Page 6 of Draco

The group swarmed us then patted us down with more aggression than needed. I grimaced and growled at Roman when he pulled at the gold around my neck.

“Asshole, stop handling me like you’ve lost your mind.” I snarled. “We both know I can break you in half by thumping you in your big ass forehead!”

Roman grinned as his dark eyes swept from my loafers to my face.

“Draco, no matter how strong you are, you have human blood running through your veins. You’ll always be beneath me.”

I smirked and squeezed the handle of the briefcase to keep from starting a war. In the past, I lost my cool, and me and my brothers barely walked away with our lives. After being around for almost a century, death sounded like a sanctuary. Still, I hoarded my anger at the idea that my rage could cause my brothers’ demise.

Right on time, the leader of the coven strolled out of the house with his arms spread wide. Born to two onyx vampires, Polo was as white as cotton, stood over seven feet tall, and his eyes were darker than coal.

“I see my favorite brothers have arrived. Would you like to come inside for a drink? Some pussy? A little blood?”

I dropped the cases of gold near my feet. “You know better than that, Polo. We don’t party with the enemy.”

“Enemy? You and your brothers have been coming to see me for years. I thought we’d be friends by now.”

My top lip sharpened on one end. “You have me risking my freedom for shit you don’t need. We could never be friends.”

Polo waved me off. “Be real for once, Draco. Every time you run into a bank, you pocket cash for yourself. I know that barbershop you own isn’t making any real money.”

“Are we done here?” Zo asked from over my shoulder. “All the money y’all got, and it smells like ass as soon as you drive into the city.”

Roman mugged my brother with disgust in his eyes.

“Trust me. We don’t want you here.”

“Then let’s call it even,” Quadir spoke up.

Polo combed his hair back while shaking his head. “You know we can’t do that. The rules say half breeds have to hunt for the city until they find their mate.”

“That’s dumb as fuck!” Zo blurted. “What does a woman, onyx or not, have to do with any of this?”

“A lot!” Polo yelled before expelling a mischievous laugh. “An onyx vampire can’t age past a certain point until he creates a legacy. In your case, you can’t ageorcut ties until you’ve done the same because your elder fucked up universal order. Your mate may be one of us, or she may be a human. Either way, find the one who can wear your lifeline and put things back in order. You find your mate, then you create the legacy that isrightfullyyours. That’s when we’ll call it even.”

Out of all the rules, my inability to age past thirty in human years bothered me the most. With everything I accomplished, I didn’t agree that my legacy depended on finding a partner, but I also had never been in love.

“All right!” Roman clapped. “We have our gold bars, and you have your answer. You’re dismissed.”

“Watch your fucking mouth,” I warned him between clenched teeth.

“I won’t watch shit! We all know why you are in this situation. Hell, I still can’t figure out how Luca could crossbreed. Most humans turn into stone when we fill their wombs. Had your family not crossed the line, we wouldn’t have even known it was possible.”

Zo stepped forward, filling the space beside me. “It sounds like you should say thank you instead of persecuting us.”

When Polo snapped his fingers as if dismissing us, I locked eyes with my little brother and communicated with him without prying my lips apart. I could hear the demons in his head screaming for him to start a riot. Of the three of us, he held the most anger in his heart. I didn’t know if it resulted from our parents or his experience in Blackstone, but my brother’s fuse became shorter every year.

“I don’t know why you three are still standing around looking like bitches. Get on!” Roman laughed with his crew and moved to walk off.

Zo’s light brown eyes turned a metal gray the longer he stared at me.

“Can I get him?”

I winked. “Do your thang, brodie.”

The words barely left my lips before Zo snapped into action. Black, tattered wings that looked like they belonged to a bat ripped through his leather letterman jacket. My brother was six foot four, but the attachments added length to his frame. In a blink of an eye, he charged headfirst at the pack of guards. They tried to protect themselves with gold plated knives, but none of the bitch boys seemed to have control of their limbs. My gaze shot over to Quadir, who stood off to the side with his hands in his pockets. Born with the ability to control the mind of anyone within arm’s length, the gentle giant hardly had to move a muscle to do damage.

Polo rushed to the center of the chaos and pointed to Quadir. “Someone get the fat one!”

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