CHAPTER THREE
Saylor
He saw right through me, through my illusion.
How?
He fucking saw me.
He shouldn’t have been able to.
To the others in the crowd, I looked like a completely different woman—a redheaded vampire with a sexy body and giant boobs.
But he saw me.
It’s concerning.
I don’t know what to do with this male the fates have given me.
I’m here on a lead about my brother. There’s a certain shifter here I wanted to try to get in for a private lap dance and attempt to get some information out of him, but now, I guess that’s all gone to hell.
I knew Bane would get in my way, which is why I escaped him a week ago.
One thing about me?
I am no man’s peace.
Bane can look down at me with his dark gaze, framed in those thick dark lashes, with that perfect mouth demanding I fall in line, but not even he is going to get in my way. My red-lace gloved hand slides across his tattooed throat, which looks so fucking sexy, and he breaks the kiss. “If I slide my hand into your panties right now, what will I find, Sunshine? Will you be wet for me? Or maybe it was the female you were kissing?”
The last line is said in a growl.
He clearly didn’t like the show.
And fair enough because when he took his tunic off, showing off that sexy, ripped body with delicious abs covered in ink and magical runes, I didn’t like other women seeing that either.
Clearly, he’s not the only possessive one between us.
That was the first time I’ve seen him shirtless, as did the whole room.
I don’t like that.
When the manager told me I had to make out with Luxe to get the crowd turned on before we started dancing, I was a little curious. She was hot, and I’ve never kissed another female before.
I like to try all things at least once.
I mean, it’s a fifty-fifty outcome on whether it ends up being a bad decision or not.
And those are odds I like.
The kiss was hot but nothing compared to the male in front of me. He has me panting. And now that he’s shirtless in front of me, I get to explore those sexy abs. Fuck, I want to run my tongue over the deep indentations.
“Why don’t you dip your finger inside and see for yourself?” I suggest, licking my lips. “Whatever you find there is all for you, Bane.”
“Fuck,” he groans, burying his face in my neck at the same time he does as he’s told, sliding his finger over my clit before sliding it inside my pussy.
“You’re soaked,” he rasps.
I then watch in rapt fascination as he lifts his finger to his mouth and sucks on it, tasting me. His eyes close, and he makes a deep sound in his chest that has me so turned on I’m about to beg him to fuck me right here and now. “Bane—”
“Let’s get out of here. Our first time isn’t going to be against a brick wall in the back of a strip club.”
“I don’t know… it’s kind of exciting, don’t you think?”
“Saylor,” he rasps, cupping my ass.
“Okay, okay.”
Where’s his sense of adventure?
“Wait, just one more taste,” I moan, pulling his lips back to mine.
“Fuck, I’m trying to do the right thing here,” he says against my mouth before kissing me back even harder.
“Who decides what the right thing to do is?” I grin, sliding down to my knees and licking down his ripped abs, tracing the tattoos with my tongue. When I reach his pants, I move to pull out his cock. Anyone could walk back here at any moment, and the thought has me so fucking turned on I don’t care if we put on a show.
“Fuck, little wolf,” he growls, picking up his tunic and covering my ass with it. Like that’s going to make a difference.
“Put it on properly. I don’t want anyone seeing you,” he rumbles, scowling.
I’m about to shut him up with my mouth on him when Bane looks behind me, fingers tightening on my hair. I turn around to see Luxe standing there, mouth open, staring at Bane like she’s never seen a male before.
“Can I join you?” she asks in a husky voice, and yeah, suddenly, this game is not so fun.
I pick up his tunic and zip us to my bedroom.
No bitch is going to see my man and think she has a chance of ever getting a taste.
He smirks as he looks down at me, obviously enjoying the fact I was jealous. “Not in the mood to share?”
“Shut up.”
Bane laughs and kisses the top of my head, then lets go of me to glance around, his dark eyes widening as he takes in my décor. I try and see it through his eyes—bright yellow walls, a big bed with white sheets covered in pink flowers and a million pillows of different sizes and colors. The drawers are built into the bottom of my bed frame. There is a wooden armoire with the door currently left open and filled with bright-colored clothing of all prints and materials, as well as a big fluffy purple rug, which we are currently standing on.
He slowly blinks as he takes it all in.
His aesthetic is very different from mine since the only color he likes is black, but hey, opposites attract, right?
“You going to let me decorate when we move in together?” I tease, and he picks me up and throws me on the bed.
Throws me.
He makes me feel like I weigh nothing. I’ve had males try to pick me up and struggle, but Bane is something else.
He lays on top of me with his arms locked, making sure not to give me his weight as he cages me underneath him. Some of my pillows go tumbling to the floor. “You moving in with me, Sunshine?”
“I mean, maybe one day,” I mumble, pushing his dark hair off his forehead.
Up close, his dark eyes have flecks of amber in them. “You want to tell me why you were stripping and making out with another woman? And no bullshit, Saylor.”
I open my mouth, then close it. I suppose I can share it with him. It’s not like the fact that Shadow is missing is a secret, but the fact that we haven’t let it go is. We don’t want whoever has him to know we are slowly catching up and getting closer to finding him. “There was a shifter there who has some information I need. I came up with the idea to pretend to be a stripper and get him alone so I could get said information.”
His irises bleed to amber. I’m going to take that as him trying to hold onto his control. I know why he’s pissed. I would be, too, but what he doesn’t realize is that no one was actually seeing me. It was the image I projected—the sexy, redheaded vixen. No one in that room tonight saw an inch of my skin aside from him, which brings me back to the fact that my illusions don’t work on him. Or maybe it’s just that, as my mate, he can always see through me .
“Let’s get something straight right now,” Bane says, voice low and commanding. “If you need information, you fucking tell me. We can use torture like every other fucker out here instead of you using your beautiful body. No one else sees you like this, no one. And you don’t put yourself in danger.”
So torture gets the thumbs up, but showing off a little skin doesn’t.
Noted.
The corner of my mouth hikes up. My mate is fucking funny.
“This is amusing to you?” he growls, holding my wrists above my head. He rubs his thumb along the glove’s lace. He hasn’t asked about them yet. I’d love to be in his head to know what he’s thinking. Is he happy with who the fates have chosen for him? Am I his type? Does he care that I have to shift every full moon?
“You’re so cute.” I sigh, nuzzling his jaw.
“Cute?” He sounds offended. “I don’t think anyone has called me cute before.”
He now sounds confused. He will probably be feeling that way a lot around me.
“I’m sorry I ran away,” I blurt out, my tongue darting out to lick my lower lip. His eyes follow the motion, heat flashing in them before he masks it.
“Why did you?” he asks, studying me.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with you. You are… perfect,” I admit, my lips twitching. “It’s just the timing is terrible. I…” I trail off. His fingers start tracing a pattern on my wrists. “Can you kiss me again? I want you, Bane.”
He searches my face and nods, his eyes flickering amber again. Fuck, it’s so sexy when they do that. His eyes drop to my neck, and his fangs peek out from his full, kissable lips. Fangs? Oh, right. He’s a demon. “Are you sure?”
“We don’t have to bond now,” I blurt out, not wanting to rush into that. “But let me have a little taste of what I’ll be getting.”
A try before you buy, if you will.
His eyes narrow to slits, and his fingers stop gliding over my skin, no longer tracing any patterns.
Shit, did I say the last part out loud?
As I replay the words in my head, I realize how bad they sound, and maybe he’s not used to females acting this brazenly. I don’t know, but he doesn’t look happy. He kind of looks like he wants to strangle me, and the thunder that booms outside solidifies that thought. I can work with that, though. His hand can collar my throat any damn time. My lips distract him by trailing down his tattooed neck, my tongue tracing the black-inked skull there. His tattoos are like one big puzzle—the more you look at them, the more you notice. You can tell which ones are runes that contain magic by the strum of power you can feel from them.
“There will be no trying before you buy, Sunshine,” he says, finally letting go of my wrists, raking his fingers through my long hair and cupping the back of my skull. He pulls my face back to look at him, keeping me in the position he wants me in and staring at me intensely like he’s trying to read my mind. Shit, he doesn’t have mind magic, does he? He’d be fucked if he does because, trust me, no one wants to see the chaotic wonder that is my brain. “You are mine , and you get what you fucking get. But don’t worry, I’ll take care of you. Very fucking well.”
And then his mouth is on mine, his tongue expertly tasting me. “You might be stubborn, but your body knows who it wants,” he rasps against my lips. I can feel his hard cock pressing against me, and suddenly, I’ve had enough messing around.
I want him .
Reaching between us, I stroke my hand over him, smiling at the moan it incites.
Should I be indulging myself like this? No. I need my mind focused.
My oldest brother is still missing—the male who raised me.
And it’s my fault.
It’s up to me to find him.
But fuck.
I want Bane.
And for tonight…
I’m going to have him.