Page 21 of My Hunger, Your Soul

“What bar?”

“The brothers own a bar called Starlight. Seb works there, Dima’s husband. It’d be nice to have some new friends,” he says and Lev glares at him in annoyance.

“What? I want some new friends,” Aaron says as I notice Lev’s grip tighten on him, his knuckles turning white.

“Doe, you don’t need any fucking friends.”

“I do. Besides, he’ll be part of the family soon when Ivan claims him,” Aaron says to Lev as if I’m not here. I cough in shock, my saliva trapped in my throat.

“Excuse me, what? Claim me?”

I swear my eyes must be bulging from my head, what kind of conversation is this?

“Yeah. That’s what they do and it’s so fucking hot,” Aaron says, closing his eyes as if remembering being claimed. What the hell is going on?

“Get in the house, doe,” Lev orders, and Aaron chuckles as he bounces off to the house.

“Lev, what is he talking about?” I ask the large tattooed Greek god. Christ, Lev looks like he could snap your neck in half with one hand.

“Just go with the flow, Tyler,” he says, before leaving me mute. That's the second time today I’ve been abandoned in this driveway, speechless by what has been said to me. Claim me? Fucking claim me? Am I in some kind of werewolf novel who’s been mated to an alpha? I need to get back to the office before I scream. I must be dreaming. Or having a nightmare.

14

IVAN

“D, do you need me tonight?” I ask. I purposefully ignored Tyler while he was here today, hoping it would get under his skin. But I won’t be ignoring him tonight.

“No. Jules and Kai are at the bar tonight as I need to catch up on some paperwork. Why?”

“I’m going on a date.”

Silence fills Dima’s home office, and he looks up from the desk to where I stand next to the door.

“You never date.”

“I do now.”

“Does the other person know it's a date?”

“No.”

Dima rolls his eyes and tries to stop himself from smiling. I’m not sure why. There is nothing funny about this.

“Please don’t fuck up my architect, Ivan.”

“Calm down. He’ll be able to work as normal.”

“I don’t want to know. Go and have fun.”

“I intend to.”

I walk away from Dima’s office, whistling a made up tune, my cock thickening in my jeans at the thought that tonight Tyler will be at my mercy. Just as I get to the front door, a voice calls out behind me.

“You sound happy. Where are you going?” Aaron asks, playing with his knife in his hands. The knife is called Steve, apparently. Weird little fucker. Lev gave him the knife as a gift and Aaron decided to name it after the host of his favorite childhood show, Blues Clues. Like I said, he’s weird fucker.

“What’s it to you?”

“Curious. People like us don’t show happiness unless it's gonna be bad for another person.”

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