s damp.’
Her practiced hesitation has me rolling my eyes but still staring at her to see if I can catch a glimpse of her creamy flesh.
I’m as pathetic as they are.
I make myself watch Krase take the towel into the bathroom instead of ogling Jules, and when I look back at the bed, she’s under the covers. He lies next to her, stroking her hair, and I just about vomit.
But I stand there and wait, and when the clock hits nine, he kisses her gently on the cheek and leaves the room. As soon as the main door closes, I open mine and slip into the room, silent as a ninja.
Jules is still in the bed, her breathing even. I creep to where she sleeps and look down at her serene face.
‘What am I going to do about you, viper?’ I whisper.
I could kill her the way Maddox should have the night he found her on the lawn, but a quick death seems too good for the likes of her. The bare bones of a plan begins to materialize in my head like a muse just whispered it in my ear.
Tamadrielle.
I don’t know who that is, but I heard Jayce and Axel talking. She’s scared of him, and I’d bet that’s who she was hiding from in the Mountain, too. What would happen if he learned where she was at an opportune moment? He might well come and take her off our hands. I might even get a finder’s fee, which will definitely come in handy as soon as my return from the Mountain is noted by some of my business associates.
I grin. I knew that listening in on that conversation would be worth my while. Now I just have to find this Tamadrielle and keep him as an ace up my sleeve until it’s time to show my hand.
I finger the edge of her covers, remembering when Dante had me make her come all over my demon fingers at the dinner table. I’ve tried to forget her pleas, her cries, the way she moved, the way she felt when she climaxed around my flesh. The way shetasted. But I can’t. It’s seared into my mind, and I fucking hate it.
I lift the covers and peer at her naked body. It’s nice, well-formed, passably pretty with good-sized tits, but that’s all. There’s nothing overtly special about her. And yet she has half of us scrambling after her like puppies. What is it about her? I stare until she shifts and draws herself into a ball, her brow furrowing in sleep. Then, I let the covers down and do what I came here to do.
I open her closet and close the door behind me, turning on the light. What I see has me rolling my eyes hard. So many designer dresses, but I know there haven’t been any deliveries. These fools bought them for her before and had them saved for if she ever returned. I open a drawer and dump in the stuff I brought.
‘It’s not the same,’ I mutter to myself.
I’m just sick of seeing her nipples poking out through the thin fabrics of all these gowns every other minute and knowing she doesn’t have any panties on either. Why did none of those assholes even think to buy her any fucking underwear?
I turn off the light and leave the closet, going back to the passage and escaping through the tunnels. I decide to take a look at what the others are doing and creep through to the library. Maddox is the only one in there, though, sitting with a drink by the cold hearth and staring listlessly into it.
I move through to the Billiard Room and find that the others are all there. Axel and Krase are playing. The other two are spectating.
‘But she’s okay?’ Axel asks.
Krase nods. ‘Just ashamed by her reaction.’
Jayce shakes his head. ‘You shouldn’t play those games when you aren’t sure how she’s going to react, howyou’regoing to react. The darkness in you … we all see it, brother.’
‘Thisdarkness?’
Krase’s eyes go black, his face twisting in amusement when everyone tenses. ‘Don’t worry,’ he rasps. ‘We’ve come to an understanding, Krase and I.’
‘Which is?’ Axel asks.
‘That Jules is mine, ours. The clan’s. We aren’t letting her go.’
‘Maddox won’t allow us to keep her,’ Jayce says. ‘He’ll never trust her, not even enough to contract her as an on-call girl. She’s gone as soon as we’re in the clear. He won’t change his mind. Even you can’t stand against him.’
Axel nods. ‘None of us can match a clan leader’s strength. If he wants her gone, she’s gone.’
Krase shrugs. ‘We’ll see.’
