Page 82 of The Vampire Kingpin
Only the thought that he might stake her while I watched kept me from stalking forward and ripping his head from his body. A blood-tinged blackness edged my vision. I prowled toward them, my dagger gripped in one hand, a low, continuous growl filling my head that was nearly as loud as the engine’s roar. It took me a few seconds to realize the growling was coming from me.
“Easy, bro.” Zaq reached out and slapped his palm to my chest, stopping me at the edge of the circle of light. “She’s fine, yeah?” he said under his breath. “We have a little time. He doesn’t want to hurt her if he can avoid it—he’s gone to a fuckton of trouble to get her, right?”
I swung my head to look at him, taking in what he’d said through the roaring in my brain. “Alright,” I said hoarsely. “But he’s mine. I want your word on that.”
“Of course, man.”
“Who’s there?” Darkman squinted in our direction. “Come any closer and I’ll stake the bitch.”
“I’ll talk,” Zaq told me quietly. “You stay in the background.”
My jaw clenched so tight my back teeth hurt. Bloody Hades, I hated feeling powerless like this. It was like Amina all over again.
But Zaq was right. Darkman was more likely to listen to him.
“Alright,” I replied, “but if I see an opening, I’m gonna grab her.”
“And I’ll try to give you that opening.” My friend sauntered forward, hands open at his sides. “Let the woman go, Jared. She’s ours.”
“What d’you mean, she’s yours?”
“Our territory, dude. That makes the lady ours. You hurt her, you’ll set off a blood feud with our syndicate. Your father isn’t going to like that.”
Darkman’s throat worked, his eyes darting nervously around.
Lark, though, stood straight-backed and steady, the wind whipping at her skirt. Her eyes somehow found me in the darkness where I lurked. She smiled, and I felt the weight of the trust she had in me.
It left me both humbled and proud, a fierce love for her churning my insides. I just wished I had half her courage, because for the life of me, I couldn’t bring myself to smile back. Not with my heart on the line. I was too gutted by the possibility of losing her.
Gabriel, Rafe and Renata raced up. I caught sight of Velma creeping in from the other side, and I knew that Monster must be around somewhere, too.
Gabriel sidled up next to me. “I got word to the pilot,” he told me out of the side of his mouth. “He knows that if he takes off, he’ll be dead by morning.”
A wave of emotion smacked me hard. “Thanks, man,” I returned gruffly. “I owe you—big time.”
The tall, green-eyed prince grunted, then jerked his head at his youngest brother. “Rafe, you go with Zaq. Two-on-one will give Jared something to think about. But keep it cool, got it? We don’t want to do anything to set him off.”
“On it,” Rafe replied with a cocky grin and strolled after his middle brother.
To me, Gabriel murmured, “We’ll get your Lark back. Those two could talk a bird out of a tree.”
“I hope so,” I returned…and that’s when it hit me that this time I wasn’t powerless.
That this time, I wasn’t on my own, alpha of a fledgling lair. I was powerful in my own right, and not just because I was the Underworld kingpin.
I had friends now like the Kral brothers. And I had Lark herself, strong and smart and sneaky.
My mouth curved. Jared Darkman didn’t know what he’d stepped into.
22
Lark
I drank in the sight of Spider, my eyes locking onto him so that I barely registered the three men who ran up with him. He looked like he’d been in a fight. His hair was disheveled and red marks marred his brown skin in the shape of DeeDee’s mesh mask.
But he was okay.
He was okay.
