Embracing The Lion (Gray Bears 6) by Natalie Kristen Page B

answered
with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
    Phillip smiled back. “Ah
yes, I do have some business dealings with the Kingston wolves.
But...I believe you are more personally and intimately acquainted
with their Alpha.”
    “Ryan and I are
friends,” Lord Hugo said tightly.
    Phillip smirked. “Hmm,
more than friends I think.” He raised his glass to Lord Hugo.
“I am no fool, Hugo. You are frank and open, Hugo. That's
what I like about you. And I greatly enjoy doing business with you.
You never renege on your promises.”
    Phillip swirled the wine in
his glass and took a long, slow sip. “What would happen, I
wonder, if the Arrow pack finds out that the Kingston Alpha, who is
to marry Janet Lyons, the second-in-command of the Arrow wolves, is
actually sleeping with an old, aristocratic vampire?” Phillip
clucked his tongue. “I think Ryan Kline would be a dead wolf.
You know how seriously those wolves take their marriage contracts.”
    Lord Hugo put down his fork
and said very quietly, “What do you want, Phillip?”
    Tara stepped slowly and
discreetly away from the table. This conversation was not meant for
her ears.
    But a hand shot out and
caught her around the waist.
    She gasped and jerked, almost
dropping the precious bottle of vintage blood wine.
    Phillip's arm tightened
around her body. “I want her.”
    Tara froze, her eyes wide
with shock and terror. She had been sold into slavery, and she
resented her status as a slave and property of her master, but there
were worse masters than Lord Hugo. Some of the other slaves had come
to Lord Hugo from other masters, and Tara had been horrified at their
treatment under their old masters. Some of them had been used as sex
slaves, and they had been abused, tortured and maimed. She had heard
whispers that Phillip Lancastle kept a stable of female slaves to
feed his depraved sexual appetite.
    Tara stared at Lord Hugo,
imploring him silently with her eyes. But Lord Hugo didn't even look
at her. He leaned back and steepled his fingers, holding Phillip's
calculating, gleaming gaze steadily.
    “Give me the slave
girl, and your secret is safe with me,” Phillip smiled. “You
have so many slaves anyway, Hugo. One less won't make any difference
to you. But—should the wolves find out about you and Ryan...”
Phillip let out a low chuckle.
    Lord Hugo's eyes flicked to
her, and Tara saw a trace of regret in them. She opened her mouth to
beg, but Lord Hugo said in a hard voice, “Kneel, Tara.”
    Tara lowered herself shakily
to her knees, her eyes burning with tears. Lord Hugo pressed his
sharp pointed nails into the back of her neck and swiped across his
sigil that had been burned into her skin. Tara bit down hard on her
lower lip but still a strangled cry of anguish escaped.
    Blood trickled down her
collar bone as Lord Hugo clawed away the top layer of her skin. He
leaned forward and spat into her wound as he spoke the words of
release.
    The blood stopped flowing,
but the stinging, excruciating pain remained. Tara stood up shakily,
pressing her hand to the back of her neck.
    As she swayed on her feet,
Phillip Lancastle stood up and circled her slowly. She flinched and
almost screamed when he pressed his mouth to her neck. She could
feel the scrape of his fangs, and she whimpered in fear and revulsion
when he laved his tongue down the column of her throat.
    Phillip laughed and took his
seat, raising his glass in a toast. The other guests all raised
their glasses and congratulated Phillip on his newest acquisition.
    Tara dropped to her knees
beside Lord Hugo and choked out a plea. She begged him to let her
stay but Lord Hugo dismissed her with a wave of his hand.
    “I have removed my mark
from you,” he said, turning away. “You belong to Phillip
Lancastle now. He is your new master. Serve him well.”

CHAPTER
THREE

    Tara pressed her hand to the
punctures at the side of her neck and slid down the wall. There were
large black spots swimming in front of her