Blood Ties (Dinero de Sangre #2) - Lana Sky Page 0,71

sun sinking into the horizon. Domino wasn’t coy about this place and what would happen to me there, but still…

It’s one thing to hear him taunt me like it’s a game. It’s another thing entirely to listen to a man state it so plainly. He’s not exaggerating to manipulate me to conform to his twisted plans. He’s being honest, and I think I should be grateful for that.

No more mind games to navigate.

Just a minefield.

“I’m surprised he told you,” Jaguar muses, still petting me with the tips of his fingers. “Our little Dom-Dom never sent me a girl before.”

He chuckles when I flinch and cups my jaw, guiding me to face him.

“Oh yes,” he says, frowning. “You’re his very first. Domino has always looked down on my little enterprise, you see. Acted as though he was too good to care for the girls, and guide them toward a better life. Until you, Ada-Maria Pavalos. Though it sure as hell seems that he got his money’s worth out of you, first.”

He strokes the edge of a scabbed cut on my forehead disapprovingly.

“Though if you could please a stuck-up, prudish motherfucker like little Dom-Dom, then you must be worth every fucking penny.”

He slides his free hand beneath my sweater, ghosting the flat of my belly.

Given the number of unwanted touches I’ve had to endure from various men throughout my life, he should be no different. It should be easy to simper and smile and arch into his calloused palm the way I have so many times before.

I jerk back instead, nearly falling off his lap entirely. Domino’s voice explodes in my head, grated and guttural—I’ll rip you to pieces if you even let him look at your body.

It’s instinctive. I can’t help it.

But Jaguar’s eyes gleam as he withdraws his hand, and I sense that I’ve made a terrible mistake. My first impulse is to relax against him, forcing my muscles to contort. Then speak, anything to distract him.

“H-How… How do you know Domino?”

His frown deepens. “He hasn’t trained you,” he remarks softly as if he’s speaking to himself more than me. He strokes his hand along my cheek again, and I sense whatever irritation my reaction aroused in him diminish slightly. “At least the bastard did one thing right,” he says. “He saved the best part for me. I should teach you the basics now, baby.” His thumb finds my lips, grazing the seam between them. “You don’t speak unless I give you permission. Understood?”

I swallow hard, but he must mistake the jerking motion for a nod because he chuckles and leans back, his posture softening.

“But if it’s about our little Dom-Dom, I’m an open book. Ask me what you want.”

I hesitate, sensing a loaded weapon more than a kind gesture. He’s testing me, probing in his own, cautious way—so different from Domino’s doublespeak and intimidation tactics. Jaguar is far more predatory, patiently setting a trap in plain sight.

If only I knew what might trigger it.

“Don’t be shy now,” he scolds, batting my cheek with his knuckles. “I won’t bite. For now.”

The ominous feeling grows, but it’s not like I have a better option. It takes me just a split second to weigh the risk.

No matter what Jaguar does, I have nothing left to lose.

“Who is he to you?” I ask him, making my voice as soft and non-threatening as I can.

The demureness must please him because he tilts his head thoughtfully and shrugs. “Dom-Dom is my brother,” he says. “Family is important to me, you see. There is no stronger loyalty than blood ties. Nothing.”

I choke down the urge to ask the most obvious question. Instead, I take another tack.

“You seem so different,” I croak in what I hope passes for an amicable purr.

He laughs, flashing a mouth full of blindingly white teeth. “You’re smart as well as sexy. You don’t need to share a womb or have the same sire to be brothers,” he says cryptically. “Those bonds lurk in pieces of us you can never erase. If I were to fuck you here and now, plant my seed in that sexy little body. My child would make you mine in a way you could never escape. Both of you would be my family. Forever and always.”

His voice is musical enough that even the most horrific imagery lacks the necessary impact. Only the intensity of his gaze gives the boast the edge of a threat. A promise.

My heart is pounding so hard I can taste blood reverberating through my