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Now, he’s caught my attention. I definitely don’t like the way he said terminated as if someone planned to take out my family. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He holds his hands up in surrender, sidling close. “Nothing at all. I’m happy to see you’re here and unwed by the looks of it.” He tips his head toward my hand.
Ew. Perfect, now they all see me as a means to an end, a family name to tie with theirs. I glance over to find Kai, but he’s already stalking across the dance floor, his hands in his pockets, the ease of a predator with a scent.
When he reaches me, he tips his face down to kiss me on the cheek. “What’s going on here?”
I point at the stranger with the drink in my hand and then give it to Kai. “Teddy, Kai, Kai, Teddy.”
They both nod, and then Teddy slips away. I barely take a sip of my drink before Kai has me out on the balcony, up against the wall, his body fitted to mine. “We’ve been here five minutes, and you’re already hunting a husband.”
I shove at his chest, anger burning more than the whiskey going down. “That was uncalled for. I was grabbing a drink, and that man came to talk to me all on his own.”
He tucks his face into my neck and spins me to face the wall.
Panic rises faster than I can contain it, making me kick out against him. He avoids the sharp point of my heel easily enough. “Calm down, Rose. Calm down. It’s me, and you know what I feel like against you by now.”
I try to settle the panic in the pit of my stomach. He’s right. I know what he feels like against me, and he’s not Sal. It’s not him trapping me underneath him all over again.
Kai runs his mouth along the side of my neck, sending tingles through my body. “Oh.”
“I didn’t like that man talking to you. I don’t want you talking to any other men. You belong to me.”
I gasp as his teeth gently bite into my shoulder. “I don’t belong to anyone.”
He spins me to face him one more time and wedges his thigh between mine. “We’ll see about that, Little Rose. You’re mine, and I’m not giving you up that easily.”
I hold his biceps, and he trails his mouth down my neck to the swell of my boobs. Everywhere his lips touch, a fire flames bright and hot.
The only other sexual experiences I’ve had were terrible. I assumed they were all something to endure, but this, this is…I swallow hard, kneading his arms with my hands. “Please.”
He smiles against my skin. “Begging already. Looks like your body already knows who it belongs to.”
I bang my head back into the wall, trying to break through the haze. Then someone clears their throat, and Kai’s sister is standing there in glimmering taffeta, staring us both down. “Sorry to interrupt. I thought we’d continue our conversation.”
My face burns hot, but we give her a nod and follow her back into the party, then to the antechamber.
She resumes her seat, and she waves us on like she hasn’t got all night. This time, I take the lead. “We want sanctuary from the council here.”
“Sanctuary,” Selena repeats. “From what exactly?”
I glance at Kai. “The council in our city is on a witch hunt. They want to take out the Doubeck family and anyone connected to them. That includes Kai and me.”
The council members whisper between themselves a moment, and then Selena meets my eyes. I’m missing something, but I don’t know what. “You can have sanctuary, but Kai cannot. He’s already on trial with his own council, and we can’t interfere. If he weren’t a wanted man, then maybe we could assist. You, however, we can offer protection.”
Kai steps up beside me. “Thank you, she’ll take it.”
I turn and glare at him. “She will not take anything, and you don’t speak for me.”
Selena wears a little grin when I meet her eyes this time. “Won’t you reconsider? Kai is important to me, and I don’t want to see him hurt.”
This time, she doesn’t confer with her fellow council members. “Men like him were made to be hurt. It’s his job to take the pain so people like you don’t have to. People like his friend Adrian don’t have to.”
I’m speechless. She’d hang her brother out like that with no protection. Nothing. That settles things for me. She had to be the one who leaked his whereabouts, but what was in it for her?
“What can we do to change your minds?”
She shakes her head once. “Nothing. The decision has been made.”
