Page 31 of The Villain

The house seemed like a mishmash of construction projects. As we descended two flights of stairs, a long hallway stretching between them, before entering the main living area. Blood still marked the floor where I’d bitten Rank’s ear—and I had zero regrets. The room had everything: pool tables, dartboards,couches, a TV, several gaming systems, and a bar beside what looked like an industrial kitchen.

We headed down another hallway, and Cian swung open a large wooden door and strode inside, Rhys beside him and me following behind. Five men were already seated at a long wooden table—two I recognized as the minions who’d brought me food and the silent treatment. One of them had his feet up, crossed at the ankles, while he poked around on a tablet. Beside him, the other aggressively tapped away at his phone, brows furrowed. They both looked up as we entered, gazes sweeping over Cian and Rhys before landing on me. Tablet guy immediately dropped his feet to the floor. Phone guy let his device clatter onto the table and slapped his hands over his ears. The other four watched me carefully, one straightening from his casual lean against the wall.

Cian turned to look at me, then pointed to a chair against the wall. “Sit.”

I sat quietly, folding my hands primly in my lap while Cian glared at me like my act was a personal insult. Then he turned to his men. While Rhys took a seat beside the minion with the tablet, Cian remained standing at the head of the table. The other minion slowly lowered his hands from his ears but eyed me warily. I thought about snapping my teeth at him, but I wasn’t sure if Cian would consider that a shock-worthy offense.

The day was young. I had to pace myself.

“Let’s get this out of the way,” Cian began, his deep voice drawing the attention of every man in the room. He jerked his head in my direction. “He’s here because the shed is ash, and we don’t have a secure place to put him yet. Someone set fire to that shed, and until we know who did it, I can’t risk them making another attempt on his life.”

He was protecting me? How sweet.

“He’s been…” He glanced over at me before continuing. “…more forthcoming with information than expected. I need him alive and capable of continuing to provide us with what we need to expand our territory and protect ourselves from the Bonnams.” He leaned forward with his hands braced on the table. “No one touches him. Only me. Is that clear?”

Every man immediately murmured his assent. I noticed that most of them were younger, probably around my age or Cian’s. Only one seemed to be about the same age as that crypt keeper shithead who’d talked down to me last night. He had dark skin, a shaved head, and a trim beard flecked with white. Brown eyes studied me from where he stood along one wall, and there was something about him that seemed very Cian-esque, just older. I pursed my lips at him in a kiss. He gave me zero reaction.

Cian turned to me and introduced each man. Hack was the minion with the tablet, a slim white man with dark hair and ears that stuck out like wings. The other one’s name was Mads, a pretty-boy blond who continued to eye me like I was going to bite his face off. The older man standing against the wall was Tyson, and the other three—Welk, Happy, and Utz—all blended together in a haze of brown hair, tattoos, and cigarette smoke.

The men in this room treated Cian with a deference I found captivating. But they weren’t afraid of him. They still asked questions and made comments freely.

“Maybe you should muzzle him…” Mads suggested, still watching me closely.

Hack began tapping at his tablet. “I have a site I use for that.”

“Okay, kinky fucker,” Mads muttered.

Cian pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m not fucking muzzling him.”

“But—”

“I think?—”

“He’s danger?—”

Cian cut off the chorus of voices with an abrupt, “I put a shock collar on him.”

Mads’s jaw dropped. Tyson’s eyebrows lifted.

And Hack’s eyes glittered as his lips stretched into a slow grin. “Awesome,” he breathed. “Let me see.”

“You’re not seeing shit,” Cian growled at him.

“Did you shock him yet?”

Cian just ignored him and launched into a summary of the information I’d given him.

I wasn’t nearly as humiliated as I thought I’d be in this situation. I’d decided collaring me was a sign of respect. It meant I was a threat. At least, that was how I was choosing to see it. I could totally be a glass-half-full kinda guy.

Once Cian had finished, he looked at Hack. “Pull up the camera footage from the fire. Did you find anything?”

Hack pulled up a video on his tablet—grainy footage of a shadowy figure, slipping through the trees at the back of the property. Toward the shed. A minute later, the corner of the building went up in flames.

“Could’ve spread to the trees,” Tyson said with a deep frown. His concern for the environment was touching. Truly.

“No way to tell who that is.” Cian pushed the tablet back to Hack. “Shit.”

“At least we know it was deliberate,” Rhys said.