Page 28 of Spider Demon's Kiss

“I could eat,” I told him knowing I still wasn’t strong enough to shift.

Changing into Lorenzo’s clothes, I joined him at the table.

“Did I interrupt something?” I asked noticed how put together the things on the table were.

“What could you interrupt?”

I stared at my black box of a brother realizing he wasn’t gonna give anything up. So instead I joined him at the table and dug in. Food was just what I needed. I ate until I couldn’t move.

“You can stay in the spare room.”

“I don’t need to stay in your spare room,” I said feeling pissed off at his suggestion. What did he think, that I couldn’t take care of myself?

“Dante,” he said looking at me with sympathy, “I know why you did it. And it’s commendable. You’re doing more for Matteo than I would. But, the man you married is trying to kill you.”

“He’s not.”

“You’ve been married to him for three days. In those days, how many times have you had to shift to heal?”

“Hey, one of those times was from a car accident.”

“… Five minutes after marrying the man known as the spider demon because everyone he’s with dies from a heart attack. I can’t remember, what caused you to run into that tree, again?”

Lorenzo was being an asshole about it, but he wasn’t wrong. Unless it was a panic attack that caused me to hit that tree, I had to accept that it had to do with Kuroi’s kiss. That made it three injuries and two times that I had had to shift.

But, if Kuroi was trying to kill me, why hadn’t he just done it that first night. He had a knife. He knew where to aim it. Why hadn’t he tried to break into my room when I was supposed to be asleep and finish me off?

Even tonight. Who makes a casserole and tries to murder someone with the dish? There has got to be more to what’s going on than him being a raving maniac with impeccable fashion sense.

Speaking of, why was he dressed like that when I got home? I’ve never had a fetish. But that man was definitely doingsomething to me. If he ever stopped trying to kill me, I would do incredibly dirty things to him.

“Did you hear me, Dante? You can’t go home. I need more time before I take over the pack. So, I need you alive a little longer.”

My eyes locked on him giving him a death stare. He wasn’t joking. He also wasn’t backing down from what he said.

I could respect that. Lorenzo knew what he wanted and didn’t try to hide it. He wanted my job but wasn’t willing to kill me for it. He should have that type of ambition. I could work with that.

He didn’t have what was needed to lead a pack. Neither he nor Matteo did. Combine the two and they would be a dangerous force. But running a pack was more than just snarling when someone threatened your dominance. It required letting people inside.

It might frustrate the hell out of you like Matteo frustrated me. But it was what was necessary. Lorenzo couldn’t do that.

And what Matteo needed was some of Lorenzo’s foresight. Hell, Matteo just needed not to act on whatever random thought went through his head. Not even our father ran the pack that way and we had barely survived it.

“You’re my brother. Don’t make me have to put you in the ground,” I warned him.

“You think you could if you tried?” he asked with a smile.

What did he mean by that? Of course I could. Was he better at building allies than I gave him credit for?

“Don’t make me have to try,” I said staring him in the eyes.

“You can sleep in the spare room,” he replied leaving the table and heading to his room.

I had to watch Lorenzo. He was the last person I would expect to betray me. But that made him the most dangerous.

Sitting for a while longer, I eventually took Lorenzo up on his offer and retired to his spare room. In spite of Lorenzo’s open challenge, I slept well that night. I hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before, so I needed it. And once I was up the next morning, I shifted and felt as good as new.

Returning to my place a little after sunrise, I found Kuroi sleeping in my bed. I was quiet so I didn’t think I had woken him. That allowed me to stare at my new husband, the beautiful boy in my bed.

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