Page 48 of Moonlit Thorns

I come to a stop when I see that he’s not alone.

All three of his brothers are here. The four of them are seated around the lounge area on the couches and chairs, and the tension is as thick as the humidity around here in July. The room seems dimmer than normal, as though the shadows are hovering like mist in the corners.

“Leave us,” Asher says, locking eyes on me. The brother with the wolf tattoo on his neck narrows his eyes at me as though he wants to say something, but Asher speaks again, though it’s more of a growl this time. “Leave.”

The three of them get up without saying a word and walk around me toward the door. They’re an intimidating group, but I keep my chin raised until the door closes behind me.

Then I stride toward Asher. “We need to talk.”

He stands from the chair he’s in, slides his hand down his tie, then turns and walks toward his desk. “I see you must be feeling better.”

“I told you I was fine yesterday.” I follow him, trying my best not to feel like a puppy following its master.

“Yes, that must be why you slept for sixteen hours straight.” He rounds the corner of his desk and takes a seat.

I come to a stop in front of his desk, hands in fists at my sides. “I’m not leaving here until I get answers.”

“And what answers exactly are you looking for, Miss Boudreaux?”

God, I’m so sick of his shit. He knows exactly why I’m here.

“What goes on in the basement?” I cross my arms and stare down at him.

“Are you sure you want to know the answer to that question?” He arches an eyebrow, his dark eyes studying me. “The answer may be dangerous. Even my brothers can’t decide what to do with you.”

A creeping sensation travels up my spine, like spider legs crawling over my skin, but I keep my composure. “What does that mean?”

Asher leans back in his seat. His body language is relaxed and subdued, but his eyes…his eyes are like a laser target on me. “Well, one of them questions whether you can be trusted to keep your mouth shut, one wants to make an example of you, and the other wants to kill you to ensure your silence. You knowing more than you already do might fare worse for you.”

I swallow, questioning whether this is wise or not, but I don’t care. So much has already gone unsaid between us, and I refuse to let this be another thing that gets pushed into the shadows. “Are you threatening me?”

“I’m merely educating you on what your curiosity could cost you.”

I plant my hands on his desk and lean over it, the same way he did in his bedroom yesterday morning. “I want to know what I saw. Is it a cult?”

I hold my breath while he continues to hold my gaze, unflinching.

With a sigh, he says, “So be it.” He gestures to the chair behind me, and I sit, if only because I think he might actually be about to tell me the truth. “It’s not a cult, though it’s amusing that you think so. It’s called The Ritual Room, a sex club.”

The air whooshes out of me. So more lies then.

I lean forward in my seat. “I know what I saw. People in robes with masks on, a man with a knife on a dais, cutting into a woman.” When his nostrils flare, I add, “That’s right, my memory is slowly coming back to me. There wasn’t any sex going on.”

“You asked for the truth, and I gave it to you,” he bites out. “What you walked in on was the blood ritual. It’s performed once a year. Think of it as a tradition of sorts.”

I lean back in my seat. He seems as though he’s telling the truth. It’s not as if telling me it’s a sex club wouldn’t have consequences of its own if I ever told anyone—which I never would.

“So you and a bunch of your friends get together once a month to sleep with each other?” I try not to think too hard about who and what Asher may have done there over the years.

“There’s more to it than that.”

I scoff. “Like what? Isn’t everyone there wealthier than God? Can you not all get laid the regular way?”

A deep chuckle reverberates through his chest. “Power. Influence. Secrets. Leverage—at least for my brothers and me.”

His amusement irritates me as though I’m some child. “So when you said I shouldn’t have been there…”

“I meant you are not permitted to be there. You’re not a member. You haven’t been vetted—though I assured my brothers I had already done that part before you came to work for me.”

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