His Unexpected: A Demon Romance (COMPLETE)

Chapter Three - Too Close

Ash

"How much do you know about the Decagon?"

Even as I asked the question minutes after moving away from Blaise, my demon seethed. How dare she make light of this? How dare we let her?

How dare we let her go?

I needed to distract him— us— from what had occurred.

"Like what it is, or who's in it?" Blaise asked, shifting topics seamlessly.

Almost seamlessly. She recovered her composure quickly enough, but her powerful energy still rippled through the kitchen. Confusion, arousal, disappointment... I could sense her whirling thoughts, and was impressed with her ability to converse through them.

"Either," I answered. I just needed her to talk, to give myself something to focus on besides how her leaving had made me feel. Rage still welled in my gut whenever I thought about it for too long, but Blaise made my anger feel useless. The way she melted against me when I had every intention of punishing her...

Blaise was a problem.

"Hmm." She thought for a moment while she put the fresh fruit toppings she'd prepared in the fridge for serving later. "I know what the Decagon is— criminal government. There are illegal trades of both nefarious and altruistic nature that people will always want access to, and so the criminal underworld exists to fulfill those needs. The Decagon oversees international operations, and provides protection to mafia families, gangs, and other individuals willing to pay. As for the table itself... I know a handful of the members' names, though I've only met two. Well, four now, counting you and my father. Charles LaBarre and Collin Jasper are the others, but I've heard of a few more. Talia Bell, Alexander Vittori, and I feel like there are twins?"

I chuckled and nodded.

"There are twins," I confirmed. "Haru and Fuyuko Bushida rule out of Japan. There is also Lucio Varela, who holds major power in Chile and Argentina, and Nico Gladius, who has gradually been taking over more of northern Europe."

"Okay," Blaise said, dusting her hands off when she was finished with baking tasks and hopping up to sit on the countertop across from me. "So, what's this all for? How'd I do?"

"You pretty much nailed it," I told her. "There are a few other things we could talk about, like where the table meets or how seats are determined, but you mainly need to know who I'm referring to."

"Guess I didn't do too bad of a job spying on my dad," she grinned, kicking her dangling feet back and forth.

"Not at all," I agreed, my eyes following the movement of her feet up to the curve of her calves, the bend of her denim-clad knees, the dip between her thighs. When my gaze returned to hers, she was flushed scarlet again.

"I'll be right back," she said, and slid off the counter to disappear down the hall. I heard the bathroom door slam shut and dropped my head to my hands.

It had hardly been a week since I kissed her and already I was struggling to keep away. As logically angry as I was about losing sight of a powerful empath ally and valuable asset in a Decagon trade, I had gotten too close to her that day. She was far more than her worth on paper, far more than a token in a game, and I didn't want to become the exact thing she'd feared when we first met— when her father first signed a contract stating she was mine to use however I saw fit.

She didn't fear us today.

I dug my fingers into my hair but I couldn't deny my darker half's truth. She had been on fire with emotions, and fear wasn't one of them. Her body pressed back into mine with trust and curiosity that morphed into seductive, powerful longing the moment she read my energy. I couldn't hide my worry from her, nor could I hide my chained desire, and she had ripped it all to the surface without even trying.