Once she hasa good sense of her legs again, I’ve got her standing and helping to fix her dress as best we can. When she tucked me back in, she thought she was funny by patting my cock over my pants and saying,“Good boy.”
She’ll pay for that one later.
As she throws her hair up into a soaked messy bun, she looks to me. “Where’s this last thing?”
Placing my arm over her shoulder, I direct us toward the bar. “While you were doing your villain speech—” She swats my stomach, and I let out a choked cough.
“Asshole,” she murmurs.
Chuckling while rubbing at the point of impact, I pull her closer. “I was making sure everyone else’s necks were snapped. Then, I came acrossa little… fly trapped in your web.”
Her eyebrows pinch, and as we circle around the bar, she looks down.
A woman lies before us, her feet bound, arms secured tightly behind her. Blood stains her face, and a black eye is beginning to form. Her blonde hair is matted, and her green irises, rimmed in red from tears, stare at Xera. She’s gagged, but it doesn’t stop her from trying to scream.
When my girl looks back at me, a hint of confusion furrows her brow, a scowl forming. “Who is she?”
That surprises me. For someone who’d been digging into the Hauses as much as she had, not recognizing this girl makes me pause. Then again, she mostly sticks to CHB and the news that counts, so it’s possible she missed the gossip.
Alright, maybe it’s not all that surprising after all.
“Little demon, you are looking at none other than Desiray Ansford” —a soft gasp accompanies her widening eyes— “daughter to Kor De Linos Ansford.”
She glances down slowly, and the fear in the young girl’s eyes is enough to break any heart that still holds sympathy. Barely twenty-one, a college student, and she seems like she’s got her head on straight, but odds are she’s been corrupted by her father—and even her mother.
Xera moves away from me and strides over to Desiray. As she crouches in front of her, mere inches from her face, my little demon grins.
“What a pity for you to be caught by me,” she mocks.
There’s a moment of pause, but when my girl takes a long, intense breath through her nose, she goes rigid.
“Interesting…” Her tail becomes stiff, and I know she’d hate me saying this, butGodsdo I want to just twirl it between my fingers to keep it settled.
Fuck me, it’s so cute.
She yanks the cloth from Desiray’s mouth, and the girl instantly screams. But Xera is quicker—her hand snaps across Desiray’s cheek in a sharp backhand, silencing her.
Whimpers bubble from the Shifter’s lips. “Please… I…”
“Tell me something and you may yet live.”
Nowthatsurprises me.
Desiray nods quickly. “Anything. Anything you want. Please don’t… don’t kill me…”
“I smell that filthy fucking piece of shit on you. A lot, actually.” Her hand moves to Desiray’s abdomen, and as she makes contact, the Shifter jumps. “Yeah… he is right…” She presses a sharp nail against her stomach and pushes inward. “Here…”
A loud shriek comes as Xera draws blood. “Stop! Stop!”
“Lars—pfft,Marcos, didn’t stop when I told him to.”
My heart rate picks up and anger churns in my stomach.
“My question, Desiray… Will he come for you if he knows his woman and child have been kidnapped?”
She has been fucking Lars?I don’t know how this could get more perfect, but also dangerous. No one has texted me, but for good measure, I check my phone. The bodyguards, courtesy of Kayn, are loyal—one of their jobs was to call or message me if the authorities were on their way.
However, if Lars at any point has tried to contact Desiray and she didn’t answer, who knows what he would do. Would he come to her?
