Page 54 of Moon Kissed

“Fine,” I sighed. “I do want something in return, and since you said—yelled—yourself that I can’t trust you, I want payment now and in full.”

His forehead crumpled. “What payment?”

“I want those sex tapes of you and Nyx. All that hot man-on-man action. Right here, baby.” I wiggled my phone. “Now.”

“What the—! No!” he blared. “For fuck’s sake, is this all a joke to you?”

“You’re askingmethat? Seems to me you don’t take this grand cause very seriously if hoarding a bunch of sexy videos is more important to you.”

“There are no videos!”

“Too late.” I snapped my fingers. “You should’ve denied it a long time ago. Now I know you’re lying.”

Edric sucked in a sharp, rough breath—visibly reining in his temper. “All right, let me make myself clear. I wouldn’t give you those videos for ten million dollars.”

“Damn you drive a hard bargain. Those tapes must be hot—”

“They are hot,” he sliced in, stuffing my reply back in my mouth. “They’re filthy fucking hot. We did things to each other that would blow your eyebrows off. Nothing but hard, sweating naked alphas going at each other like a starving man tears apart a ham.” He smirked. “Or a sausage.”

My breath hitched, choking me a little. Weakened arms slipped out from under me and I bounced off my face. I was picturing it. I was picturing ithard.

“But as much as I need that money, I’d never trade those videos for it because the thought of you getting off on anything to do with me makes me violently ill.”

My fantasy shattered into a million pieces.

“You’re never going to tempt me,” he hissed. “You’ll never see me naked. You’ll never touch me. I’ll never get you off, and we willneverbond. You, Volana, won’t even get to fantasize about me in your dreams.”

Each word was a dagger to my wolf’s heart. I kept her pain off my face. “Is that so?”

“Yeah, that’s so,” Edric said softly, backing toward the door. “Because for every day your ass walks free and I walk without my money, I’ll make your life a living hell.

“That’s the deal and the only one you’re going to get,” he said, throwing open the door. “Take it ortake it.”

Edric blew out, leaving me blinking after him.

“Someone’s a drama queen.” Peeling myself off the bed, I ducked into that shower I’d been waiting for. When I was done, I did some homework at my desk, then finally crawled into bed around three in the morning. I wouldn’t get nearly enough sleep, but my weary bones were just happy to sink into a pillow-top mattress.

Shutting off the light, my eyes fluttered closed.

Bang!

I bolted upright. Chilling, howling winds ripped through the window, and tore apart my room—knocking over the vanity, upending the furniture, tearing the sheets off my body and burrowing the cold so deep into my bones, no warm bath would ever get it out.

“What is going on!”

I clamped my hands over my ears, slack-jawed and helpless as raging, hurricane winds tore my room apart.

Edric’s voice slipped through my fingers, clear as if he was sitting right next to me, whispering in my ear.

“Game on.”

Chapter Five

Istumbled into History of the Dominions the next morning, red-eyed and saggy-tailed. Snickers went up at the sight of me, loudest of all from Nyx, Badr, Orion, and Edric. I earned them fair and square. I looked like an asylum escapee, and that was putting it nicely.

But the cherry on top of an awful morning was that everyone, and I meant everyone, was wearing t-shirts with photos of my flurp-faced, flopping-in-the-mud self stamped on them.

How did Ava get those made so fast?!

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