Page 5 of Big Bad Boss: Mated

“Other than the fact that we don't kowtow to a leech. Even a king,” Billy says.

“We can spin it as a friendly meeting. We’ll just avoid inviting him for dinner and drinks,” I joke, but no one laughs.

“It's not that simple,” Nickel says. “Thaddeus is eccentric–”

“All vampires are eccentric,” Vance puts in.

“He is eccentric even for a vampire,” Nickel amends. “The more powerful they are… the weirder they get…”

There’s something they’re not telling me here. If I ever want to derail these guys’ conversation, I’ll bring up vampires. This conversation is like herding cats.

I whirl to face Brick. “Talk to me.”

“He owns a club,” Brick says.

“Like a nightclub?”

“Not that sort of club,” Billy says. “It’s called Twilight.”

“Seriously? You’re joking.” Their somber faces tell me they’re not. “Like the books?”

“What books?” They all look at me blankly.

“You guys really have to get a handle on popular culture,” I sigh. “Moving on. So we go, and we meet this king and get it over with. What's the big deal?

“He doesn't just want a meeting,” Nickel says. “That’s not what he means by ‘audience.’ He wants you to provide…” –Nickel clears his throat– “entertainment for the entire club.”

“Like karaoke?” I deadpan.

Vance and Jake laugh at this, but Brick looks more serious than ever. “No. It’s not just a nightclub. It’s a BDSM club. The king wants us to scene in public.”

Brick

“I still don’t get it,” Madi says. We’re alone in our penthouse, and she’s curled up on the couch. “This vampire says you owe him a favor, even though you really don’t, and, therefore, we have to visit a sex club and…act out some sort of BDSM farce?”

“It’s a power move. He’s making us dance for him.” I pace in front of the windows. My wolf is too wound up to sit and relax. “I don’t like it.”

She picks up her stylus and presses it to her tablet as if she were taking notes. “Well, what does it take to kill a vampire?”

“Don’t tempt me,” I say, even as my wolf surges with excitement. He’d love to hunt Thaddeus and make him pay for even trying to toy with us and my mate. “Nickel and Eagle are right. As annoying as this is, dealing with Thaddeus’ replacement would be an equal pain. Another powerful vampire might be more hostile to wolves. Or worse, a lot of vampires flock to the area and fight each other for territories. Thaddeus is pretty strong. I doubt any one other single vampire would be able to hold Manhattan. They’ll break up the city into smaller fiefdoms and feeding grounds.”

“Feeding…on humans?”

“Yeah. And a bigger group of vampires, hunting humans without a king to enforce strict rules…it’ll be a feeding frenzy.

It happened in London in the late 1800s. It was total chaos until a vampire king took over and made his subjects clean up after themselves. By clean up, I mean mindwipe or erase people’s memories. Even then, there were so many unexplained deaths, the vampire king had to leak tips to the media to make the humans think some of the deaths were the work of a serial killer.”

“Oh my God.” She drops the stylus but doesn’t seem to notice. “Are you saying some serial killers are really vampires?”

“Yes.” I head to the couch and crouch to pick up her stylus. The move puts our heads on the same level, so I stay there, crowding into her space.

“Okay. That would not be good.” She nibbles her lip, and I’m distracted for a moment, imagining doing the same. “So we better play politics with this Thaddeus guy. Appease him.”

She’s right. But I don’t have to like it.

“There’s this whole other world, one humans don’t know about.” She wrinkles her nose. She doesn’t smell scared. Only intrigued. Of course, thinking through these nuances is what she’s good at. “What would a scene for a vampire king even entail?”

A growl rumbles in my chest. I don’t want to talk about leeches and their sex clubs. “That would be for us to decide. But we better get it right. The more entertaining, the more pleased he'll be. Otherwise, he won't agree that the favor is complete.”

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