Page 23 of Blood Moon Heat

I didn’t know what to say to that, and the silence stretched out.

“Good night, Mina,” he said.

“Good night.”

I was positive I’d never be able to fall asleep beside him, not after the way he’d lost control earlier, but I did. Somehow I drifted off almost immediately.

When I woke the next morning, Nero was gone, and Pretender was waiting to take me back to my room.

As soon as the other vampire shut me in my pink prison again, it was as if the madness of the night before had never happened, as if those quiet moments in the darkness in Nero’s arms were all a dream.

Eight

Nero

“I need you to keep the club closed tonight,” Constantine said.

I sat back in my chair, phone to my ear. “Why?”

He sighed. “My bonded is…lonely.”

“And how will keeping my club closed cure that?”

“Our females, they’ve been alone, locked away from society since we claimed them, Nero. They need companionship. Rather than them seeking that from”—he growled low—“outside sources, I think that making friends with one another will at least be safe.”

I gripped my phone tighter. Dining with her, taking her to my bed and holding her, answering her questions about my past, about Dorotha, whom I hadn’t spoken about in longer than I could remember, hadn’t worked. Maybe letting her spend time with my brothers’ females would give her the sense of freedom she craved? I needed her where she was, where I knew she was safe from my enemies, but I couldn’t fucking tolerate being barred from her room any longer. That separation from her only made the predator in me thirst for her even more violently.

I’d stood paralyzed outside her bedroom last night. I was a male who did whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Mina was mine, and if I wanted to go into her room, I could.

But I hadn’t.

I hadn’t done it because this turmoil inside me that she was responsible for was pushing me closer to the edge with each passing day, and sleeping beside her, in my bed, but still being denied all of her, had only made the wildfire inside me burn hotter.

I’d liked it, being that close to her.

She’d maintained steadfast in her resolve, though, while I’d burned for her.

I needed unrestricted access to her. I needed her compliant. That was the only way to stay in control.

What Constantine said made sense. Our females had been deprived of companionship for years, and for young females, I assumed that was difficult. A gathering like that would at least be safe, the club was secure, and we’d be there to make sure they were protected.

And maybe allowing her to meet with the other females, to form a friendship of some kind would please her and make her more biddable?

“Fine,” I said to Constantine. “The Bank will stay closed tonight.”

“I’ll see you this evening, then,” Constantine said and disconnected.

The upper-level club would be best. The Vault would need to remain open. I had customers that relied on it to feed. Thankfully, there were two entrances to The Vault, one in the upper level at the back of The Bank’s main room that was manned at all times, and also an exterior door behind the main building.

“Have Monty redirect our clients to The Vault’s back entrance tonight,” I said to Pretender when he walked in. “The Bank will be closed.”

My ward raised a brow but dipped his chin and left to do as I said.

I strode from my office and down the private stairs to the lower level. That heavy feeling in my chest grew with every step I took. My skin felt tight, and I clenched and unclenched my fingers as my nerve endings felt as if they were sparking from the tips. The sensation wasn’t pain. The pain was there, but this was something else, something even more threatening.

I had to be careful I didn’t get lost to the sensations this female was causing in me.

You’re already lost.

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