Dark Seduction (Vampire Royals of New York #2) - Sarah Piper Page 0,38
father’s murder as well.
Dorian didn’t just want him dead. He wanted him to suffer. Horribly. Along with Rogozin, and Estas, and Duchanes, and every man, demon, and vampire who’d ever brought her harm.
But it wasn’t an option. Not yet. Charlotte had said as much—one wrong move against her uncle, and she and her sister would pay the ultimate price.
Never before had Dorian felt so bloody impotent.
It was a feeling to which he had no interest in getting accustomed.
He blinked hard, trying to clear the images of Charlotte’s bruises from his mind, focusing instead on the pot of chili bubbling on the stove.
While Sasha and Aiden—who in the span of a single afternoon had become the best of mates—played a cutthroat game of Monopoly in the study, Dorian and Charlotte had relocated to the kitchen, where they’d volunteered to cook dinner so they might continue their conversation in private.
Now, he stirred the chili with a concentration bordering on obsession.
“We need to review our options,” he said, keeping his voice low. “The primary goal is protecting you and Sasha at all costs. Everything else is secondary.”
Charlotte leaned in beside him with a cutting board full of diced onions, scraping them into the pot. She gazed up at him, her eyes full of gratitude, but Dorian quickly looked away. He didn’t want to see that look in her eyes. It was hard enough to be in the same room with her knowing he’d never hold her in his arms again, never feel those lips brushing against his chest, never hear the soft, delectable sigh she made right before he drove her to the edge…
He cleared his throat, retreating to the counter to open a bottle of wine before he got himself hard again. He needed to figure this Rudy thing out—lay down the options, pick the best one, and set the plan in motion—not fantasize about their mutually insatiable carnal appetites. Those steamy nights had been pure bliss, but they were over. As far as Dorian was concerned, this was a business arrangement now—a deal not much different from the hundreds he’d conducted over the years in the FierceConnect boardroom.
Yes, but you’ve never been in love with your business rivals, you sodding idiot…
“I need to determine whether your uncle is still involved with Rogozin,” he said, pouring two glasses of Cabernet. “And whether he knows Rogozin is a demon. If he does, it’s likely he also knows I’m a vampire. And if that’s the case, I guarantee they’re after more than just my artwork, which complicates matters infinitely.”
“I’m sorry.” Charlotte sighed. “I wish I could remember more about Rogozin’s men.”
“It’s a blessing that you don’t.” Dorian’s chest ignited again, imagining her as a girl younger than Sasha, fighting off those monsters. “For now, let’s consider scenario one: your uncle is nothing more than a lowlife human, working with a crew of other lowlife humans to turn a fast buck, no supernaturals involved.”
Charlotte nodded and stirred the pot, then brought the wooden spoon to her lips, sampling the chili. Dorian tried not to recall the feel of her soft, hot tongue licking up and down his shaft in the guest house the night of the fund raiser, but it was no use. Everything about her turned him on, inside and out.
Forcing himself back to the urgent topic at hand, he said, “Under the lowlife human scenario… I’m assuming you don’t have enough evidence of their former crimes to bring to the authorities? See if we might take your uncle out of the equation legally?”
“Not without implicating myself. I can’t go to jail, Dorian. That would mean leaving Sasha. Rudy knows I’d never risk it—it’s probably why he hasn’t already killed me.”
“So he knows your weakness.”
“If by weakness you mean the one person in my life I’d willingly sell my soul to protect, then yes. She’s my weakness.”
“Loving someone isn’t a character flaw, Charlotte. I simply meant…” Dorian sighed. “Rudy knows exactly how to get to you. By threatening the one you love—explicitly or otherwise—he can keep you in a constant state of fear and obedience. As a royal vampire, I know the dynamic all too well.”
Charlotte covered the pot and turned it down to simmer, then grabbed her glass of wine. “The difference is—I’m not a powerful immortal being. I’m a weak human. And even if I had the physical strength to stand up to him, I don’t have the courage.”
Dorian frowned and reached up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear.