Page 76 of Princess Broken

“Since we’re at DEFTA,” I whisper to Crusher as we head for the elevator. “Why not just confront Diederik in his office to find out the time of the meeting?”

Crusher shakes his head. “What if Diederik is working with Mariano? Don’t want to tip him off.”

I nod. He’s right. Our priority at The Club is finding someone who knows Diederik’s schedule, and Crusher’s got dirt on a vampire who has that access. Someone known to hang at the club before and after work.

Most DEFTA syndicate members work nine to five—nine p.m. to five a.m. that is—and we’re lucky tonight isn’t a weekend.

“Let me talk to her alone,” Crusher says as the elevator descends. “We’ve got a…rapport.”

“Rapport is one way to put it.” I shake my head.

None of us is sure what dirt Crusher has on Elspeth, but whatever it is, he’s used it before to get classified info from DEFTA. As Diederik’s executive assistant, she’s got access to almost everything outside the CEO’s office. And since Ana is the acting CEO of DEFTA—or she was before that meeting—that means Elspeth might have access to pretty much everything.

Music from The Club penetrates my body, thumping through the floor and the air, even though we’ve still got a half-mile of tunnels to traverse. This is one of our main places outside of Freetown to feed and fuck, but tonight I have zero interest in either of those normally pleasurable activities.

Shoving my hand in my pocket, I fondle the lock of Ana’s hair.

Shit. I’ve got to get her out of my head. At least I feel no urge for blood tonight.

Feeding from, or fucking any vampire except Ana sounds disgusting.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ana

“Eight ball in the corner pocket.” Flame grins, looking at me instead of the pool table as he readies his shot. The others have been gone for more than two days now, and I’ve grown comfortable with Flame. Comfortable enough to pretend I’m not his captive, that this is my life now, that there could be some kind of future between us—playing games, joking—making love whenever we want.

I thought I was skilled at billiards, but at this variation Flame calls Eight Ball, he has me beat. Hands down. But clearly he’s going to take mercy on me, allowing me at least one shot during this particular game that he’s dominated since the break.

He’s taking his final shot without even looking at the table. And I see no good shot.

Eyes still on me, Flame lines up his cue and takes his shot. Then he slides his arm over my shoulders as we watch the action unfold on the green velvet. The white ball he struck passes through a tricky grouping of three of my striped balls, missing them all, then it bounces off one wall at a sharp angle, then another, and then—I gasp.

The white ball narrowly misses my green striped ball, then collides with the black eight ball, which shoots straight into the corner pocket.

I turn to him. “How did you do that?”

“Mad skills, darling. Mad skills.”

Shaking my head, I slide my hand onto Flame’s chest and look up into his eyes, thinking of entirely different mad skills he’s demonstrated. “Ready for another round?” I ask.

His expression turns playfully dark. An expression I’ve become very familiar with. “I’m ready for another round of something. But I plan to use a different hard rod.”

My sex instantly turns hot and slick.

Not that it’s felt fully dry for a moment since I met these men. What I feel when I’m around Flame might not be the kind of love that Ember described feeling for her mates, but my attraction to Flame is undeniable. In fact, both Flame and Blade make my heart beat faster and my stomach flutter, and there’s absolutely no denying the intensity of the physical desire I feel around all four of the men.

Crusher and Phil both scare me, but even that fear dampens my sex. I never felt this way around Timur.

Thinking of my friend fills me with sadness and a tinge of guilt, but it doesn’t tamper the desire or affection flooding inside me. As fond as I was of my blood partner, I never felt this way around him—not once, not remotely.

The first time, Timur had to use his fingers for a long time, along with external lubrication from a bottle, to prepare me for penetration, and I never imagined that just thinking about someone could make my sex wet.

“When will the others come back?” I ask, knowing Flame wants to keep our sexual activities a secret. So do I, even if my reasons might be different. If Blade finds out, I want him to hear it from me.

“Darling, I’m not sure I care about my brothers’ location at this particular moment.” His arm slides off my shoulders, and then he squeezes my buttocks. “My cock sure as fuck doesn’t care.”

He places my hand over his rod, fully rigid under his jeans.

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