Chapter 14

Eden moistened kiss-swollen lips. A dull hurt replaced the joy emanating from her. "Tonight?" she asked.

Guilt slithered through my ribs. I had the sudden, shocking urge to tell Brien to go fuck himself, which was messed up. Eden was in the wrong here. One round of hot sex didn't change that.

Even if it had been five-alarm, make-your-eyes-roll-back-in-your-head hot sex.

Even if I'd been compelled by some primitive instinct to make her admit she was mine…

"Tonight," I confirmed.

She sat up, the sheet clutched to her chest, a clear sign she felt vulnerable—and why that made my heart constrict, I didn't know. But it did.

"Why?" Her eyes pinged back and forth between mine. "What do they want?"

"Brien didn't say. Now get up—you don't want to keep them waiting."

I got out of bed, aware I was being an ass. But it seemed imperative to reassert my control over Eden. Or maybe myself, because the woman hadn't been back for forty-eight hours, and already, I was ready to go up against my primus for her. Already, I'd all but begged her to say she was mine.

I busied myself checking my phone. "Take a shower," I said without looking at her. "I'll text someone to bring you some clothes. You can't go dressed in that Catwoman outfit." For a formal meeting like this, she'd need something more subdued. An outfit like that might even be considered an insult.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Eden roll her lips in. Then she rose from the bed and strolled past me naked and proud as a queen.

I texted Kerry to have someone bring Eden a nice dress and a pair of heels, then put the phone down and blew out a breath.

Where were these inconvenient feelings coming from? I'd never felt like this about a thrall before. Why now? Why her?

And that was my legs moving, following her into the bathroom.

Instead of a tub I'd probably never use, I'd had a doorless shower installed with a heated towel rack and multiple showerheads. A second section with a handheld shower had a teak stool against one wall. Eden used to sit on the stool to shave her legs while I watched.

I rounded the partition between the shower and the toilet. Eden had turned on the lower five showerheads, leaving the rain shower off so her hair didn't get wet.

She stood in profile to me, eyes closed, one hand on the rough slate tiles, letting the hot water flow over her. Slippery and pink-skinned and so beautiful my heart did that constricting thing again.

"Hey," I said.

She opened her eyes and turned toward me, swiping her hands over her face. The gold cuff on her wrist glinted in the muted lighting.

"I'm done." She went to brush past me.

She'd closed down. That's what I wanted, wasn't it? A thrall who didn't make inconvenient demands for things like affection or time outside of the bedroom.

So why did it feel like she'd shoved a screw into my chest and twisted it?

I caught her arm, trapping her between my body and the tile wall.

Sea-glass eyes met mine, their color intensified by the water droplets dotting her dark-gold lashes. "What?" she asked flatly.

I stared down at her with what felt like a fishbone lodged in my throat. Slowly, carefully, I brought her wrist to my mouth, kissing the inside just below the gold cuff that symbolized her bond to me.

My intent was to remind us both who she belonged to. That this wasn't a relationship but a transaction—vampire to thrall.

But it didn't go down like that, not with her blood pulsing in the vein beneath my lips. Not with her scent enveloping me.

Heated skin.

Feminine spice.

Against my will, my fangs lengthened. I scraped the tips over that tempting blue line.

Mine.

Feed.

Without warning, the blood-hunger wrested control of my brain. I made a low, animal sound deep in my throat.

I wanted—no, needed—to bury my fangs in the clean-smelling hollow at the turn of her shoulder.

Needed to shove her up against the slate tiles.

Needed to fuck her, deep and hard, until she felt me everywhere from the crown of her head to her pretty pink toes.

She'd accepted my blood bond. She was mine.

She tensed. "You're hungry."

I stifled a groan. You have no idea, little girl.

I reminded myself that drinking from Eden wasn't an option right now. That it could harm both her and my spawn.

Just a taste, the hunger crooned.

I drew a slow breath, then forced myself to lift my head and release her. "Go," I said gruffly.

She nodded and slipped out of the shower.

I rested my forehead on the slate tiles.

What the fuck, Talon?

I hadn't come that close to losing myself to the blood-hunger since the first months after I'd been turned.

I dialed the water temperature to ice-cold—anything to cool myself—and soaped up.

When I reentered the bedroom, a black knit dress was laid out on the bed along with a half-slip, and Eden was perched on a chair in a lacy black bra and panties, pulling on a pair of sheer thigh-highs. My dick twitched, but I moved past her to my walk-in closet for a suit and a dress shirt.

Back in the bedroom, Eden was still perched on the chair. As I buttoned my shirt, she rolled up the second stocking and pulled it over her toes, unrolling it to her ankle and then up her long, lean leg.

My fingers stilled on my shirt buttons as she pulled the sheer material over the strong muscles of her calf and continued up to her thigh. Watching Eden dress was almost as good as watching her undress—and it reminded me of how much I'd missed her.

I turned away.

She fooled you once. Who's to say she won't do it again?

Her disloyalty crouched between us like a dark, ragged thing. I'd accepted her apology, but we could never go back to how we'd been.

In claiming Eden as my exclusive thrall, I'd elevated her status. She'd traveled with us, received special treatment—extra freedom, a larger suite in the thralls' quarters, bonuses in the form of jewelry and cash.

The syndicate had known what that meant. She was a weakness, one I reluctantly owned because the alternative—knowing other vampires were fucking and feeding from Eden—simply wasn't tolerable.

And in return, she'd spied on the syndicate and run from me, a sickening repeat of all the times my mom and my loser of a father had let me down.

I could forgive Eden. But I wasn't sure if I'd ever trust her again.

She put on the half-slip and shimmied into the black dress. The form-fitting knit made it clear she was round with my spawn. That, at least, wasn't a lie.

She tried and failed to reach the zipper. She cast me a look over her shoulder. "I can't—"

I was already crossing to her. Her nape was damp from the shower. She smelled like my soap and her own unique essence.

My dick pressed against my dress pants. I gritted my teeth and took hold of the dress's pull-tab. My fingers brushed her bare neck and she gave a small shiver.

Something crawled through my chest. A dark, primal yearning.

Mark her.

Claim her.

Eden licked her lips. "Something wrong?"

I inhaled, told myself it was simply the blood-hunger. I needed to feed, that was all.

"No," I lied and zipped her up. Instead of releasing her, I cupped her neck, tipping her head back so I could speak into her ear. "If you have to grovel, you'll fucking do it. Got it? I can only protect you so far."

Her chest jerked in a jagged breath. "Yes."

She was truly afraid now, her emotions so raw it was like she was shouting them to the room. I resisted my urge to soothe, reassure.

Brien was a tolerant primus and I believed Twilight was prepared to forgive and forget, but only if Eden showed the proper amount of contrition.

"Good." I bit the side of her neck—no fangs, just my human teeth.

But I did it hard enough to leave a mark.

The war room was empty except for Diane. She glanced up as we passed her computer station. "Good evening, Lieutenant."

I paused. "Everything okay?"

Her eyes slid to Eden, standing straight-backed by my side, then dropped to the blood-bond bracelet, taking it in, unsurprised. Word must've gotten around.

"It's been pretty quiet," the soldier replied.

"Good." I guided Eden into Brien's office.

He was seated behind his desk with Twilight standing to his left, her long hair in its usual inky braid. No Cain, for which I was grateful. He'd made his disdain for Eden clear; I didn't need him mucking this up for her.

"Talon." Brien shut his laptop. "Thank you for coming."

"Of course." I included Twilight in my respectful nod.

Brien's gaze flicked to Eden, noting first the red mark I'd put on her neck, then the gold cuff. He met my eyes, acknowledging the message that, for better or worse, this woman was under my protection.

Eden was staring at Twilight, brow pleated.

In a short pink dress and platform shoes, our new prima appeared as lethal as a piece of bubblegum, but I'd seen her fight—the woman was good. In fact, she probably had a blade strapped to one of those lean thighs.

"A vampire," Eden said in a disbelieving voice. "You're a vampire?"