Vampire Debt - Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #2) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,68

deals. To influence the un-compelled human population against the opposition. Any free and uncoerced human could sign a contract, I assumed.

“Present your reports to the strategy teams by 1:00 a.m.” Kyros finished.

He was flooded by a crowd of vampires.

This time I watched.

Some were his seconds. Others, I assumed, were the heads of the various teams, but I didn’t know what those teams were.

“Time for your part,” Angelica murmured in my ear. “This way, please, Miss Le Spyre.”

I adjusted my lilac jumpsuit, pulling the large silver buckle of the belt cinching my waist back into the middle.

This was it.

Time to see how my masterplan worked in reality. Perhaps I hadn’t completed the fourth blood exchange yet, but I was on Level 66. I’d expected that to take months, not days.

Thank you, King Julius—fucking douchebucket.

Following behind Angelica, I entered the glass chamber that I recalled Kyros exiting on my first visit to this level. There were twelve seats and twelve tablets.

“How do the meetings work?” I asked.

She gestured to a seat at one end of the rectangle table. I wasn’t sitting opposite Kyros. That had to be a wife-mate thing. Whether Angelica was in the ongoing midst of her matchmaking game, or Kyros was playing a force-Basilia-to-be-my-wench game, I wasn’t playing.

“Kyros and his seconds meet here. You’ve visited the other chamber where the princes and princesses meet. The rest of the rooms are for our various teams. My team is house acquisition—which is where I must go presently. Good luck, Basilia.”

I saluted her and received the ghost of a smile before she swayed out of the room.

A quick peek through my lashes told me Kyros was still in the middle of the gradually thinning crowd.

Marching to my wife seat, I dragged it around to one of the long edges of the table and shoved the five seats already there down to fit mine in. I stretched across the table to grab the tablet.

The seat opposite Kyros was now bare.

Perfect.

I sat as men and women entered the room. I recognised a few from the cafeteria on Level 50 and my infrequent visits up here. Conrad was the sandy blond from the first night I discovered Vissimo. He called Kyros by name, so they had to be close.

Tonight, every one of them wore a scowl. Subtle, but present. And aimed at me.

Goodie. What was up their buttholes?

Kyros entered.

I tried—fuck, I really tried—to keep my libido under wraps. Why I still tried, I had no idea. My mouth bobbed at the sight of his perfectly tailored navy-blue suit, my rich man complex working at full power.

Seriously the greatest irony of my life.

At this point, part of me wanted to have sex with him to just know once and for all. Kyros was right; most of the allure had to be the suspense of not knowing how good—or terrible—sex between us would be.

The ache from the last two months was almost painful. I’d dismissed a one-night thing with him because he was possessive as hell. Now, that didn’t deter me so much, maybe because I was already in this circus for life. There was no running away. Kyros had to learn to control his alpha tendencies—that was a certainty—but my choices had narrowed drastically with the three exchanges.

My body wanted him. The bond wanted him.

Acutely.

With increasing desperation.

Fuck. Tommy would legit disown me if I entered his pants.

Kyros crossed to where I sat, sweeping back one side of his form-hugging jacket to slip a hand in his trouser pocket.

He stopped next to me, and I met his hard eyes.

What are you pissy about?

He jerked my chair back and lifted me—seat and all—depositing me at the head of the table again.

“I’m not sitting here,” I hissed at him. “It means something.”

Kyros spun my chair around and leaned over me, one hand on the high back over my head. “It means you’re my true mate. Sit here, Basilia. Or sit on my lap. Which would you prefer?”

His response shocked me. Was he taking his father’s advice to heart? Or was this a don’t mess with me on Level 66 thing? I could tell from the satisfaction radiating from him through our bond that he enjoyed my startled response.

“In that case.” I flipped open the case containing my reading glasses. Sliding the thick black frames on, I said huskily, “I choose your lap.”

Dark lust spiked me.

Kyros was a sucker for my specs. I tilted my head, feeling my wing-woman hair slither over my shoulder. A shadow fell across his green