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“My talent isn’t lust, Evan. It’s fear.”
“You aren’t making me scared.”
His fear went down, and I smiled.
“No, I’m not. Another deep breath, we’re good. We’re on the same side.”
“You were Griffin’s pet torturer.”
“The operative word is pet. He was my Master, but not by my choice. I was traded to him.”
“It still feels as if you tricked me.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Why do bloody vampires do most of the shit you do? Bored, maybe.”
“Is this going to be a problem? Do I need to let the head eagle know not to assign you to me?”
He stared at me a few seconds, sighed, and turned the little desk chair around so he could sit and talk to me. The gun was still in his hand, but no longer at the ready.
“I’m the head eagle.”
I looked at him a few seconds and scooted on the bed so I leaned back against the headboard. I wanted to appear relaxed and friendly. Not a threat. “I like you, and I find I don’t want to make you forget our encounter.”
Fear. Not quite terror, but he was afraid. Someone with this much fear of a vampire messing with their memories shouldn’t be working for us. “Head eagle. What transpired to put you in our top position?”
His brow furrowed and he rubbed it. “My king needed me to step up and take the job. Those under me mostly volunteered to go, but he only had a few people he trusted to lead, and the others have mates.” He froze and glowered at me. Angry again. “You said you’re a sapiosexual.”
“Yes. Intelligence is a huge turn on for me.”
“You didn’t test me. You have no idea how smart I am.”
“I didn’t have to. I made a silly pun, and not only did you get it, you bounced one back at me. You figured the tip off the top of your head, and you expertly manipulated our friends with examples of what they had in common based on things you deduced but weren’t told.” I shrugged. “And now I’m aware you know what sapiosexual means, another point in your favor.”
He crossed his arms and immediately uncrossed them. It wasn’t about the message crossed arms sent — he wanted to stay ready in case I attacked. “I don’t do vamps.”
“Like you, I’m new in town. I’m not looking for a relationship, but a fuckbuddy or two would be nice. I’m not asking you to open a vein for me. I was hoping for sex, companionship, because you like me and enjoy spending time with me. I’m dominant to every vampire except Marco, and we’ve passed the time in our lives where we...” I paused and started over. “I need strong, dominant men in my bed who aren’t part of the vampire hierarchy, but not someone who’ll be a drain on my time or emotions.”
But putting him on the spot wasn’t going to work for this man. “Don’t decide anything today. No pressure. Forget the sex for now, we need to talk about something else.”
He leaned back a little and kept his gaze on me.
“You work for vampires. Just accept that some of your memories are going to be messed with, so you don’t have any fear around it. Marco will think nothing of removing a fact here or a story there, if it’s something you don’t need to know. He’ll let you stay close to keep us safe, but he’s never going to let you remember everything said around you.”
He was wearing his best poker face and managed a decent job of containing his fear, but it hummed like a too-tight piano wire.
“None of us are going to screw with your personal memories. We don’t have the time or inclination for it. You’ll still be you when your contract is up. We aren’t going to wipe all your memories.”
“But you could.”
“And you could walk into a mall with a concealed weapon and open it up on the crowd, but you won’t.”
“Because I’d go to jail. You wouldn’t get caught if you wiped my mind.”
“Not by the human authorities, but Marco would know, and the consequences would be brutal. Your people would also know something happened, and it would blow back on us.”
The blood oath he’d given meant he isn’t capable of refusing a direct order — an order we give with intention. I could order him to step outside and start shooting innocent people, and he’d hate it, but he wouldn’t be able to do anything else. I decided not to point that out to him, though. This was a long-game seduction. He wasn’t going to fuck me again today, but that was okay. I had time.
