Page 31 of Claiming Her Vampire

“How did you find her?” I stroke the edge of one of my knives.

His hand shakes a little as he twitches in his seat. “That doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me,” I growl. My brave mate is making her way over here. I should spank her ass for it, but I have a weakness for strength.

“Tom, what are you doing here?” she asks, leaning into me, her arm resting on the seat behind me.

I hadn’t made our relationship clear to Tom. It doesn’t look like he likes it. A storm of jealousy pushes out the fear.

“You are with him? A bloodsucker?” he asks, his fist on the table.

“Don’t speak about him like that. You need to leave. I broke up with you for a reason. We are over.” It’s super cute that she wants to defend me. I curl my arm around her hip and grin at him.

“You don’t know what you are saying. He hypnotized you,” he says, desperate.

“He did not. I chose to leave, and I chose to stay here. Why won’t you let go?” She braces her hand on my shoulder as I pull her closer.

“We belong together. We’ve been together for too long just to give up.”

“Oh, please. Get over it. You cheated on me plenty of times. Find one of them to play with. You beat me, Tom. If you love someone like you claim to love me, you don’t use your fists. Stop going to my parents’ house and riling them up. None of you, deep down, want me back. I am working on building a life without all of you. I like it here. I like the person I am here. They don’t look at me with anger, pity, or judgment. I was a shell of a woman when I was with you. After a few days out of a toxic environment, I am different. I feel different. Go back home. Leave me alone. Ryker won’t be so nice next time.” She plays with the ends of my hair. I close my eyes briefly at her loving touch.

“I can’t go back without you.” The fear is back again, but along with something else I can’t put my finger on it.

“You can and you will,” I tell him. “As we have been sitting here, I could have killed you numerous times in many different ways before you could blink.” I swear he just realizes the position he put himself in. “Do you want me to kill him?” I look at Serenity.

She pauses, actually thinking about it. Tom looks at her with pleading eyes. “Not this time. But if he comes back, do what you think is best.” She has more compassion than me, which shouldn’t surprise me.

“Tom.” I snapped my fingers in front of his face, bringing his attention back to me. “Do not come back. If you do, I will kill you. Serenity is mine. She belongs here. Understand?”

He jerkily nods his head and stands from the seat. He looks at her again and opens his mouth to say more bullshit, but I flash my teeth, snarling slightly, and he thinks better of it.

Serenity watches him leave with a weird look on her face.

“What?” I ask.

“It’s just, when I was with him, living with him, he seemed so big and tough,” she said thoughtfully. “I was terrified when I saw him. I fell back into my memories.”

“And now?” I ask.

She looks at me for a few seconds before replying, “Now, I’ve seen the real big and dangerous. He means nothing to me.” She tugs at my hair and then goes back to her tables.

A slow smile comes over my face as I watch her sexy ass sway as she walks. I can’t wait to see her come out of her shell even more when I turn her. She’ll be magnificent.

Chapter Twelve

Serenity

Harmony slides up to me while I’m waiting for drink orders to be filled. I didn’t see her come in since I’ve been a little preoccupied with my thoughts of Ryker and Tom. Ryker because he’s super sexy and totally out of my league, and Tom because he’s an ass. And maybe I’m regretting letting him go without consequences.

“Hey. You are coming with me,” she says, excited.

“What? I’m working.”

“I got permission from your mate. We get a private room upstairs with a private bar for some girl time. I even brought snacks. You like cookies, right?” She is bouncing up and down.

“Are you sure? It’s still really busy,” I glance around me. Although it’s thinned out, there is still a crowd.

“Sure. He had some work to do in his office, so I’m on guard duty.” She pulls on my arm, dragging me to the stairs.

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