Chapter9
Rae
“He’s not for you,” Rae said, watching as the woman translated in sign, her hands moving slowly between each word.
Only for Erik to respond, voiced by her faraway tone. “Unless you’re here to accept my offer, fuck off.”
Titus widened his stance, violence threatening the air.
“Hey, come on Erik,” she said quickly. “I thought we were friends?”
“We’re not friends.” Erik’s laugh was silent, his mouth wide open and head thrown back. “Not since you stole my dagger.”
“That was Atlas,” she shouted above the music, the lie easily falling from her tongue. It had been a dare between Atlas, herself, and the twins. She couldn’t remember much of that night, not after the amount of vodka she’d consumed, waking up with Erik’s famed skull dagger on the pillow beside her. It was hers now, and she wasn’t giving it back.
“I’ll trade a favour.”
“Favour?” Erik brushed his fingers across the woman’s collarbone, tracing each and every scar there. “The favour would be to allow me to feed for the night.”
“You know I would never agree to that.” Rae’s eyes flicked to the chain attached to the woman’s collar, ending beneath Erik’s boot. “Can you just take a look?” She lifted her wrist to better show her cuff, only for Erik to jump to his feet, hand curling around the solid metal.
Titus stiffened beside her, but said nothing as Erik gently turned her hand, studying each groove in detail before stroking his fingers over every link.
“The cuffs,” Titus grunted. “Can you get them off?”
“I think they were made by J,” Rae added, Titus’s head whipping to face her.
“The precision and detail is beautiful, even down to his delicate signature hidden on the eighth link.” Erik grinned, all teeth and fangs made even more eerie by his words in such a gentle voice. “But no one meets J, not even me. I can’t help you.”
Titus’s hand curled around the back of her neck, the chain hard against her spine. “Are you telling me J made these?” He pressed himself closer. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Surely you can do something?” Rae ignored Titus at her back. His presence just a reminder that she was on a deadline. “Come on Erik, can’t you just break them?”
Titus didn’t wait for a reply, dragging her back with the fucking chain.
“Hey!” Rae turned and shoved at his chest. “What was that? I was handling it.”
He pointed to the bathrooms, giving her no choice as he pushed into the men’s, her forced behind him. “Fuck off,” he growled at the single man there, his body bent over the sink snorting a line. “Now!”
Rae pressed herself to the side as the man scrambled back through the door, the music quiet enough they could speak at a reasonable level. Wrinkling her nose, she waited until Titus had checked the two stalls before pinning him with a glare.
“This is the men’s room.”
“No shit, I need a piss.” He lifted his arm, and she staggered against him.
Fisting his shirt, she tipped her head back to better look him in the eye. “I’m not holding your dick.”
Titus’s eyes gave nothing but indifference away, his face schooled into complete boredom. Yet he was angry, she felt it in the slight tension beneath her hands.
“I bet you get into trouble for that mouth.”
“Daily.” Her eyes dipped to the tattoos that just beneath his jaw, at the line and curves that reminded her of runes. “What are you?”
His head cocked to the side, brows lowering over his eyes.
“A Witch?” she continued when he just stared. “Faerie? Human with a druid fetish?”
“All of the above.” He turned her, the sink digging into her back. “Now tell me everything said on my assignment, because clearly you don’t even know what Breed I am.”
