by Rachel Grace
She smirked, but Dare felt the bitterness beneath her words. “Alas, I’m just one of those Spotted Spines. You know you can’t trust me to pay you back. I do, however, know how to give a good time. And I can play tamed pet, which is, I believe, what your Bodhan wants me to do with you tonight. But it’s not because I am doing him any favors. His goals and mine merely coincide this evening.”
Dare forgot her nerves and shook her head. “You are more than that. And he is not my Bodhan.”
The tilt of Phina’s head made her look like a true feline, as if she were scenting the air around her. “You believe half of what you say and wish the latter was a lie. You don’t have to wish, fair Dare. He wants you more than a man in his position should.”
She finished removing her stockings, leaving herself clad in nothing but a thin, emerald chemise that fell to her knees. An oddly feminine choice for her that made Dare wonder if they’d each dressed in the right costumes for tonight’s performance.
“I’m someone new,” she muttered. “He does not know my secrets yet.”
“The boss has never been with any of us, you know. Not even when we were new. Never shown the slightest interest apart from brotherly concern.” Phina turned and Dare could see the bulge of her tail, as well as the dark spots painted up her spine. “I always swore he was either impeccably discreet or a windup automaton.”
Dare lifted her brows in disbelief but Phina just shrugged, turning to lean against the chair. “It’s true. I usually have to use my whip to keep the men at bay. It’s a lovely curse of mine. But not him. He is a stickler for rules. As long as he is the one making them, of course. Since I can practically taste your unaccosted purity, you no doubt have him twisting for it. Especially after the tease you gave him last night.” She chuckled softly again and lowered her voice. “You can use that to your advantage.”
“Use what?”
Phina studied her. “Come closer and I’ll tell you. I promise neither the chair nor I will bite. Yet.” When Dare obeyed, coming close enough to smell the arousing aroma that always seemed to hover in the air around the Felidae, Phina lifted one hand to caress her cheek. “His lust for you. Other than a sharp blade, a man’s lust is the best weapon a woman can have outside of Centre City. If you are as curious about the boss as I am.” Her face took on a playful expression. “And I know you are. He is full of delectable secrets. His last disappearance is just one of many since I’ve known him. I’d believed he was having a scandalous and secretive affair, but now that you’re here—now that we both know that we are giving a performance tonight for someone Bodhan cannot stand—I can see I was mistaken. You could discover the truth for all of us with a wink and a flash of skin. Lust loosens lips faster than the expensive rot they serve downstairs.”
The Felidae’s green eyes glazed over for a moment, lost in thought. “Lust can blind us all at times.”
Dare shook her head, her smile shy. “Lust is your weapon, not mine. I have no training.”
Phina lowered her hand to Dare’s hip and squeezed. “Something we can remedy with ease.”
“Bodhan, you’ve picked the two players well. They are so eager they have begun without us.”
Seraphina shifted her body so most of Dare was concealed. An oddly protective act that she could only be grateful for. As soon as she heard the stranger’s grating voice, she’d been frozen by anxiety. How would he react when he saw her? If everyone’s warnings were to be believed, her hair alone could cause him to change his mind about what he wanted for tonight’s performance.
She could hear a smile in Bodhan’s voice, but the tension no one but she could feel was doing nothing to ease her nerves. “Have I ever failed to deliver, Lennis? Sit, and allow Seraphina to pour you a drink. I must see to my special surprise.”
Seraphina did not move until Bodhan arrived to take her place, successfully keeping Dare shielded from the new arrival. His hands cupped her shoulders, tightening to a near painful degree when he realized what she was wearing.
His voice was low and dark. “Who put you in this?”
She licked her lips and swallowed past the dryness in her throat. “The guard that brought me. He said the women had assured him it would fit me.”
He swore under his breath. “I should never have agreed to this. I can call in James to take you out. Get another girl. There is still time.”
His concern washed over her like a warm breeze and stopped her shivering. Even with how much he felt was at stake, he was willing to protect her from this.
But there was no more time.
Lennis, the client, had apparently run out of patience. “I demand to be shown my surprise, Bodhan. You know how I hate to be kept waiting. Who will our dirty Felidae be tormenting for my pleasure?”
Dare forced her breathing to slow. Forced herself to remember that this was for Cyrus. For the queen and all her subjects who had been taken against their will. She took a step back, away from Bodhan’s touch, and he lowered his hands with a hesitation she could feel as if it were her own.
“Lennis, you love the rare and unusual. Tonight, I think you will have to admit I have surpassed even your expectations.” He stepped to the side, his shoulders relaxing and roguish, sensual smile returning. “This… is Dare.”
She forced her hands to remain at her sides and kept her chin up by sheer force of will. His shock hit her before her eyes could even focus on him. He wasn’t a noble. At least, not from any family she recognized. Though he did try and dress the part. His suit hung on his slender form. His long brown hair draped dully over narrow shoulders and framed a face made up to look healthy with rouges and tonics. But Dare could still see the yellowish tint to his flesh that he’d worked to hide.
Cyrus could have crushed him with one hand. How could he be connected to the abduction of the Queen’s Sword?
Lennis grinned, his body shifting with excitement like a bouncing child’s. “Bodhan, you are a wonder. How do you do it? Look at her. No scars. All her hair and teeth. You found yourself a half-breed that looks like she’s never been touched. The infamous Felidae Seraphina and an almost-Wode. All for me. I should have tried the tables before we came up for the night. Luck is with me.”
Dare watched Seraphina rub herself against the insipid man as though he were irresistible, though Dare believed she was beginning to understand the Felidae’s ways. She was ensuring he received the full affect of her pheromones. That he was appropriately dazed.
She purred into his ear. “She doesn’t just look the part. She is an innocent. You know I can tell.” She parted her lips to show him her sharp, white teeth. “As soon as you give me permission I will be the first to introduce her to passion. For you.”
The man rubbed his hands together and Dare cringed. Her only solace was in knowing Seraphina knew how to play this game, and that Bodhan was jealous of how Lennis was ogling her.
“Seraphina.” Bodhan’s voice was harsher than she was used to. “Put her in the chair.”
Oh, Idony. What was she to do? She bit her lip, tasting blood. Whatever she must to get out of this situation intact, to give Bodhan the time he needed to steal his secrets.
Was it mere days before that she was one of the highest-ranking Wode, esteemed above all others for her duty and honor to the queen? She’d had no idea this world existed, and now she was a part of it. A voluntary part of Bodhan’s deceptions.
The two men sat in comfortable loungers, a large bottle of liquor on the table between them as Seraphina took her hand and led her to the intimidating contraption.
The chair was made of copper and wood. It had arms and a seat with leather padding, but it was the legs of the chair Dare was focused on. Were her feet supposed to go there? Spread out like that?
Seraphina growled softly in her ear. “Just hold on tight and follow my lead. If you’re a good girl I will tell you everything they are saying. I do owe you after all.”
The men were speaking in low tones Dare could not discern. She could feel the sick, clo
ying lust of Lennis, as well as the more complicated layers of Bodhan’s emotions, but she couldn’t hear a word.
A Felidae, however, could not only see through water, she could hear for miles. Dare nodded, allowing Phina to guide her into position.
Once her legs were on the wooden slats that extended from the chair, Phina pushed a lever on the side. The action triggered something that caused her legs to spread further apart, completely revealing her to the men’s view.
Her fingernails dug into the chair’s arms as her flesh heated with embarrassment. All that stood between their gaze and her bare flesh was the thinnest of materials. She may as well have been naked.
Lennis made a high-pitched noise of pleasure. “Tear that fabric open and let us see if the half-breed has any cunny curls.”
Seraphina purred and held up her hand, allowing him to see her sharpened nails extend. “Of course, handsome. Let me get her comfortable first.”
She leaned over Dare and pushed another lever behind her. “Don’t listen to him,” she breathed sensually. “Just enjoy what I’m going to do to you and think about how crazed Bodhan will be while he watches. I can smell him, fair Dare. He’s hungry.”
The chair leaned back far enough that, unless Dare lifted her head, she wouldn’t have to stare at Lennis. Without knowing what was going on, all she could do was feel.
The sound of tearing fabric followed by a cool breath on her sex told her Phina had done as the man had requested. In the brightly lit room, all eyes were on her. Seeing what no one but Bodhan had had seen, had tasted, in the lift. The bare skin that surrounded her sex. Bodhan’s desire and possessiveness blew against her like a heated breath of air, making her shiver.
“Hmm, just like a pure Wode, then.” Lennis almost sounded disappointed. “I always hope the inheritance mix’ll make them different somehow. I know your Felidae has fucked her share of full-blooded Wode before. Maybe your novice tastes different than the others, eh, Bodhan?”
He wanted to kill the little man.
Bodhan’s feelings had become so intense she could hear them clearly. With every moment that passed he had to control his desire to maim, though Lennis would never know it from their conversation. “Delicious idea. Seraphina, give her a thorough tasting while Lennis and I enjoy the view.”
Dare’s head lifted at that, snaring Bodhan’s icy blue gaze from across the room. Despite her abilities, his words still hurt her. That he could let someone else…
A subtle tightening of Phina’s fingers around her thighs drew her attention. “The show, Dare. Pretend to enjoy it until you do.” Phina’s smile was sensual. “I know I will. Pretend and let him work without worrying he’s scarring you for life.”
Phina placed soft, open-mouthed kisses on the skin of her thigh, now bared for all to see. Dare whimpered, closing her eyes. It felt… good. Gentle. Feminine. Warm.
Phina’s voice vibrated against her skin. “You taste as unique as you smell, fair Dare. Wonderful. And Lennis is already drunk and distracted. Bodhan knows just how to start his bragging. He’s telling him how good he is at acquiring people for the Siren.”
Dare moaned when Phina’s rough tongue stroked the crease of her sex. Bodhan had done this. Tasted her like this. And now he was watching her. Wanting her. Wanting to taste her again.
“Touch your breasts, Dare. Touch them and show them you are responding to me.” Phina shifted position, the sound of her chemise shifting Dare’s only warning before the soft fur of her tail was caressing Dare’s arm. “Trust me.”
Her eyes opened halfway, feeling hooded and heavy as she watched the tail wrap around her wrist. It felt heavenly. And Phina’s emotions were kind. Wary but kind, with an intriguing thread of true arousal. It was a tantalizing combination. She would do what the Felidae asked.
Dare reached up to caress the bare skin above her corset and sensed Phina smile against her flesh. “That’s right. Touch them the way you want him to. The way you need him to. Bodhan is struggling now. But he’s done enough. Lennis cannot stop talking about his use of independent procurers. How much money he’s been given to be careful, to never choose the same place or same person to carry out their deeds twice. How he and his partner Mul—”
Phina stopped talking, her tail stiff and trembling. Dare’s senses picked up Phina’s sudden rage. She wasn’t sure why, but she knew without a doubt that Seraphina was going to leap across the room and kill the perverted Lennis. She had to stop her.
Dare reached down and, with far more courage than she was feeling, tangled her fingers in Phina’s hair. She raised her voice so the men could hear. “Do that again, Phina. Please. It feels so good.”
Phina’s green eyes widened, then narrowed suspiciously. She’d been doing nothing. Dare tried to send a warning expression. They needed to know about the people involved. Needed to know where they were being taken.
But Dare had distracted Lennis. “What did she do? Let me see it again. Better yet, can we fuck her with something? Seraphina can fill her with her tail. Or we can use one of your special devices, yes, Bodhan? One of those stormcocks made of glass that would give her all those heavenly little shocks.”
He stood up, weaving a little as he moved away from Bodhan’s restraining hand and attempted to unbutton his pants. “I’m tempted to do the deed myself, and damn restraint. How often does one come across such an undamaged half-breed? Such pretty blue hair and so small she couldn’t put up much of a fight. How much more will it cost? I will pay any price.”
Phina got up slowly, keeping her eyes on Dare, who shook her head. For some reason, she did not believe Phina would be able to restrain herself. Whatever he’d said to set her off felt… personal. Bodhan was hardly faring better. The idea of this man touching her enraged him.
“Unfortunately, that was not a part of the arrangement, Lennis. You know the rules.”
Dare sat up and watched Bodhan walk toward the drunken man, his movements wary but his smile still firmly in place. “Though you don’t need my Siren. From what you’ve told me you could have the most skilled procurer go out and get you any virginal flower you desired.”
Lennis frowned like a petulant child and backed away from Bodhan. Closer to the chair. “They aren’t for me, you simpleton. I’m paid to bag them not bring them to my bed. I’m not allowed to touch them. Sure, we can rough ’em up if they struggle, but for the most part, we’re just meant to send them to the Avi—well, to get them. I don’t know where they go from there, but it certainly isn’t home with me.”
His feelings were confused. He wasn’t sure why he’d said so much. He’d almost told them about the desert.
Dare slid out of the chair, heedless of her state of disarray, and moved around the dangerously still Phina to face him. His eyes were dilated, hard to read, but his emotions were strong enough for her to hear the confusion of his thoughts. And they were confused, too much so from one simple drink.
Dare looked up at Bodhan in shock. “You drugged him.”
Phina put a hand on her arm but Dare shook it off. “You drugged him, and whatever it was, it was too much. His mind is jumbled and he’s too muddled to think, let alone control himself. But he was lying. He knows exactly where they take them.”
“And how, by Theorrey’s End, did you figure all that out while sitting in that damned chair?” Bodhan’s growl was intimidating, as were the suspicions she could feel slicing her skin like lashes from a whip.
“Trust me. I just do.” She looked up at Lennis. “You and your partner. Where do you take the people you abduct? You said Avi. Avici? The desert. Do you just dump them there or is there a reason? Do you leave them on the black sand to die?”
Lennis was looking panicked, his head shaking so vehemently that his hair went flying. “How do you know about the desert? Spying? You were spying on me?”
Dare had to take a chance. “Do you know who was responsible for abducting the man from the Siren? Did they take him to the desert as well?”
She focused, w
illing him to panic. Willing his emotions to strengthen so she could read them more clearly.
Not him. He didn’t know. Not him.
Dare sighed, her heart aching. “It must have been his partner. He had no idea.”
Lennis raised his hand as if to strike her. “How dare you! I will show you how a half-breed should speak to her betters.”
Before Dare could raise her hands in defense, Bodhan was there. Dare saw the blood pouring from the other man’s nose before he fell to the ground and was surprised that she hadn’t needed to defend herself.
“Seraphina, back away.”
Dare looked up to find Bodhan standing over the prone Lennis, his hands up to ward off the growling Phina. “He’s a murderer, boss. We’ve heard enough. I’d just like to pay him back in kind.”
“Not tonight. My ship, my rules, remember? Dare, the blanket on the back of my lounger. Cover yourself. Now.” Bodhan never took his eyes away from the Felidae, but he raised his voice. “James Stacy.”
Dare instinctively obeyed as the door slammed inward and James and several guards poured through the opening, swords and guns in hand. “Sir?”
Bodhan kicked Lennis with his boot. “Pour a bit more of our special brew down his throat and post a guard at his door in case he wakes. I want him unconscious with no memory of what happened tonight until we surface, is that understood?”
James nodded. “Perfectly, sir. Anything else?”
Bodhan’s expression was grim. “Yes. Seraphina will be returned to the women’s suite for the duration. No customers, no special requests, no exceptions. Dare will be taken below, where I entrust you personally with her safety and care. A hair is touched on her little blue head and everyone will pay. Again, am I understood?”
James paled, but nodded again. “Yes, sir.” He hesitated. “Are you sure?”
Dare wrapped herself protectively in the blanket, hating the expression in Bodhan’s eyes when he looked at her. So much distrust. He’d been truly concerned for her safety when Lennis attempted to strike her. She had the strangest sensation it was that emotion that had made his decision, more than the way she’d behaved.
