Page 63 of The Biting Bargain

Vincent

The sun is setting.I don't see it, thanks to the tinted windows. But I feel the change coming like the tide pulling the water out to sea. Slowly but inexorably.

Tonight is the night.

The curse demands its tribute.

I massage my temples, leaning back in my office chair and staring at the screens in front of me. Since we returned to my homestead yesterday, I've been working obsessively. Taking care of everything that's been left undone, on a steady stream of coffee and fresh blood bags that Aidan has been supplying me with.

It has cost me some effort to do so.

There's been a lot of catching up to do since I fell into the rabbit hole called Polly. Pun intended.

This is extremely annoying. Never before have I let my work slide. Especially not because of a drone.

Then again, never before did I have a companion. Never someone like her, dammit.

Never before could I not get enough.

Never in all the centuries have I been so obsessed with a pussy. Just the thought of having Polly under me again, naked, writhing as she rears up in ecstasy, makes my cock twitch in my pants.

I rake a hand through my face. Pull yourself together, loser.

I didn't dare bite her again, since. Not when the full moon will be hanging over the city like a floodlight in less than an hour.

Not even Aidan, with all his stats and simulations, can tell exactly what will happen tonight. What my wolf will do, with my curse broken.

And only her to keep me in check.

It's time to get ready.

I get up, leave my study, and walk through the door into the adjacent living room. Polly is curled up on the sofa watching a Korean drama on the giant flatscreen on the wall. When she notices me she sits up, green eyes focused on me, swallowing down the last bite of her food.

I can tell she’s a lot more comfortable in her own clothing than in the stuff my designers have her wearing. Now she’s clad in one of her T-shirts she has brought along with her, eye-watering pink with a herd of cream-colored ponies prancing around and the words "Happy Queen" printed on it, and a pair of black shorts that only show off her cute legs.

"Hey," she says, rubbing her eyes. "Done working?"

A stab runs through me at how tiny she looks, sitting on the giant sofa in my Bond villain living room. How cute and fragile.

And an absolutely muddled thought mixes in.

This is how things could always be.

I’m done with work for the day — and she's there. Waiting for me. Smiling at me with bright eyes as green as a sunlit forest.

I'd sit down next to her and press a kiss to the top of her head. We'd order takeout that she'll gobble down like a ravenous raccoon because, of course, she forgot to eat all day. And I would sink into the cushions with her in my arms. She would tell me about her day, ask how mine was. She would explain more about Korean dramas than I ever wanted to know. And eventually I would drift off to sleep, my nose buried in her bubblegum-scented hair…

I mentally shake myself. What nonsense.

"For today," I say, leaning in the doorway, shoving my hands in the pockets of my suit pants. She sits up cross-legged and looks at me expectantly. And I have some trouble fighting the urge to walk over to her.

To touch her.

"I have to leave," I say, wondering how rough my voice sounds. She tilts her head.

"Oh?"

"You're free tonight," I add. Because that's what it's going to come down to. I'm going to go to my safe place. And she will stay here. Since the full moon is going to fuck up my curse, it's safer for Polly if we're separated for tonight.

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