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I would have to get her a cute little dress with stockings and Mary Janes. Stroking my chin with my free hand while I planned, I smiled down at her, watching her writhe. Every time she got some leverage, I yanked her again, rendering her efforts ineffective.

Her spirit was admirable, but it didn’t stop me from shoving her in the cage. After I shut the gate, she yelled, “You’re a fucking vampire, aren’t you?”

Circling her cell, I replied, “Of course not. Why would you think that?”

“Liar.”

“Ask a stupid question and you’ll get a stupid answer.” Now, I was just being a dick for the sake of it.

When she got close to the bars, I let my nails extend and I twisted them through her long tresses and pulled her forward. “Holy shit,” she hissed. “What are you doing? Don’t you... wait—where’d you get those?”

She eyed my long, shiny black talons. Unlike my peers, I didn’t leave my fingernails unvarnished when they grew. I had a thing for aesthetics, what could I say?

“They come with the kit.” I bit the inside of my cheek.

Brittney’s eyes narrowed, but I didn’t miss the glint of wonder as she glanced at my fingers. Fingers that twirled and tied her hair around the bars without touching a single strand. I caught a fresh whiff of her desire as she moved.

Don’t tell me she likes this shit.

CHAPTER 16

Brittney

I wanted to kick myself when I spotted his flared nostrils. It was starting to drip down my leg, the combination of his come mixed my own. This asshole dragged me like a corpse and then tied me by my hair and all I wanted to do was jump his bones—as if he hadn’t just ruined me for anyone else.

What the hell was wrong with me? He tore my neck to pieces, feasted on me like a fat man at a hotdog contest, rearranged my insides with his fat, perfect dick, and then shoved me inside what I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was a box he created just for me.

God damn was this hot. I had no idea I was into this type of kink.

The frustration written all over his face told me that was the last thing he wanted. At the same time, I’d sensed his tenderness when he began making love to me. I knew that’s what it was. Don’t ask me how I knew other than he could have torn my body in half, but he’d been so careful and gentle to start.

The fact he was an honest to God vampire threw me for a loop. Leave it to me to go waltzing about inside a vampire’s lair without a care in the world. It was his home, no matter how many times he’d denied it. I’d been blind to so many things although to say I’d willfully lied to myself may have been a better explanation for my behavior.

I was crushing on my murderer. Chills ran down my spine. He loomed over me, his face painted white, and his lips black, once again. Not even the washboard abs could take away the sick feeling slowly pooling in my stomach.

“Why did you kill me?” I asked.

He blinked and his lips separated before shutting. He took a step closer and trailed the back of a nail down my cheek. “Why did you take the dusted bone fragment?”

“You took it back.”

“It's missing—again.”

Adrian took something from the computer office he’d pushed me into, and I had reason to believe that was here, in Kiam’s house. The chain of events left no other conclusion. Not that I’d tell the vampire about my suspicion the Fae leader now had possession.

“I don’t have it—which should be pretty obvious.” My arms swung out by my sides.

He made a humming sound under his breath. “Why were you in the woods? Why were you sneaking around like a thief or a spy?”

The reminder of my failure was unwelcome, but I swallowed the pain, trying to calm the erratic beat of my heart. “My grandfather, he, um, he died in a plane crash a long time ago. In the woods near your house, kind of. He left me his necklace and his ring in his will and he never ever took them off, but they were missing from his body when they recovered it.”

I took a deep breath and shut my eyes. I was overly tired, for a dead person. “I’ve been searching for it ever since. Every weekend and every chance I get, I’m out there looking, digging around, trying to find the jewelry. Not even a scrap of gold anywhere.”

“I know I should give up but I just can’t. Things don’t go missing like that. I know, I know, it's out there, somewhere.”

“And instead, you found me.” His face softened, and he focused on the cell, seeming to appraise it while his nails clicked together like glass.

Right before my eyes, his nails shrank, returning to the manicured, polished fingernails I remembered. “Yeah, I suppose I did. Are you just going to leave me like this? Hanging by my hair?”