Page 97 of Carnal Wagers

“If you wanted him dead, that’s how you do it.”

That sultry, accented voice tinged with anger teased my senses.

I whipped around, my knuckles dripping blood. My devilish fairy stood there, composed as ever, brushing her hands off, like she hadn’t been messing with my head the past few days. Like this torment she was putting me through was nothing but her mundane routine. It was like the moment after waking up from a nightmare, not sure what was real and what wasn’t.

“If you beat him to the brink of death, have the decency to push him over the ledge,” she lectured. “Otherwise, you’re no better than whatever landed him here.”

Dressed like sin itself in a tight skirt that grappled her curves for dear life over stockings, she moseyed through the room. Her heels clacked against the stone tiles, each step riveting everyone’s attention, especially mine. I hated that I couldn’t look away.

“Who did you wear that for?” I groused.

Her jaw tightened, her eyes narrowed, and she visibly bristled. Good.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Alice?”

Toothless Joe blocked her path, tapping a pruning saw against his palm. He liked the thing because it hurt more, made the screamers give it their all, but if he even grazed her with it, I’d tear his arm off.

I barely caught the towel Liam tossed me to wipe the blood off my skin, I was so focused on making sure Toothless did nothing I’d have to kill my own man for.

“You heard the boss. This ain’t no place for little ladies.”

She smirked. It was vicious and sent a jolt of pleasant tingles down my spine that soothed my rampaging inner monster.

“Move.”

Toothless didn’t. In two quick strikes, she disarmed him, his saw clattering to the ground, and kneed him in the balls. He dropped to a knee and hissed through his teeth. Liam shoulder-checked me and whistled beneath his breath, and I bit down a grin of pride.

“Next time, listen to this little lady.” She crouched in front of Toothless and patted him on the cheek.

Now all I wanted to do was skin Joe’s cheek off.

“What are you doing here, Alice?” I asked more firmly.

“I’m settling a score, Cillian.”

That sass, I’d missed it like an amputated limb.

I hadn’t known I could get all hot and bothered from the sound of my own name. But there I was, fighting a bleeding erection amid a corpse, a gaggle of my own men, and the very epitome of my undoing. It didn’t help that her anger was feeding into the chaos of emotions swirling in my bloodstream. She was my own personal crack. One touch and I’d gone and gotten myself addicted despite the threat looming overhead.

The dead man lay between us, separating us by a meager two little feet. She was close enough to touch but too far to hold. Too far to grasp and never let go. Too far to kiss before I wiped away the stain of all other men and reminded her who she belonged to.

“And what score would that be, sweetheart?”

Eyes locked on me, she placed a heel atop his scalp. Her hand wrapped around the knife’s hilt. With one hard tug, it drew free with a wet noise. No sign of disgust showed on her face, and that just amped up her appeal. She wasn’t just any fairy. She was a fierce dragoness draped in the skin of a nymph.

“What did he do to you?” She nudged her chin at the corpse.

“Me? Absolutely nothing.”

“You were about to kill a man for nothing?”

“Didn’t kill him now, did I?” I overstepped the body and pulled her against me. Her shape curved into mine in a welcome homecoming as sparks burst between us. “But I would’ve.”

“Why?”

I brushed a strand of hair falling in front of her eyes. “Because he did something to you.”

“What?”