world, what with trying to attack me and all.” Ryder lifted a shoulder. “I strongly doubt they’ll be missed.”
“Whoever hired them may feel otherwise,” Damien pointed out.
“You mean Janet? Yes, she may be upset, but I’ll be putting her out of her misery soon.”
“Janet sent them?”
“That’s what our friend in the basement said, yes. He also gave me three other names of vampires who supported her assignment.”
“So he’s chatty,” Damien mused.
“Very.” Ryder smiled. “Feel free to run down and meet him. Then we need to discuss next steps. I’m thinking a lesson on hierarchy etiquette is required in the to-be-renamed Silvano City.”
“Seems needed, yes,” Damien agreed.
“Then you’ll help me plan the arrival?”
“Of course.”
Ryder smiled. “Excellent. Have fun with Number Twelve in the basement.”
“Is that your chosen name for him?”
“It’s the abbreviated version,” Ryder explained.
Damien smirked. “Then I’ll let you know if Number Twelve sings anything else useful.”
“Brilliant. Just don’t kill him.”
“Using him to set an example?”
“It’s like you know me,” Ryder drawled.
“Some days,” Damien said, glancing at me. “Is she coming to Silvano City with us?”
Ryder looked at me, his dark eyes flaring with black flames. My skin heated as he caressed me with that searing gaze.
I felt owned under that stare. Possessed. His.
My thighs clenched at the thought, my stomach flickering with a forbidden fire. Logically, I knew craving him was a death sentence. But my body refused to adhere to reasonable thought. I reacted to him because I was trained to react to him. It suited the supernatural chain of life.
Ryder was the hunter.
And I was his prey.
“Yes,” he murmured after a long, hot beat. “Watch the living room footage from a little over six hours ago, and you’ll understand why. She’s quite gifted with knives.” His eyes left me for his friend. “Everyone will expect her to be weak as a human. I can use that.”
“She’ll be even more underestimated if she’s perceived as a member of your harem,” Damien said, sending a chill down my spine. He spoke about me as if I were an object to be reassigned and used where needed—a startlingly accurate summary of my life.
“My harem?” Amusement flirted with Ryder’s features. “Ah, right. I suppose I’ve inherited Silvano’s toys.”
“You have.”
“And who’s protecting them at the moment?”
“Garland,” Damien replied.
Ryder grunted. “So you mean he’s fucking them.”
“Likely.”
“Great.” Ryder returned his attention to me, his pupils dilating as his gaze dropped to my chest, then gradually rose to my face. “Hmm, Willow would make a delectable addition to my harem.”
“She would. But she’s going to need a wardrobe to match.”
Ryder nodded slowly. “Yes. Arrange it.” The dark flames in his eyes glowed brighter, revealing a hungry vampire behind his handsome mask.
I swallowed.
Joining a vampire’s harem had been near the bottom of my desire list, just a few steps above the breeding camp.
Yet the idea of being in Ryder’s bed didn’t turn me off. Which was exactly why I needed to fight it. His interest in me would be temporary, and when he finished, I’d be handed off to another.
And then to another.
Living out the rest of my days in sexual servitude, just waiting for one of the vampires to accidentally—or purposely—kill me.
His touch ventured up my side to my face, where his knuckles kissed my cheek in a tender caress. “Don’t look so frightened, pet,” he whispered. “I’ll make sure you enjoy it.”
Damien grunted. “Don’t say that in front of the others. She’s a toy, Ryder. Remember that.”
He was right. Vampires didn’t see humans as equals. They didn’t care if we were hurt or frightened or dying. We were food. Fuck toys. Beings they enslaved to meet their needs.
Yet Ryder hadn’t treated me that way, and even now, he continued to glide his fingers across my skin to my throat. “You probably want to take a shower. Then you need to eat.”
Damien sighed loudly. “Fine, do it your way. I’ll be with Number Twelve in the basement.”
Ryder continued to ignore him, his eyes holding mine. “Tomorrow, I’m teaching you how to shoot a gun.”
“That’ll go over well,” I heard Damien mutter from farther away.
“Then we’ll work on improving some of your sparring techniques,” Ryder continued, disregarding Damien’s side commentary. “You fought well, but all of your instruction has been in regard to taking down humans. As I showed you earlier, my kind is different. We’re stronger and faster. But all vampires have weaknesses. I’ll teach you how to exploit those.”
“Wh-why?” I asked, my throat dry. None of this made any sense. He wanted me to