Page 74 of Vengeance and Vipers
‘Don’t taint her scent,’ he warns. ‘I’ve already washed her twice.’
‘Aye, I’ll be careful,’ Jayce says and gives me a chaste kiss on the lips as he hands me the dress he took off me.
Axel kisses me as well, then cups my cheek in his hand.
‘You’re amazing,’ he says, and I look away, my cheeks heating, not sure what to say back.
I thought that they’d betrayed me, that everything that happened in the Mountain between us was a lie. It was easier to believe that than the alternative, that they really did …docare about me. It makes something deep inside me settle even as I worry what this means for them and for me.
Krase puts me down long enough to slip my dress back on sans my expensive underwear that didn’t survive the incubi sausage fest. He picks me up again immediately to take me back through the passages, but it doesn’t really bother me. I’m sort of starting to like them holding me as much as possible. When we emerge back into the corridor near the kitchen, he doesn’t put me down right away as if he wants to keep me close for as long as he can.
‘Axel was right, you know. You are amazing.’
I chuckle this time. ‘You’re only saying that because I sucked your dick in the shower.’
He grins back. ‘Well, notonlybecause of that.’
I hear a noise from down the hall, and I step away from him like a teen caught kissing their boyfriend at a school dance.
He sighs. ‘You don’t have to do that.’
I look down. ‘I do have to do that,’ I say. ‘Maddox already thinks I’m like the worst person ever. What would he say if he found out what I’ve been doing with half his clan when he told me the rules? I made a deal with him, Krase.’
‘If he knew, he would never have forced something so cruel upon you,’ he mutters vehemently and seemingly to himself.
‘Knew what?’ I ask.
He turns away. ‘Nothing. We’ll sort it, Jules, I promise.’
My lips press into a line because that’s bull. I know it, and he knows it. We just know it for different reasons. I hope he never finds out mine.
I force a smile. ‘Yeah, we’ll sort it.’
He takes my hand and squeezes it. ‘The Iron I’s are here. They will be for a couple of days while Paris, their tech guy, ramps up our non-magick security.’
‘The ones who showed up in the library?’
He grunts. ‘Aye. Don’t be alone with the big one, the blonde one, or the shaggy-haired one with the beard if you can help it.’
‘Why not?’ I ask.
He doesn’t really answer; he just mutters something about revenge as he walks off, leaving me in the hall feeling confused. I heave a sigh, even though I’d be in mega trouble in more ways than one if Maddox found out about this, and I’m feeling guilty as hell. I’m also a lot calmer than I was earlier and more energized.
With a pep in my step, I go to the library, pausing when I hear voices within. I don’t mean to listen, but something makes me pause. They’re talking about the fae.
I strain to hear.
‘What are you doing?’ asks a feminine voice, and I jump, muffling a yelp by clapping my hand hard over my mouth.
‘Holy shit, you scared the hell out of me,’ I whisper, putting my hand over my heart.
She grimaces. ‘Sorry. It’s not like I care if you’re listening outside the door, but Alex’s brother is just behind me, making sure I don’t take a wrong turn to the bathroom or something.’ She sighs, her eyes moving around, not staying on me for long. ‘It was bad enough getting my guys to let me go alone, and thenhestarted keeping tabs on me. I mean, I know I broke a Ming vase last time, but that was really not my fault. I should be allowed to pee alone.’
‘Daemon, you mean?’ I ask after a moment of sifting through her diatribe.
‘Daemon The Dick,’ she nods. ‘I’m Jane.’
‘Jules,’ I say, stifling a laugh at the apt nickname she’s given him.
