Vampire Debt - Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #2) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,78

into steadily more debt with the council fees attached to that process. We’ve watched him since he submitted the DA—never expecting the development plan to be approved. Now, we’re applying financial pressure to his drug dealer to repay her debt—that pressure then falls upon her clients to pay their tab. We control the bank where his loan is held—as soon as he fails payment, we’ll seize his land. There’s also the option of alerting the police to his stash, but Mr Ringly is close to breaking point, and we’ll have use for him in the future.”

I hummed. “I feel bad for him. He can’t have any idea why all these crappy things are happening to him. Poor guy must feel vulnerable.”

“Is that how you feel?”

Frowning, I turned my head away. With a growl, he drew it right back.

“Answer,” he ordered.

Yes, your highness.

Shifting slightly, I gave his initial question my genuine attention, ignoring the second. “I don’t believe there will cease to be a game with you, Kyros. Not ever.”

“Ingenium is coming to a head,” he retorted. “Things are approaching the end cascade. Either way, I survive. The game will end.”

So he said.

I had a feeling Kyros wouldn’t take the murder of his family too well if Clan Sundulus lost. “Ingenium could take years or decades to truly finish once the end cascade is triggered. If it does? What about the games between you and your siblings? Or if worse comes to worst, dangerous games between you and your new clan—the triplets, Gina, and King Mikhail. A game is what you are, Kyros. Every second of your life for one hundred and forty-nine years. You don’t know how to be anything else. So no, I don’t believe that the end of Ingenium will make me feel safer. What would make me feel safe is leaving this city with everyone I know to go to a place where no one could find us.”

His arms had crept around me.

“I can’t escape you, Kyros,” I reminded him, sadness weighting my words.

Sorrow seeped through me. I hated being able to sense his emotions. I couldn’t say anything mean without feeling bad.

“The end of the game doesn’t make a difference,” he said, settling back.

Why did that sound like a may as well keep going as is statement?

“Your father said no, Kyros. Please don’t put my life in danger again. Thousands of people rely on me now.”

“I’m a game, according to your words. Do you think I move without thinking first?”

“When it comes to me, because of the bond. Yes, I do.” Though nowhere near as much as I thought. Even in the car at the beach, he’d been testing how handsy we could get before his fangs came out to play.

Jerk.

His hands slid down, sliding my legs apart so I straddled his thighs.

“This isn’t holding me,” I grumbled.

“That’s all I want.”

I choked on a bubble of mirth. “That’s a lie. I know exactly what you want.”

Kyros’s eyes sparked. “And what’s that?”

My smile faded. Was I really going to do this?

Yes.

I rested a hand against the side of his face, my other hand trailing over the base of my neck. “You want to sink your fangs into my neck. Right here. Then pin me down and force your blood into my mouth until I choke. You want me to like your blood.”

He stilled, breath and all.

I rested both hands against his face. “You want the top of my nipples to show over the top of this bodice. You’ll lick the parts you can see before disappearing under my skirts to taste me.” The blazing of his eyes and the bulge growing beneath me elicited a shiver.

I braced myself against the back of the round seat and brought my lips to his ear, breasts in his face. “You want to claim me, don’t you, Kyros?”

I smiled, licking his earlobe and relishing his pained hiss. “You want me to call you true mate.” Every word and movement hypnotised him—every slither of satin and brush of skin.

He was my captive.

It was intoxicating.

Heady.

I felt like a queen. Do it.

Bite me.

“You want it,” he groaned, letting his head tip back.

I followed him down, propping my elbows up so our chests were aligned. “Hard to remember what I should and shouldn’t do when we’re like this.”

Sweeping my hands down his rock-solid torso, I glided back up his arms, shifting again on his lap, this time to align with his length.

We moaned at the contact.

“You don’t know what happens with the fourth exchange,” he