I couldn’t shake the sense of dread that fell over me as the elevator doors closed. A bead of sweat slid from Nellie’s temple, gliding smoothly down her poreless cheek.
“Oh, Nellie,” I gasped. “Did he threaten you?”
She sniffed, her eyes misting over. A glamour on her arms and neck began to fade, revealing a mosaic of bruises. Nellie slowly turned her head towards me. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
The elevator doors slid open to reveal the vampire Premier, Victor Corvane, standing alone in my lobby.
“Sage Hexwood,” he said, my name rolling off his tongue in a dark, sensual, warning tone. It crept over me like a fog, obscuring everything around me but him. He was all I could focus on, his power like a magnet for all of my senses.
I shivered, feeling my muscles seize as he narrowed his gaze on me. My stomach then cramped, and I bit back a whimper from the pain. A cruel smile turned his full lips up, revealing his deadly sharp fangs. “I’ve found you at last.”
17
Bleeding Out
How could I be worth all this effort? I was a clumsy waitress who’d spilled a little blood—not even as a euphemism for violence, I’d literally dropped a tray of flutes filled with blood—and that was somehow worthy of the Premier himself tracking me down.
Was he mad because they’d discovered I’d let Nellie into the party? Was that my crime?
“Don’t hurt her anymore, please,” I begged. My knees wobbled as I put my bags on the floor, showing my empty hands. “I’m the one who broke the rules and sneaked her in, so it’s my fault. Whatever punishment is left to be had, I’ll take it.”
Nellie whimpered behind me. Okay, maybe it was also her fault since it had been her idea, but it looked like she’d already taken a beating.
His head tilted slightly, his eye contact never breaking. “Punishment? What are you talking about?” He took a stepcloser to me, his scent overwhelming. It was herbal and strong, with a base note of something metallic that lingered and settled in the air.
My stomach cramped again, my breasts tingling and my underwear becoming wet. A low growl rumbled through the Premier’s chest, and my eyes widened in horrible recognition.
Oh Hecara, I was going into heat.
How? Why? I took medicine to prevent this, and I took it like clockwork.
“Merfolk, leave us!” he commanded, and Nellie bolted through the lobby and out the front door. I followed her with my eyes, terrified of what would happen now that I was alone and going into heat while the vampire Premier stood six feet away, ready to kill me.
This certainly wasn’t how I’d imagined dying, but at least Nellie would live to tell the tale. Would it be considered epic or embarrassing?
Knowing Nellie, she’d definitely spin it to be epic. I mean, it was the least she could do, considering she’d led me straight to my end.
Once the front door locked back into place, I was slammed into the wall behind me. He moved so fast I barely had time to register the pain before his nose was buried in my neck, his body caging me in.
“Yes,” he hissed. “Yes, this is it. Jasmine… It’s subtle, but it’s there. It’s really you, I can’t believe it.”
His fangs scraped against the delicate skin of my neck and I swallowed nervously. I had a charm on my bracelet that made my blood taste sour, a necessary deterrent in a city full of vampires who occasionally fell to bloodlust.
But the Premier’s body was flush with mine, and I couldn’t snake my hand between us to get to my other wrist.
“I’ve been looking for you for so long, and I had you wrong this whole time.”
What the hell was he talking about? It had been an hour and a half tops since I’d run from his party.
Another cramp seized my muscles and I winced, my heat ramping up at an alarming rate.
The Premier growled again, and began… wait, was he humping me?
I knew most alphas were hard-wired to respond almost immediately to an omega in heat, but he’d wanted to kill me. And he was the Premier of vampires, so he was probably on a rut suppressant himself.
The growing erection that rocked against my stomach, though, spoke otherwise.
Could… could I use this in my favor? Yes, I could blame my heat for my clumsiness! It was infantilizing, but if I could take advantage of how little faith people had in my designation, maybe I’d get out of this alive. Surely I could blame the dropped tray on a debilitating stomach cramp. And the Premier’s cock was proof I wasn’t making this up.
