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“What’s that?”
“A shackle.” Livvie stares at the ring. “Nero’s my father. I’m Olivia Lucian.”
Claudia
I wait up for Eli to get back from his first evening as Nero’s assistant. Antony’s out at the club, and Noah, Gabriel, and George go to bed early, knowing we’ll have a rough day at school tomorrow. I put The Conjuring on in the theatre room, and lean back in one of the overstuffed chairs to wait for my Golden Boy. Queen Boudica curls in my lap. She knows when I need her.
Two movies and several exorcisms later, my eyelids droop. I hear the creak of the garage door opening. Queen Boudica’s ears prick up. Instinctively, I reach for my knife, but then I shake myself from sleep and remember who I’m waiting for.
A few moments later, Eli appears in the doorway. I don’t ask him how it went – the hollowness in his eyes and tight corners of his mouth tells me everything. I sit up and pat the chair beside me.
Eli moves like a zombie. He slumps down beside me, the chair swallowing him. Gizmo darts from a hidden corner and sidles up to him, sniffing the hell out of his legs.
He picks her up, crushing her to his chest with such force she yelps and swipes at him to put her down. He does, but his eyes don’t leave her as she stalks around his legs, sniffing him again.
I wait.
Eli reaches over and scratches Queen Boudica behind the ears. She flattens her ears and stalks away, settling on the chair next to me to eye him warily. This is too much for Eli. He shakes his head angrily and tears his hand away.
“Nero has animals. Lions and tigers and a bear—”
“Oh, my.”
“It’s not funny.”
“I know it’s not.” I press my hand to his. Eli’s fingers curl around me, gripping so tight I have to grit my teeth against the pain. Something’s eating away at him, and he needs to get it out.
“They’re in cages underneath his club, with nothing but concrete floors and rancid food. He’s breeding the babies for his clubs, and god knows what he does with them once they get too big. And Livvie, she wants to save them, but—”
“Wait, who’s Livvie?”
“Olivia Lucian. She’s Nero’s daughter from his second wife. She showed me what she’s been doing behind his back to help the animals.” Eli’s eyes darken when he sees my face. “We can trust her.”
Fat fucking chance. But I don’t say it, because Eli needs this.
“I have to help them, Claws. It might as well be Gizmo and Queen Boudica in those cages. I can’t let them die down there without even seeing the sun.”
As he talks, I hear that same grim determination in his voice. This is who Eli is – he sees it as his god-given duty to speak up for anyone who can’t speak for themselves. He tried so hard to help Mackenzie, to find her when she disappeared, and he protected me even when he hated me. And now he’s going to throw himself in the firing line for these animals, and probably bring Nero’s ire down on all our heads. It should drive me insane. Instead, it makes my body flare with heat.
“We’ll get them out,” I growl.
As one, our gaze lands on our two cats playing with a discarded sock. I remember the night I found Queen Boudica huddled behind the diner trash bins, abandoned and unloved. I remember too the righteous anger that fueled me when that bastard broke in here and attacked her.
Eli’s right – what difference is there between them and the creatures Nero has locked away for the amusement of others?
I watch Eli. He deflates in the chair, as though the act of retelling the horrors of Nero’s basement has made him see the futility of fighting. “Forget it, you’ve got enough to worry about—”
“I’m making a promise to you, Elias Hart. We’ll get them out.”
I start to say more, but Eli crushes my mouth with his, and all thoughts and words fly from my head. My abdomen flares with fresh pain that drives the wind from my lungs… or maybe that’s Eli’s lips on mine, his hands roaming my body, his eyes raw with need.
My hands grip his shoulders, and I pull myself against him. I want to cry because he’s so perfect. Instead of crying, I kiss him harder, holding the back of his neck to force him to stay with me, to not hold back, to stop trying to protect me from the heat of his love. He thinks he knows what I need to heal, but all I need is him.
“I’ve wanted to get my hands on this body for so long,” I murmur against his lips as I tug off his shirt. His skin burns against my fingers, and as I grind my hips against him I can feel his thickness between my legs.
“We can’t do this,” he rasps. “We can’t risk opening your stitches and—”
“Shut up and kiss me.” I grab the back of his head again and force his lips to mine. Eli lets out this little moan that’s so fucking hot. He tries to pull away, but I’ve got him and like fuck am I letting him go. The moment my lips part his and my tongue dives inside, he surrenders, his arms coming up around me to tug off my shirt. Good boy.
