Page 47 of Reign

“Ember, I’ve just got a bit of business to do, then I’ll be back. Stay and have a drink with Sophie, okay?”

“Me? Why am I staying behind? I should be in there with you,” snapped Sophie.

“No. You shouldn’t.” With my back to Ember, I used my compulsion to hold her eyes and force my will on her. She pursed her lips, her gaze furious. “You will stay with my mate,and you will guard her with your life,”I growled in her ear.“You cannot be in there. Not if you want to keep your identity from your own mate.”

Her eyes widened, and she paled. Silence stretched between us.

“Hey, you two okay?” asked Ember, her eyes narrowed on us.

“Yes, we’re fine. Aren’t we, Soph?”

She gritted her teeth and smiled overly brightly. “Yeah, sure.”

Ember frowned suspiciously. “Why don't you want me, or her, in there?”

I kissed her forehead. “Because the Count doesn’t trust many people. He will only have me and Owen in his office. He doesn’t know either of you.”

“What about him?” asked Sophie, not looking at Drake, just pointing in his general direction.

I raised my brows, but decided to give her an answer...this time. “Drake is there to protect our backs. But he will be outside the office, not in it.”

Sophie grunted, still looking pissed off, but I had a feeling that was more because I’d called her out on Drake being her mate than anything else. She was somehow blocking herself from him.

Ember pouted when I released her, and it was adorable.

I grinned. “Sophie!” I made a show of shouting over the music. “Would you get Em a drink? Nothing alcoholic, though.”

Ember rolled her eyes.

“You’re working, Firecracker. You can't go demon hunting with alcohol in your system.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She smiled and leaned her back against the bar. I walked away, a grin plastered to my face when I felt her gaze burn into my arse.

Balthazar’s guards surrounded the door to his office. They didn’t stop me, and I didn’t bother to knock. The Count greeted me with a bloodstained smile. “Shifter King.”

I scowled.Shit.“That wasn’t part of our deal.” Now there was a very real possibility he knew far more than I wanted him to, especially if Rex’s mind wasn’t strong enough to keep him out.

He straightened, still gripping Rex’s hair. Vampires were strong, and if they’d just fed, stronger than most shifters. Except, perhaps, me. And Balthazar Rossi was the strongest vampire I’d ever met. I doubted I’d win easily.

Balthazar elegantly shrugged his shoulders. “But his memories are certainly interesting.” He smiled and yanked Rex’s head up. Rex was pale, but his eyes still held a burning contempt, one that meant he hated where he was, at the feet of a vampire, a species he considered lesser than himself.

I cocked my head, not feeling sorry for him in the least. He’d brought this on himself. He had a whole lifetime of evil deeds and pain to atone for.

“Where’s the Halo?” I asked Balthazar.

He licked the blood off his lips, then bent down and licked up the rivulets from Rex’s throat. “Shall I heal him before we have our discussion?”

I shrugged. “For now. You can drain him dry very soon.”

Rex struggled, but he was no match for an original vampire. Balthazar pulled Rex’s head back with his hair and held his chin with his other hand, his sharp fingernails digging in his skin. Balthazar hovered his mouth over my father’s, not quite touching. He exhaled, and a fine grey mist entered Rex’s body. Rex’s eyes rolled back, and he groaned, shuddering and trying to get closer to Balthazar. An erection grew in his jeans, and he strained forward. I curled my lip and tried to hold in my impatience and disgust. Watching Rex get off on Balthazar’s Vampire voodoo wasn’t on my agenda.

Rex’s skin healed quickly. “Enough,” I barked.

Balthazar grinned and straightened. “What? You don’t want to see him humiliated that way, Shifter King?”

“You can do what you like when I have the Halo.”

Balthazar looked down at Rex. “Well? Shall I give it to your son?”

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