Chalen felt a satisfied grin split his face. “I’m not surprised that he would try to evade the press. I’m sure the Dellacourts are perfectly horrified that their son is involved with an animal. Although I am a bit curious about this Kaja. Get dressed. I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes. I think it’s time for you to have a little talk with Kaja. I think I’ve found another use for that tape you made of Dante. I prefer the press’s version that he couldn’t find another consort. But I wonder what his new wife will think about his plan. I belong to that club. I’ll get us in.”
Ashley’s eyes widened in confusion. “Why would I talk to her? Everything is going along exactly as you planned. The press is tearing the Dellacourts apart. I just watched a news editorial on how we will all be copulating with animals if we don’t recognize Torin’s right to rule.”
Oh, the net was tightening, but Chalen had plans for Dante that didn’t include simply hurting his feelings. And if he could make a profit while he was at it, that was all the better. The shanimal would be very interesting to his medical division.
“I don’t pay you to tell me what to do,” Chalen said. “I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes.”
He closed the link between them and let the head of medical research know that he would have a new subject to test very soon.
Dante held Kaja’s hand. He barely restrained himself from wrapping an arm around her and keeping her close to his body. He wanted contact with her. He craved it. He’d been fighting his instincts for weeks in a vain attempt to look normal.
Normal wasn’t going to work for Kaja. Normal was going to stifle her. It was going to kill that sweet soul of hers in a way violence and neglect hadn’t.
“Good evening, Mr. Dellacourt,” the desk clerk said.
Dante nodded at the man who probably was well armed and trained. The doors to The Club opened, and Dante led Kaja through.
One day he would bring her here as a sub, not just a guest. The BDSM club was known for its exclusivity. Royals only, and royals with money. Everyone else was well-vetted staff.
He didn’t miss the way Kaja’s eyes took in the grandeur of the space. Julian Lodge didn’t do anything halfway. His entryway was a monument to decadence.
“Dante.” Julian walked out of his office and into the grand entry. “Welcome back. It’s been a long time since you came in.”
“Well, seeing my sister bound to a Saint Andrew’s Cross while her consort whipped her made me swear off sex for a very long time.”
Kaja stared up at him.
“Three days is very long for me,” Dante conceded.
Julian laughed. “Really, it is. This is your consort.” Julian bowed in the formal fashion. “Greetings, consort.”
He nodded at Kaja, and she smiled at Julian. That smile. Gods, it got to him. Especially since he knew she’d never smiled before she met him.
“Hello,” Kaja said.
Dante gave in and pulled her close. Another royal was staring at his consort. Despite the fact that he knew Julian had a consort of his own—if rumors had it right, he had two—Dante felt his fangs grow. His hold on Kaja tightened. Julian wasn’t exactly ugly.
Kaja snorted. “He is not my type.”
It would take a while to get used to this whole telepathic thing. “I better be your type.”
“Yes. You are my type, Dante, my love.”
She looked gorgeous, her brown-and-gold hair forming a halo around her head. Her blue eyes were wide and dominated her pretty face. She was everything to him. How had that happened? She’d become the sun in his sky. He’d fought it, but now he couldn’t remember why.
He was going to leave his home to save her.
“Dante, if you’ll join me.” Julian gestured toward his office door.
He pulled Kaja along.
Julian stared at him. “Your consort is welcome to have a drink at the bar.”
“Or she could come with me.” He didn’t really want her running around an infamous BDSM club alone.
Kaja patted his hand. “I would love a drink. Don’t worry. I won’t allow myself to be carried off. I will show them my beast.”
His beast. He loved it. And it was the reason he would leave his home. Kaja needed something she couldn’t get on this plane. And she also needed trust.
He leaned over and brushed his lips to her forehead. She understood. He’d felt her love. She loved him. He was her world as she was his. Even when she shielded, she couldn’t hide that fact from him. It made him feel ten fucking feet tall. “Go on, love. Have a nice drink and meet the other subs. I won’t be long.”
Kaja went up on her tiptoes and planted the sweetest kiss on his lips. She was his. “I will wait for you, my love.”
She’d started using the endearment, and it went straight to his cock. She’d only ever called him “First” or “Dante” before. “My love” was new. “I love you, Kaj.”
That was new, too. He wouldn’t stop. He loved her. He was better for loving her. His heart was different—fuller. Everything was different. He’d gone into this relationship with bad intentions, and now he couldn’t imagine his life without Kaja. How quickly that had changed.
She merely smiled as though she knew. He didn’t have to tell her. He merely had to open himself, and she could feel how much a part of him she was. He was not going to cry. He was not going to give in.
“I love you, too, Dante. I will not stare at strange vampires. I will tell everyone that I am taken and require nothing more than my lover.” She wrapped her arms around him, squeezed, and walked away. Her glorious ass swayed as she walked. “I still feel your hand and your cock there, love.”
Oh, she was his fucking mate.
“You seem to have chosen well,” Julian said with a self-assured smile.
“I was infinitely lucky.” Dante watched her until the moment the door closed and she was no longer visible. He turned back to Julian. “Now, tell me why you pulled me from my bonding time.”
A shadow moved from the corner. A very familiar British voice spoke up. “I’m afraid that’s my doing, Mr. Dellacourt.”
And just like that his mood went from sunny to kill.
Without a thought, he moved, his legs crossing the distance between them. Instinct led him. Dante had his claws around Roan’s throat before the fucker could think to move. He slammed Roan against the wall and could smell the other man’s fear.
“You’re faster than I suspected,” Julian Lodge said. If he was angry about the violence in his establishment, it didn’t show.
Roan held himself perfectly still. “He’s much faster than the last time we tussled.”
“Tussled? Is that what you call nearly getting my consort killed?”
Roan’s eyes held his. “It wasn’t your consort who nearly died. It was you. She was the one who brought you back. And I was the one who told you how. Now, you can take off my head because I can’t seem to stop you, or you can listen to me.”
Julian crossed his arms over his chest and leaned negligently against the wall beside them. “He didn’t come here to fight. He came here to talk to you. He has information.”
“I don’t care about his information. This motherfucker has tried to kill me twice. I don’t think I trust him to tell me the truth.” A nasty thought ran through his head. Kaja. He’d sent Kaja in alone. “If you took my consort, I swear they will be picking up pieces of you for weeks.”
Now Julian didn’t look so unconcerned. “Back down, Dellacourt. I don’t give a shit if you don’t trust him, but don’t you dare accuse me of allowing a consort to be abused in my club.”