Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 52247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 261(@200wpm)___ 209(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 261(@200wpm)___ 209(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
I check my phone as we glide through the night. My financier received my confirmation to transfer funds. Such an expensive little pet.
The she-wolf stiffens. I said that out loud.
“Don’t worry.” I tug her silky locks. “You’re worth it.”
In between petting her, I call Dante, ordering him to plan a massive party a month from tonight. To celebrate my new purchase. Dante falls over himself, promising to make it a night I’ll remember. I smile at the double meaning, and hang up.
That’s done then. I have one month to prepare for one night. All of my sired are to be there. If they wish to stage a coup, that would be the night to do it. I’ll be prepared. I’m always prepared. Caesar was a soldier, and trusted his men, but I’m a prince of Machiavelli’s ilk. Better to be feared than loved. When I face my enemies, I don’t just wound them. I destroy and scorch the earth.
“Sir?” Her meek voice pulls me from my thoughts. “Why did you do it?”
“Do what?” she should know better than to speak first, but I’ll allow it. I’ll enjoy breaking her bad habits.
“Bid on me.” She gnaws her lip and I rest two fingers against her mouth to make her stop.
“You remind me of someone. A vampire. You have the same color hair.” I remove my fingers and wipe them dry on the blanket. “I loved her once.”
A furrow appears between her brows and I smooth it out.
“Oh yes, I can love.”
“What happened?”
“She betrayed me,” I answer. “Now, hush until I tell you you can speak.”
Defiance flares in her eyes. There’s my little fighter.
She sighs against my chest, her lower lip puffed out as she stares out the window.
“Now, now, don’t sulk. Save your strength for the rest of the night. I promise you will need it.”
A tremor goes through her.
“Close your eyes,” I order. She slits them shut, but keeps squinting at the scenery. A little bit of rebellion. I will enjoy breaking her.
I won’t fuck her, not right away. First I’ll put her through the paces until every move, every gesture and flick of her eyelashes pleases me. Some vampires would simply wipe their victim’s minds and impress their will. I don’t stoop to those tricks. Even my sired, once weaned from my blood, can choose to love me. My relationship with this wolf will be no different. She will rue and fear me, and I will teach her how pleasant it is to obey. I will bind her to me using every trick and technique I know. And in the end, I’ll give her a choice: leave or stay. If she chooses to stay, she can be a sweetblood at my club. I’ll never fuck or drink from her again. I cannot risk growing attached.
To love is to lose.
Chapter 3
Selene
The vampire king lives in a mansion high on a hill. It surprises me how elevated it is, on a pedestal in the Tucson foothills.
“Like it, pet?” Lucius’ fingers massage my neck. I nod, remembering his speech restriction.
He chuckles. “Good girl.”
I shouldn’t like those words as much as I do. Lucius’s presence affects me more than it should.
He’s the enemy, I remind myself as he lifts and carries me into his house. Two men in dark glasses and unobtrusive earpieces open the double doors for us.
Frangelico swoops over the threshold and strides straight through the richly decorated house. I fidget a little in his arms, wanting to explore. My wolf doesn’t feel safe in strange places.
Frangelico is determined to carry me.
“Do you want me to put you down, pet?” he murmurs, amused. I duck my head and he chuckles. “Are you so eager to crawl for me?” he whispers in my ear.
I flush as I remember what he told me. When you are in my home, you will crawl.
His laughter booms in his broad chest, reverberating through me. I’m not particularly small or delicate, but Lucius is well out of my weight class. And I’m supposed to submit to him.
So I relax and let him carry me through the high ceilinged chambers, through a bedroom with a king-sized four poster bed and into a bathroom big as a small house. I gape at the luxury as he sets me down on a tiled ledge next to a jacuzzi tub and crouches to start the water.
“A bath?” I mumble, shocked at the sight of the Vampire King on his knees, checking the temperature of bath water.
“Naughty pet, I told you not to speak.”
I duck my head, waiting for a blow or some sort of retribution.
He just unwraps me and lowers me into the warm water. The temperature is perfect and I can’t stop myself from relaxing and letting the water wash this sordid night away.
Lucius runs a finger down my shoulder, pausing to examine the bruises on my arm. “Did you fight your handlers before the auction?”