Page 18 of Filthy Rich Vampires: For Eternity

“You believe that?” I asked. My mouth felt dry, and I wished I’d kept the whisky. I felt it, but somehow I still couldn’t come to grips with what had happened. “Seriously?”

His lips pressed into a thin line that told me he was serious. Deadly serious.

“I never thought...”

“None of us did. Not after all this time.” Before tonight I’d never seen my father look shaken. He’d been shaken twice in the last few hours.

“What do you think it means?” I asked.

“That Thea is more powerful than we realized, and if she is, she will be a target. We have to—”

The doors to the room flew open, cutting us off mid-sentence.

But when I turned, I froze.

Aurelia had removed her cloak and traded whatever party dress she’d worn under it for the evening for a pair of leather pants and a thick black sweater. Her black hair, which had been hidden under her hood before, was plaited into a thick braid that hung over one shoulder. But the full lips that preoccupied me were turned down.

“One of you needs to get Sabine under control,” she demanded.

“Here we go,” I muttered.

She shot me a sharp look.

“She just beheaded one of our new guards. You have no idea how hard it is to find good help these days.”

My father sighed, tossing a long-suffering look my way. “I’ll go.”

“Thank you,” Aurelia said pointedly as he headed out to calm Sabine down. The man was a saint as far as I was concerned.

But Aurelia swiveled to me when he was out of sight. “Can he rein her in alone?”

“My father can handle Sabine,” I said he words harsher than I intended as I grappled with the magnetic energy she radiated. One only I seemed to feel. Maybe because she was the first person in hundreds of years who’d quoted a random ancient text to me. That was my area of expertise. Few modern vampires bothered with studying the old texts. But as I scanned her body, I knew it was more than that.

Her gray gaze probed me with a curiosity that mirrored my own, and when it met mine, her eyes widened as if she felt the same insistent tug.

She opened her mouth, her breath catching slightly as if she’d forgotten what she was about to say. I zeroed in on those lips, wondering what she would do if I leaned in, if I kissed her. Then I realized it didn’t matter. I couldn’t stop myself.

I got one step before that curiosity curdled into disdain. “Do you always let someone else do your dirty work?”

She might as well have slapped me in the face. I stopped, scowling. “Let me be clear, princess,” I said, a growl lacing my words, “I’ve never been afraid to get my hands dirty.”

She rolled her eyes, but her cheeks colored slightly. I was getting under her skin. Good.

“Maybe I should show you just how dirty—”

“Enough,” she cut me off.

She snapped her fingers, and an icy numbness shot up my throat. I opened my mouth to speak and found I couldn’t. What the hell kind of magic was this?

And with a smile, Aurelia turned and left me there—utterly, literally, fucking speechless.

CHAPTER FIVE

JULIAN

Thea bolted up, drawing a sheet hastily over her nude body. It clung to her curves, her body still sticky with sweat from our lovemaking. I sprang out of bed, looking over my shoulder at her. “Wait here.”

It was more of a request than an order. I was well aware that my mate would do whatever the fuck she wanted and when her eyes narrowed, I tacked on a weary, “Please.”

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