Page 87 of Shai

gaze darting between myself and Shai as it finally dawned on him that the status quo had well and truly shifted. My finger twitched on the trigger, the temptation to send a bullet into his chest almost overwhelming. Taylor was useful, though. And most of his issues with me came from his unwavering loyalty to Shai, and that was a character attribute you couldn’t buy, no matter how much money you might have. But Taylor did need to be made an example of if I was ever going to gain the respect and recognition that I needed to truly stand by Shai’s side.

I dipped the barrel of the pistol, biding my time until relief blossomed

on Taylor’s face before sending a bullet into his foot. He dropped quickly, rolling onto his side and clutching his foot, his face screwed up in agony. I stood over him. “The next one will be in your chest.”

Taylor swallowed, his glance encompassing both myself and Shai. “I get

it. Trust me, I do.”

Shai’s nod was curt. “Good. Glad to hear it.” He turned to Wyatt. “Call

Callaghan and get him to deal with it.”

I followed Shai as he left the room, his path leading us to the bedroom. I

no longer thought of it as just his, given how much time I spent in it. Even the snakes didn’t bother me anymore. It was difficult to remain scared once you’d been bitten by them several times, Nyoko needing far more coaxing than the mamba ever did to strike.

Shai stepped inside and I pushed him back against the wall, my hands

smoothing over the warm skin of his chest. “Your full support, hey? What if I shoot all the men?”

The corners of Shai’s mouth twitched upward, his hands settling on my

waist. “Then we’ll get more. You should have dealt with Taylor weeks ago. He was always going to be the one that had a problem. Your new status demoted him from second in command to third.”

I braced my hands on either side of Shai’s head, searching his face. “Shame you didn’t bother to mention that earlier. Especially before you sent me out alone with them. They were armed. What if they’d decided to put a bullet in my back?”

“Then they would have died slowly and painfully, and I would have mourned your passing far more than theirs. And I didn’t mention it for two reasons. You need to work these things out for yourself, and I like to see what your limit is before you break.”

I knew that. That part of Shai hadn’t changed in the slightest. He liked to push me both inside and outside the bedroom, the thought making my cock swell in an appreciative fashion.

As if reading my mind, his hands slid to my ass, the grip far from gentle. “I’m going to torture you tonight.”

“Yeah?” I couldn’t help my breathy response. “What are you going to do to me?”

His smile grew wider. “If I told you that, it wouldn’t be torture, would it? Besides, it doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, you’ll let me do it.”

“Let you? You won’t give me a choice.”

Shai laughed. “Do you still tell yourself that? Poor Elijah, forced into all sorts of depravities against his will.”

I silenced him by kissing him, our mouths meeting in a mutual explosion of passion and need, our cocks rubbing together. Shai slid his hand inside my shirt, resting it over the matching tattoo to his, except mine was a mamba rather than a cobra. I lost myself in the lust burning between us, knowing he was right, that whatever he wanted I’d provide it. The line between pain and pleasure had long since blurred to the point where I wasn’t sure where one ended and the other began. The new Elijah embraced it. Maybe even craved it sometimes.

Shai ended the kiss, foiling my attempts to continue it. I frowned at him. “Why do we have to wait ‘til tonight?”

He stroked his thumb across my bottom lip. “Because I have a present for you?”

“A present?” Shai wasn’t exactly big on romantic gestures unless you included him sharing his entire empire with me, which I guessed was the most significant gesture of all. “What present?” I scanned the room, but there was no sign of anything that hadn’t already been there that morning.

“Something I had to pick up today on short notice. It was the reason I

left you to deal with the other business. Ready to see what it is?”

I nodded, my curiosity definitely piqued.

Pushing himself away from the wall, Shai gestured for me to follow

him.