Clarity shone true like a bathroom mirror wiped clean of steam.
Iwas Graysen Crowther’s weakness.
He was a tamer, and I needed to exploit that.
It wasn’t me he was going to tame—I was going to tame him.
“Fuck. Enough,” Graysen warned his brother, pivoting on his heel. “I’ve got things to do. I’ll join you later this evening.” He jerked his chin toward the far door past the rows of tables and gigantic pillars holding the ceiling aloft. “Come along, Pet. Time to stretch your legs before going back into your cage.”
My gaze snapped to his as a spark of fury lit at being spoken to like that. But I dampened the hot coals his words had stoked and followed him out with Sage padding beside me.
Striding past the Crowthers, I let my icy gaze shift from one to the other.
Caidan’s weakness was Evvie.
Kenton, I suspected, might be swayed by someone who seemed to be already twisting my way, judging by the look of silent approval she’d given me earlier today.
Jett was the only one I wasn’t sure about.
I also didn’t like the way he was staring at Sage. There was a sly gleam in his eyes that glistened with dark interest. “I like your dog,” he murmured quietly as I strode past. “His head will look really good nailed to my bedroom wall.”
Anger ignited. Embers of wrath crackled through my veins. Churning heat waves and smoke boiled my blood. I forgot everything that I’d momentarily decided, and the control over my emotions unspooled. He’d pay with blood if he did anything to Sage.
I rushed Jett, striking out with a fist and a scream of fury.
He did too, his hand coming up to block me…hit me…?
I didn’t know.
I didn’t get to find out because Graysen had moved with that untraceable speed once more. He was beside me in a blink. His large hand lashed out to grab Jett’s wrist before he could touch me, fingers latching so tightly that his younger brother winced. “I don’t want the merchandise marked,” Graysen warned. For once, cold flames burned in his gaze, making his eyes shine sharper.
Jett’s head whipped around to face Graysen with an incredulous look.
Caidan caught my fist before I struck Jett in the jaw. I struggled, hissing and spitting my fury at Jett. “You do anything to Sage and I will kill you!” I breathed in ragged pants, pulling at Caidan, trying to tug myself free. “You hear me, Crowthers? I’ll kill all of you!”
Caidan held up a palm. “Whoa… Let’s just drop this a couple of angry degrees.”
Jerking back, I wrenched myself free. Sage danced on the spot barking, the contained lightning around his neck crackled and sparked as he tried and failed to sink his fangs into Jett’s leg.
Graysen relaxed his grip and let his brother go. He leaned close. The fire blazing in his gaze had been extinguished, and his tone was back to being bored and flat. “If any fingerprints should bruise her, brother, they’ll be mine.”
An icy shiver rippled down my spine.
But I was too far gone to fall into caution. I wanted to bite back at Jett. And no one was going to stop me. “Here’s the thing,” and I poked Jett in the chest, not caring if he didn’t look right, with sweat glistening on his temples and eyes glazed with pain. “You need me in one pretty piece to auction me off.” I hooked a thumb toward Graysen. “Like he”—dickface—“said. No marring the merchandise.”
“I can terrorize you in other ways,” Jett threatened, his features strained.
“So can I,” I shot back.
Jett bared his teeth at the same time his hand fisted.
Graysen hissed, a warning his brother caught and heeded. Jett froze, reluctantly unfurling his fingers.
Though Graysen directed the question at me, he didn’t take his sight off Jett. His voice was a low rumble. “Why did I let you out of your cage, little bird?”
I swiveled slowly around to face him and stilled. There was nothing in his expression, nothing at all. And he made it so much easier for me to be afraid of him.
He was territorial before, strangely protective.
