Page 18 of Blood Owed (Blood Mafia 1)
“Demi.” He sighs, and I think he’s about to let my disobedience slide. Then his eyes harden. “It’s too late.”
“Please,” I beg him just as he sticks the needle straight into my arm. “Don’t.”
Whatever the drug is, it’s warm and burns through my system. My vision clouds. The last thing I see before I collapse is Colt’s green gaze burning into mine.
I’m going to kill him.
Chapter Six
Colt
Grayson got inside my head. Demi is gorgeous and her body is banging, but I’m not a fool. Pretty things can be dangerous, and she proved she’s nothing but trouble. My mind keeps flashing back to how her eyes widened in surprise and her breath hitched when she felt me.
I can’t control my cock, and crazy women are somewhat my kryptonite. Especially when they’re mad. For someone so short, she’s got a lot of anger bottled up inside.
“That went well,” Mateo says when I enter the dark observation room. His eyes are cold and hard as he stares me down. He rests one of his tattooed hands over his mouth, and I can hear his jaw grinding.
“Grayson told you she’s a fighter.” I lean against the table and face toward the tiny warrior.
Mateo glances through the window, eyes tracing over her body. I don’t like the way he’s looking at her but there is no way in hell I’m going to tell him to stop. He’s the boss. He can do whatever he wants, regardless of how much it may bother me.
He’s not gentle.
Demi is fragile.
He’ll break her like a cheap plastic toy.
Those eerily keen eyes slide toward me, and he cocks his head, listening to the heavy breaths I’m taking. “Do you have something to say?”
And end up with my head chopped off? He knows me better than that. We’ve been in this life together for nearly two-hundred years, ever since he found me piddling around the streets of Los Angeles as a beggar and turned me. I’ve come a long way from the pathetic human he found me as.
“No, Boss. What do you want to do with her?” I jut my chin toward the woman in question.
He narrows his eyes, waiting four beats before saying, “Take her to the seventh-floor observation room.”
I nod. “I’ll call for Grayson so he can stand guard.”
Mateo blinks in acknowledgement before turning to stare at Demi again. Taking this as my dismissal, I head toward the door to get started on my assignment.
“You want her.”
His rumbling voice makes me stop. I stay facing toward the door, working to keep my undead heart from thumping and slowing my breathing. I don’t need to breathe as a vampire, but my body hasn’t learned to quit the habit. My emotions still control my breath and give away my moods to those who know me best. Mateo knows me all too well.
“You can’t have her.”
Those four words feel like a nail in a coffin and my immediate reaction is to rebel. I’ve learned to suppress those knee-jerk responses, so I simply say, “Understood, Boss,” and leave the room.
When I close the door behind me, I glare at the knob and let it bear the brunt of the emotion. I straighten my shoulders and shake off whatever effect Demi has over me. Mateo is the boss. I can’t break his rules, especially not over a useless human.
Demi
The next time I wake I’m in a different room, tied to a new chair. At least it’s not chains. The scratchy rope will also be easier to manipulate. My vision is blurry, and my head is groggy. Whatever drug Colt used gives one hell of a hangover. I roll my head, trying to shake off the vestiges of my drug induced slumber.
There’s another mirror in this room. I glare at it, wondering if the same man from before is watching me. Waiting for me to break.
I won’t.
I refuse to let them win.
