I was going to be sick.
I wanted to grab the female by the throat, put her on the ground, and claw her eyes out of their sockets. Then I’d deal with him.
I blinked at the intensity of the emotion, an undercurrentof unease taking root in my belly as I recalled the demon in Dorthus I’d brought down with the mereintentionof causing her pain.
I shivered.
What waswrongwith me?
Kaden might have been my mate, but I’d only known him a short time. We had never discussed what this connection between us meant. I had no real claim on him at all, and the thought threatened to bring up my dinner.
He was still giving her that lazy, male smile, and I could feel Sorsha and Adriel watching me intently. Then Kaden’s hands bracketed the female’s hips, and he slid her gently out of his lap.
The female seemed unperturbed, her hand resting on Kaden’s shoulder, and my insides boiled with rage.
Shoving away from the table, I stormed up to the madam we’d paid, who was standing at a small wooden podium, scratching out sums in a heavy leather book.
“Are our rooms ready?” I asked.
The fae stiffened at my harsh tone but recovered quickly. She slid me a brass key with a room number etched on the attached tag, and I snapped it up.
I sensed Kaden watching me as I stomped up the rickety staircase, each step creaking violently underfoot. The music faded as I reached the second story, which reeked of perfume, musty sheets, and sex. The passage was lit by heavy brass lanterns with flickering orbs of faelight inside, and a threadbare runner lined the wooden planks of the floor.
Low moans echoed off the walls with their peeling floral paper, and I distinctly heard the slap of a hand against flesh. A shriek of what might have been pleasuremade my ears ache, and I trudged toward the room at the end of the corridor.
Despite being in a brothel, the bedchamber was clean and comfortably appointed. A double bed took up most of one wall, and an enormous copper tub seemed to beckon me from the other side of the room. As promised, someone had already filled the tub with hot water, and thin plumes of steam twisted up from the surface.
I groaned. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d enjoyed a hot bath, and my muscles were stiff from our journey.
Unbuckling my belt, I laid my weapons on the bed and peeled off my grimy leathers. Off came my woolen undershirt and my sweaty underthings.
Dipping my foot into the bath, I shuddered at the delicious warmth. I climbed in and sank beneath the steaming surface, my skin prickling pleasantly from the heat.
Resting my head against the back of the tub, I tried to banish the image of Kaden and the busty brunette from my mind. Yet despite my best efforts, all I could see was his infuriating smirk, his hands gripping her nearly bare hips.
What waswrongwith me? I was not this female.
I’d never had a serious relationship — never had cause to be jealous. I’d had flings, of course, but I’d considered them a means to an end. A necessity to scratch a mutual itch.
But this . . . This felt different. Powerful. Primal.
My whole body hummed with the need to claim what was mine. To show everyone in that brothel that Kaden belonged to me.
My insides squeezed uncomfortably.
The sound of footsteps outside my door made mestiffen, and I realized that, in my jealous rage, I’d forgotten to lock the door to my chamber.
I looked across the room to my discarded weapons, lying uselessly out of reach.
Gripping the lip of the tub, I prepared to hoist myself out, but then the knob turned and the door swung open. Kaden stood framed in the doorway, his eyes snapping to mine with an almost magnetic force.
For several seconds, he just stood there, taking in the sight of me sprawled in the tub. The water and steam did little to conceal my naked form, but I held his gaze in a cold challenge.
Kaden’s gaze heated, and some ancient part of me roared with satisfaction. But then he stepped into the room, and my heart resumed its erratic dance.
The bedchamber was much too small, and he was much too close.
Kaden’s eyes gleamed with pure male delight, and he cracked that infuriating smirk. “Something bothering you, little huntress?”
