Night Kissed (Chosen Vampire Slayer #1) - Mila Young Page 0,34

lacking.”

It was his chance to back down and defuse the ticking time bomb sitting between us. But I could see he had worked himself up into a fervor during the walk home, and he refused to be mollified.

“Don’t feed me that fancy bullshit,” Seth snapped. “Excuse me for thinking a leader ought to be able to control his minions. Let me know if I’m wrong about that.”

I bristled. His words were thoughtless, born from a bubbling cauldron of spite, and yet they struck true. I’d already had enough of my authority being questioned in recent weeks. Any more could turn dangerous, especially if the source of dissent was so close. And, as I well knew, letting the demon have his freedom wasn’t really an option. I needed to secure his allegiance.

“You’re not. But I would caution you to choose your words carefully from this point forward.” Even I was able to hear how drastically my tone had cooled in the past twenty seconds. He had thrown down an unspoken gauntlet, knowing I was not one to back down from such a challenge. The audacity of his boldness failed to endear him to me. We were rapidly approaching a standoff.

“Yeah?” He leaned close to my face. This close, it seemed that the monstrosity of his true nature strained at the seams of his human likeness. “I’d caution you to think about who you really want on your side.” He paused to let the words sink in. “Next time, every last one of them will end up dead.” A beat of silence passed. He decided to double down. “And I’ll take the girl too, just because I know it’ll burn your ass.”

The world went white. I whipped toward him, lips curling up over fully extended fangs. “You wouldn’t dare!” The mere mention of the girl—for I understood exactly which girl he meant—awakened a force of primal jealousy. I had come to think of her as mine, and mine alone.

He might disrespect my clan or call my leadership into doubt. But the pink-haired girl? I owned her.

“There it is.” He grinned. “I’ve struck a nerve. Can’t wait until she gets sick of you and starts looking around for something better.” The grin widened. “I’ll be waiting, I can tell you that much.”

“Hold your tongue,” I growled. “Or lose it. Your choice.”

Now the demon had started to enjoy himself. He took a step back, reveling in my momentary loss of control. “You know, I can’t blame you for being scared. You filthy rats are a dime a dozen. I don’t think I would’ve known the difference between your boys and the other ones, come to think of it.”

I wished there was someone, anyone, present to appreciate the sheer willpower I exercised in deciding not to screw our agreement and destroy him completely. He was toying with me, an intolerable feeling. I saw myself reaching out and tearing into him so clearly it might have been a vision of the future.

By some miracle of self-discipline, I refrained. The tiny voice whispering that he was still worth more alive than dead prevailed against all odds. My teeth shrank back into my mouth. I managed to put an extra sliver of distance between us. The black tide of destruction slowly ebbed.

“Your ignorance is not my concern,” I declared.

He laughed. “Not yet. But I could turn from your solution into your problem real goddamn fast, Orion. Don’t forget it.”

A lot of Seth’s claims could be chalked up to passionate bluster, but this was not an idle threat. His glare held a deadly, solemn seriousness that belied all his melodramatic antics. I knew better than to assume he wouldn’t take drastic actions, either to preserve himself or get revenge.

For once, he had managed to trap me in a corner. The fact that the fault lay with my own reckless followers did not escape my notice. I pressed my lips together, focused on a point over his shoulder. My hidden anger spiked and threatened to boil over for an instant, but I quashed it as quickly as possible. He must have sensed the tide of my emotions, however; I saw him smirk out of the corner of my eye.

How dearly I desired to snap his arrogant neck, right where he stood. But sacrifices had to be made in the interest of diplomacy. Taking pains to appear incredibly long-suffering, I let out my breath, ran my fingers through my hair. Behind me on the kitchen counter, the coffee finished percolating. I