“Jase is never going to forgive me, and I don’t blame him,” she breathed out, feeling the emptiness and sadness wash over her. Stepping away from her father, she hugged herself.
“Jase will do what’s right,” he assured her, only it didn’t feel like an assurance. She knew, eventually, Jase would claim her as his mate because he was expected to. Both their fathers would pressure him to claim her if he delayed too long, but she doubted that would be necessary. After seeing Jase the first time, she’d learned everything she could about him, and Jase was a stickler for the rules. In the end, Jase would come for her because he had to, but that wasn’t what she wanted. More than anything, she wanted the passion she’d felt from him in the woods, and now, she was afraid she’d never have that.
Chapter Forty-Four
Richard was still having trouble believing Abram had destroyed an entire span of the bridge. That move had been insane and had definitely moved Abram up on his list of people to kill. It had never been Richard’s intention to let any of the new breed of vampire survive longer than he needed them. That included those he’d created to help him take over Connor’s territory. They were all abominations who should have already been eradicated.
Initially, most of the council had been in agreement, acknowledging that even the ones who seemed reasonable were just one missed feeding away from feral. They’d only delayed taking action in the beginning in hopes of starting a war in Connor’s territory. After Connor broke from the council, they’d decided the new vampires were Connor’s problem and refused to deal with them. Others had also begun to question their decision to kill off the new breed.
Had Abram already been dealt with, Richard would have been able to take over Treasure Island. Before Abram, it had been populated by humans. When Richard took over, he’d gather up any humans not living in the vampire settlement and decide which were useful enough to be kept as slaves. The others would be destroyed. There was no reason to keep potential enemies alive. It would also create the kind of fear necessary to better control people.
After a few days travel, they finally met up with his and Rafe’s followers on the other side of the bay. Richard was annoyed that Rafe’s followers had made their presence known to the local shapeshifters, but Rafe had assured him it wouldn’t happen again. Richard was quickly discovering that shapeshifters were volatile creatures who acted on impulse far too often. He suspected the ones currently being punished would be less reckless in the future.
At the moment, Richard was observing Rafe’s techniques. Three male jaguars were naked and in human form, accepting their punishment. Plunging a knife into the balls of one of the males, Rafe’s lips curled into a sinister smile. The jaguar howled in pain, not that Richard blamed him. In general, Richard believed people overreacted to physical punishment, but the jaguar being punished had good reason to scream and beg for mercy. While the jaguars would heal from their wounds, it would be a long process.
“Were you supposed to be out looking for females in heat?” Rafe demanded, twisting the knife.
“No,” the jaguar whimpered.
“What were you supposed to do?” Rafe demanded.
“Wait for you to come to this side of the bay,” the jaguar panted out with tears running down his face.
“Which female are we here to find?” Rafe asked, twisting the knife as the jaguar screamed.
“Your mate,” he cried out. “Please stop. I swear it will never happen again.”
Cruz was the only jaguar still awaiting punishment. “Winn’s scent was on her,” Cruz casually remarked.
Rafe’s head jerked in Cruz’s direction, and he removed the knife from the balls of the other jaguar, who collapsed to the ground in a whimpering mass.
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” Rafe demanded.
Cruz’s grin was nothing less than sadistic as he regarded the jaguars. “I figured you’d torture me last.”
Rafe laughed at his answer before giving Cruz a stern look. “While I understand you enjoy the entertainment, these males won’t be useful in a fight for a day or two. That was very naughty of you.” Moving in closer to Cruz, Rafe cupped the back of his head and kissed him, fully dominating the kiss as the other jaguar submitted to him. When Rafe pulled back, both looked ready to fuck each other in full view of everyone, something Richard hoped he wouldn’t have to witness. He’d grown bored with sex that didn’t involve his partner’s pain and fear.
“I’ll make it up to you later,” Cruz assured him.
“Yes, you will,” Rafe agreed. “Of course, I am also grateful to you for noticing my mate’s scent on the cougar. You deserve a reward.”
“I want the cougar,” Cruz told him, and Richard watched as Rafe’s face clouded with what he assumed was jealousy.
“Why would you want her?” Rafe demanded.
“She’s strong,” Cruz replied with a shrug. “I want to break her. I also get the impression she’s important to the shifters in this territory. The ones who saved her were lynx.”
“Interesting,” Rafe remarked.
“Why is that interesting?” Richard asked. “As I understand it, the cougars and lynx are both allies of the vampires. That would mean they’re allies, right?”
Rafe shook his head. “If she was an unmarked female running around alone near her heat cycle, she was fair game. I could see the cougars fighting to keep another species of shifter away from her, but not the lynx. They have no reason to protect her.”
Richard thought Rafe was an idiot for failing to realize the lynx might have run off the jaguars so they could fuck the cougar. He decided to keep that observation to himself.
“Can I have her?” Cruz asked.
Rafe nodded. “We’ll try to get her when we take my mate. You do deserve a new toy. Just don’t break this one. In fact, if this female is so important to the cougars and lynx, it might be smart to mark her.”
Cruz’s golden eyes danced with twisted desire. “Then I would own her, and no one could take her from me.”
“Behave,” Rafe warned with no heat. “You don’t want to make me jealous, do you?”
“Of course not,” Cruz crooned.
Richard moved away, not wanting to watch Rafe’s games any longer. His eyes landed on Kish sitting off to the side, trying to avoid looking at the tortured jaguars. Kish had just finished warding their encampment with some sort of demon magic, and she looked tired. It also appeared she wasn’t a fan of torture. He’d noticed her cringing as the jaguars screamed in pain. Kish fascinated him, something that hadn’t happened in a very long time.
Approaching Kish, he gave her a warm smile.
“What’s bothering you, little demon kitty?” he asked.
She glared at him, and the temptation to push her to react was strong. Rafe would punish her, and the idea turned him on, almost as much as fantasies of Rafe allowing him to punish Kish.
“Don’t make Rafe angry,” he uttered softy, trying to make it sound more like a plea than a command. “I’d hate to see him harm you, Kish.”
While his words clearly surprised her, she tried to hide her reaction, nodding and looking down in a more submissive manner. “Thank you for reminding me,” she whispered, and it was the first time she’d spoken to him without being ordered to do so. Richard smiled. The little demon kitty was a power he wanted to control. He’d gladly give up his alliance with Rafe to possess Kish and her power. With her, he would no longer need Rafe.
“Is Kish being a problem?” Rafe asked, giving her a scary look.
“No,” Richard assured him. “She’s quite biddable. Are you sure I can’t play with her?”
“I’ve already told you,” Rafe ground out. “No one plays with Kish. She will be bred if the need arises, but until then, she remains untouched.”
Richard’s expression was bored when he replied. “I’m not interested in sex. I just want to play with her. Have her do things for me.”
“Surely, you have human slaves to play with,” Rafe remarked
. “Your vampires should also submit to you.”
“Of course,” Richard agreed. “None have ever been this well-trained.”
“Please don’t let him take me,” Kish pleaded, bringing a sinister grin to Rafe’s face.
“I see no reason you can’t play with her, as long as you don’t damage her too much or do anything to impregnate her. That leaves you plenty of options,” Rafe told Richard without taking his eyes off Kish. “You will behave appropriately, Kish.”
“Yes,” Kish replied quietly before following Richard away from the encampment with a group of ten vampire guards. When they were far enough to avoid being overheard, Kish spoke again. “What are you really up to? I know you don’t want to play with me.”
Richard chuckled. “You’re sadly mistaken if you believe that, demon kitty. I want very much to play with you. Rafe has given me permission to do just about anything I want with you, but I won’t. Do you want to know why I won’t?”
She nodded but didn’t speak, probably afraid of pushing him. At least, he hoped it was fear keeping her mouth shut.
“I crave power much more than sex, and you, demon kitty, represent power,” Richard murmured.
“So, you want to take that power just like Rafe,” she spat out.
He shook his head. “I want you to give me that power,” he told her. “I want your loyalty freely given to me. Now, what do I have to do to earn your loyalty?”
Kish shook her head. “I’m not stupid enough to think you want to be my friend.”
Richard laughed. “I’m not offering to be your friend. There’s no denying I’d like to possess you, but not as your friend. What I want is an ally. I want you to stay here and help me rule after I take over this territory. Let Rafe return without you. Fuck your family. What have they done to protect you from being used by Rafe?”
Kish looked angry, but she didn’t deny it was the truth. Richard had hit a nerve, and he was glad he’d picked this plan of attack. It was the way Kish seemed so accustomed to submitting that made him suspect her mother had allowed Rafe to start training her at an early age. There was also the fact that Rafe had said Kish was bred for a purpose. The threat of harm to her family probably hadn’t come until she was old enough to wonder why one as powerful as her needed to take orders from Rafe, or anyone else for that matter. Richard understood how hard it was to accept your own mother was a heartless bitch.
“I know what it’s like to have your own mother betray you,” Richard told her quietly.
“What happened to you?” Kish asked, and while he hated opening up about his childhood, this seemed like the best way to get her to trust him. This confession would show they had things in common and prove he understood her.
“Back in the early days of the Moon virus, all vampires were slaves,” he began, noticing she seemed confused by his terminology. “That’s the virus responsible for the existence of vampires. I don’t know how much you’ve been told about vampire history.”
She shook her head. “I was never given much information about the world outside our clan,” she admitted.
Richard felt something he thought might be sympathy for Kish—something he hadn’t experienced in many years. He supposed it had to do with the fact that he’d once been just as sheltered from the rest of the world. There’d been a time when the only world he’d known had been behind the gates of a vampire reservation. Studying her, she seemed very young and vulnerable. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-seven,” she replied. “Rafe said he couldn’t make this journey until I had my first change three months ago. My powers were more unpredictable before then. Rafe also thought I would slow him down if I had to travel in human form.”
“You’re very young,” Richard remarked.
“You were telling me about how you can understand what I’m going through,” she reminded him.
“Yes,” he said with a sigh. “My mother was a whore and a bitch. Still, when I was a boy, I would have done anything to make her happy. We ended up being favorite pets at the vampire reservation I grew up on. At the time, humans still ruled this territory, and they put us on reservations where they claimed to protect us from harming others or being harmed. It was all a lie. We were used as slaves until the revolution started. One might think being favorite pets would mean we got some sort of special treatment, but that’s not how those things worked. My mother was not only a whore, she got off on abuse, receiving and watching. As a boy, I couldn’t see that she never protected me, but as I got older, I began to realize she allowed the humans to use and degrade me to get extra blood for herself. The bitch also got off on watching me being beaten and raped.”
“That is terrible,” Kish said softly, and Richard had to fight back his smile. While he hated bringing up these memories, it was working. Kish was sympathizing with him. “What happened to your mother?”
“She was killed during the vampire rebellions,” he replied, looking down so she couldn’t read his expression.
“That must have been difficult for you,” Kish breathed out, putting a hand on his arm in an awkward gesture of comfort. “Even though she wasn’t a good mother, it still must have been hard to see her die.”
“It was very difficult,” Richard murmured, leaving out that the difficult part had been his knife getting bent when he’d yanked it from his mother’s black heart after stabbing her the tenth time. He still smiled at the memory of her begging him to spare her life.
Kish paused before speaking again. “My mother has always said she loves me. According to her, my father didn’t want me because I’m only half-demon. I’ve never met him, so I have no way of confirming that. It’s possible he wasn’t aware of my existence. My mother has a mate and other children. My brothers have always pretended I don’t exist. I have one sister, and I love her more than anything in this world. She’s always kind to me. She even tried to get me to run away one time.”
Richard decided the sister could be his biggest obstacle. Kish hadn’t defended her mother or other siblings, so Richard suspected none of them had ever stood up for her, but the sister had.
“I’m curious about something,” Richard mused.
“What’s that?” Kish asked.
“You’re much more powerful than Rafe or any of the other jaguars,” Richard began.
Kish shrugged. “In some ways,” was her vague reply.
“Why not kill him?” Richard asked. “If Rafe were dead, there would be no more threat to your family.”
Kish quickly shook her head. “If I kill him, my family dies. Those under him have orders to carry out the executions if he dies.”
“You mean if you kill him,” Richard corrected.
“No, if Rafe dies by anyone’s hand, they will kill my family. If I fail to protect Rafe, my sister will die,” she explained, once again confirming his suspicions that only the sister mattered.
“Enough of this sad talk,” Richard said, patting her arm. “When I asked Rafe if I could spend time with you, it was for my own selfish purposes, but now that we’ve talked, I can see we have a lot in common. I want to be your friend, Kish. Will you be my friend?”
Kish nodded. “It would be nice to have a friend, someone who won’t use me.”
Richard nearly laughed, wondering if all demons were this gullible. She was falling right in line with his plan to control her. If he couldn’t get Rafe to give Kish to him, he would make sure Kish came to him willingly. One way or another, he would own her, and she would help him control his new territory.
Chapter Forty-Five
Cord wanted to go after Vexx, but Beck’s arrival prevented him from following his daughter.
“You finally got Vexx to meet Jase,” he remarked. “Things seem to have gone very well.”
Cord snorted, not amused by his friend’s sarcasm. “If you call Vexx realizing Jase was her mate months ago and masking her scent so he wouldn’t guess her age going well, then yes, everything is going great.”
“Her mate?” Beck asked
, eyes wide with shock.
“Yes, I was apparently right about them being a good match,” he muttered. “Jase may not agree after what happened, but he’ll claim her, eventually.”
“Does Vexx even want that?” Beck asked, putting up his hands in surrender when Cord glared at him. “Don’t act like you’d force her to go with him if she doesn’t want to. It’s just us, so there’s no reason for you to play hard ass leader.”
“You know how a mate bond works,” Cord said in exasperation.
“In theory, it works that way, but they’re not climbing all over each other,” Beck pointed out. “I’m just wondering if you’ve considered the possibility that Vexx’s witch heritage might mean their mate bond isn’t as strong.”
Cord sighed and dropped down onto a chair. “Vexx said she was afraid he wouldn’t accept her because she’s only half-shifter.”
Beck took a seat across from him. “That’s a valid concern considering how the lynx have treated half-breeds in the past. Jase doesn’t seem like the type to reject his mate for that reason, but I could be mistaken.”
“He wouldn’t turn his back on her, if for no other reason than claiming her is the right thing to do,” Cord argued.
“Then why did he leave?” Beck asked. “I don’t see him trying to convince Vexx to work things out with him.”
“Shut up, Beck,” Cord muttered.
Beck laughed. “You just hate it when I point out the obvious. How’s Vexx handling all this? Did she seem relieved when Jase left?”
“She’s upset,” Cord admitted.
“About you lecturing her in front of Jase?” Beck asked. His friend knew Vexx well enough to understand how much she’d hate that.
Cord shook his head. “She kept insisting she was going to tell Jase after her heat cycle.”
“Why wait?” Beck asked, and Cord understood his confusion. Vexx’s arguments didn’t make sense to him.
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