Page 72 of Forever Touched

“No, Mistress.”

“Did you convince him to let you go with your magic?”

“No, Mistress.”

She released my chin with a disgusted huff. “He got bored of you, then. Typical Venturi, taking whatever he wants, then throwing it away. I hear he’s slept with every maid in his castle.” She leaned forward to sniff me, then recoiled with another disgusted huff. “Of course he claimed you, like a spoiled child with a new toy. See, this is why our mission is so important, Adalyn. The Venturi only think about themselves, not caring how their actions affect others.”

Grumbling to herself, she stormed to the fridge and practicallyripped the door off. She grabbed a blood bag and quickly poured its contents into a glass.

“You have no idea how stressful it was for me to watch him take you away, Adalyn,” she said, downing half the glass in one huge gulp. “I haven’t drank this much since my poor Richard died, God rest his soul. The thought of you in that monster’s clutches . . .” She tipped back the glass and finished off the blood. “I’ve been beside myself forhours, thinking the worst. He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

Recalling how he’d carefully taken care of me, fed me, and treated me like a part of his family, my throat tightened. Unable to speak, I just shook my head.

She shrewdly glanced at the bandages still on my neck and arm from last night. “And he didn’t feed you his blood, I see. Good. Maybe I won’t have to punish you too severely after all.”

Aaand there it was. The moment I’d been waiting for. I braced myself for whatever punishment she had in store for me.

“Because of theclaimthe prince put on you, working at the club isn’t an option. Dominant males are babies like that, turned off when something has been claimed by another male. They don’t care if you’ve had sex with hundreds of other males, so long as they’re notremindedof that fact. Their egos are so fragile. Anyway, you’ll stay here until the claim fades, understood?”

I bobbed my head. “Yes, Mistress.”

“But you’ll continue to do your chores. Without pay, of course, to help compensate for the days you’re not working at the club. This is a huge setback for us when we’resoclose to reaching our goal, Adalyn. Your clients aren’t going to handle your absence very well. And we lost Councilman Torres, one of our best. Such a shame. He would have done just about anything for us.”

At the reminder that he was dead, I struggled to keep a smile offmy face.

“Oh, and I had the Aston Martin brought back, along with the clothing you left in your room.”

She set down her glass and reached inside the pocket of her robe. As she pulled out a small object wrapped in fabric, my blood ran cold.

“I assume this is yours,” she went on, carefully lifting a corner of the fabric to reveal my silver knife. “Answerme.”

As her voice snapped through the air like a whip, my lungs seized. “Yes, Mistress.”

“Oh, Adalyn, you disappoint me.” She tucked the knife back inside her pocket. “Letting you own a weapon that can kill vampires is dangerous, not to mention how expensive it must have cost. I’m hurt that you didn’t tell me about it. If you were feeling unsafe, you should have told me.” She lightly clucked her tongue in disapproval before adding, “Until further notice, your phone and car privileges are revoked. Understood?”

I clasped my hands together to keep them from shaking. “Yes, Mistress.”

“And you aren’t to step foot outside this house until I say so.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

Her face relaxed. A second later, she was inches away, our noses practically touching. Her brown eyes bored holes into mine as she hissed, “Swearit.”

I barely managed not to flinch. “I swear.”

“You’ll do well to remember the blood debt you owe this family, Adalyn. Any attempt to run away or break the promises you’ve sworn will trigger our pactum. You don’t want to die, do you? After all the hard work you’ve put in?”

“No, Mistress.”

“Good. Now run along and see to your chores. I’ve got an extra long list for you today. That should keep you busy until this evening, maybe longer. Tick-tock, Adalyn. Time does not reward a lazy spirit.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

I accepted the written list she handed me and hurried from the kitchen like my tail was on fire.

22

ADALYN

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