Page 50 of The Vampire Kingpin
I moved her hair to the side, pressing a kiss to the delicate nob of her spine just above her shoulders. “Let’s get outta here.”
When we exited the dressing room, the saleswoman was waiting with the dress in a black garment bag, her expression carefully neutral. “If you need shoes, the shop next store has a good selection,” she said as I handed her the cash for the dress.
“I do,” said Lark, so we grabbed her a pair of high, pointy stilettos in the same purply red as the dress before heading back to the Cavern.
Velma caught up to us as I keyed in the code at the Chelsea Market entrance. She’d followed us at a discreet distance ever since we’d left the Underworld. I’d given up telling her not to; she never listened anyway. Anytime I was aboveground, she worried I was vulnerable.
Tonight, her thick dark hair was braided into a crown. In her fitted leather jacket, short black skirt and ankle boots, she looked like a hundred other women in lower Manhattan if you didn’t know about the daggers strapped to her thighs beneath the skirt.
“Hey,” she said to me with a nod in Lark’s direction.
“Hey,” I returned. “Everything alright?”
“Yeah. It’s pretty quiet tonight. Want me to take that?” She reached for garment bag slung over my shoulder.
“Nah. I’ve got it.”
The door swung open and we filed down the stairs, Velma in the lead and me bringing up the rear behind Lark. When we reached the Cavern, Lark held back after Velma went inside.
“Thanks for the dress and everything.” She lifted the white-and-black bag holding her shoes.
I cupped her jaw with my free hand, tipping her face up for a kiss. “You’re welcome.”
As far as I was concerned, she’d already thanked me, but saying that was a little too much like she’d paid me in sex. Of course, she was paying me in sex. But not for the dress and shoes—that had been a gift.
And yeah, I’d made a mess of this.
That “Mine” I’d mouthed against her neck at the end? I’d meant it.
The rest of the Underworld would laugh their damn heads off if word got out that I’d blackmailed a woman into being my thrall—and then fallen for her.
Spider got caught in his own web.
Lark shifted from one boot-clad foot to the other. “I have something to ask you.”
“What?” I stroked a thumb over her pillowy lower lip.
“I—you trust me now, right? You invited me to join your lair and all.”
I pursed my mouth. It was a trick question because yeah, I trusted Lark. On the other hand, she was Grimclaw’s cousin and I wasn’t completely sure where her loyalties were.
Her face fell. “I see.”
“Why d’you ask?” I hedged, releasing her.
“Because. It’s been almost two weeks since you brought me back here.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So am I still your prisoner? I mean, tonight was the first time since Halloween I’ve been outside the Cavern.”
“Ah.” I suppose I should’ve seen this coming, but I liked knowing that when I returned to the lair, she was waiting. That she was safe.
Maybe that was me being possessive, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t in danger. Something was clearly off, and until I knew what, the primal thing wouldn’t be easy with her running around the Underworld.
Her mouth tightened. “Don’t make me beg,” she said as the silence drew out. “Not about this.”
“I’m thinking,” I muttered.
