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He looks to each of us, as though trying to decide if there are traitors he should be concerned about among us. “I’m afraid the list of betrayers is not only one, my friend, but my men here”—he gestures to the burly suited guys behind him—“they were able to get the information we needed. I’ll give you the list, and then we call ourselves square, capiche?”
Overmaster Descallia extends his hand. “Very well,” he says, looking at Roman as though there’s more to the story than what we’re seeing. “Consider us even. We both have organizations to run. We have spent years with the syndicate in what I think we would all agree to be lucrative arrangements. No?”
Roman’s eyes shift. “We both know the most lucrative of the deal was going into the vampire’s coffers, and that I’ll need to make that right if I’m to remain in power, Descallia. The three elders conspiring with the vampires are being taken care of as we speak, but the ones who are taking their place will want us to seize control of the profit line. Unfortunately, with the changes to the elders, we’re going to need to renegotiate our agreements. That’s what I came to tell you in person, along with giving you the list.”
“Softening the blow, Roman?”
Roman’s lips shift in a slight smile, but he doesn’t seem to take pleasure in what he’s come to say or do. I have to give him credit, coming into a cavern full of masters with this type of news is ballsy as hell. Especially when every single one of us knows it means that it will return us all to enemies of the worst kind, fighting for the territories, street corners, and product that make us all profitable today.
Money has a way of turning people into the worst of enemies, and I have no doubt that by the end of this visit, that’s exactly what we’ll be. I glance at Trentino who has his arm protectively around Angel as she listens to her brother boldly put Overmaster Descallia on notice of what’s to come.
Overmaster Descallia doesn’t seem too worried about it. “We always knew one day it would come to this, Roman. You’ve been honorable and forthright through it all. For that, I thank you.” He gestures around. “I’m not sure how that plays out between everyone else, but you and I, my friend, we are both dedicated to keeping our families safe, protected, and provided for in the future. I have no doubt we will both do what we have to do. I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, Roman.”
Roman nods toward Isala. “You have her and the list; I have the three elders.”
Overmaster Descallia nods. “I want names and proof of death when it’s through. The elders have been the cause of many injured in the vampire community and more. In return, when I have the answers I want, you will receive the same from me,” he says, looking toward Lucianna and Isala.
Roman reaches into his pocket and hands Descallia a folded piece of white paper. “Read it after I’ve gone. As long as the vampires do not come after anyone in our family, the syndicate will remain out of the battle that I’m sure will ensue after reading it.”
Overmaster Descallia nods, and Roman turns to Angela. “We’ll talk, but we always knew the day would come when our chosen allegiances would collide. We’ll manage it somehow,” he says to his sister, turning on a shiny black dress shoe to walk out of the dimly lit cavern with his thugs, who have surrounded him.
Tears fall from Angel’s eyes, and Trentino holds her tight. This will be the test we always knew would come with having the sister of the syndicate don in our midst. It was difficult enough when there was an unofficial truce between the two. If Roman intends to pull out the stops and go head-to-head with Descallia over our joint business arrangements, many things are likely to change.
Overmaster Descallia is absorbed, reading through the list of names that Roman has provided. His eyes are a smoldering red blaze. He looks to Lucas who is not far from his side. “Call an emergency meeting of the consulate. Tomorrow night.”
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Overmaster gives the order to take Isala to the master’s warehouse. Clay and Terrence half drag her from the cavern as the others talk softly among themselves.
Overmaster talks quietly with his mate. I can hear her chest pounding, a sense that her blood is racing, and when she looks to Descallia her thoughts are as clear as mine.They’re coming for me again, aren’t they?
He puts his arm around her. “They think that if they take you, I’ll back down and let them run roughshod over our kind. You and I both know that’s not going to happen. We have survived centuries despite their efforts, and we will prevail now.”
I look to Calabrea whose jaw is set and eyes are bright red. “Isala took Lucianna because the rogues want to use her as insurance to try to control Overmaster Descallia.”
“Do we know who these rogues are?”
Calabrea takes my hand. “Come on, we’ll talk at home, but we’re not going to let them win, not in previous centuries and not in future centuries.” He transports us back to his estate and to the kitchen without even saying goodbye to the others.
Elda is at the sink, but Calabrea asks her to leave. My chest tightens with angst. It’s really the first time we’ve been togethersince I crept out of our bed, certain that we weren’t going to be able to make it as a couple, certain that he would always be looking for more than I could give.
He stalks toward me and grasps my hips, lifting me onto the countertop of the island, parting my legs so that he can stand between them. His face is so close to mine that I can feel the warmth of his breath sending shivers of delicious anticipation down my spine. “When you’ve exerted yourself like this, you need to replenish.”
“I drank a quart of blood before we left,” I whisper, surprisingly proud of my accomplishment. “It made me calmer and more alert all at the same time,” I tell him.
Calabrea pushes a stray hair back from my cheek and watches me intently. “You’ll tell me why you left my bed and confided in others what you didn’t confide in me, Tansia?”
His finger trails down the length of my neck, over the area that not days ago was ravaged by destructed fangs and healed by his. A shiver slinks down the length of my spine as his lips follow the trail of his fingers. “Tell me, love?”
My nipples pebble with a formidable desire, a burning intense longing to mate with reckless abandon, but yet he is not hurried at all. His nail rakes across the aroused tip sending desire straight to my center. “Tell me, Tansia. I don’t make it a habit of repeating myself,” he says, raising my shirt from my skin and pulling it over my head.
I’m still processing all the reasons that it seemed the thing to do at the time. The feelings of insecurity, of not being enough, all the guilt of the past for being duped by a lying cheating man who when caught after years of infidelities had the ability to make it my fault. For a long time, I bought it. Every single thing he said, I accepted as truth. Maybe those same insecurities never left, never really got resolved in my mind.
Until this very moment.
Because, I am enough, enough for anyone worthy of having me body, mind, and soul. I take his face in mine and kiss his lips. “Because until I woke up turned, I didn’t think I was enough. I let a past relationship cause deep seated insecurities for a very long time. But you sacrificed everything for me. The wrath of the other masters on the consulate who aren’t fans of humans in their world, taking on the responsibility for keeping me protected and making me yours for an eternity. You don’t do those things unless your heart is completely invested.”
