Page 78 of Knight’s Dominion

Increasing his strokes, faster, rougher, he came with a shout, hot come splashing his stomach and chest. Breathing ragged, he shoved the pillow aside and stared at the ceiling for several minutes, each exhale loud in the deafening silence.

He'd fucked everything up.

He'd failed the males that trusted him most, missing what was going on in his own fucking house. He'd lost Tobias, blind to the pain that had consumed him at the loss of his mate, and he hadn't even known Rocco had found his, and now it was too late.

They’d trusted him, chosen him to lead them. He was leading them straight to Hell.

Climbing off the bed, he got in the shower to wash off the remaining traces of his latest loss of control. He was dressed and strapping on his weapons when there was a soft knock at the door. Desperate to get out of there, to hunt down some demons, make them fucking talk, fight off some of this frustration, he yanked the door open with a growl. “What?”

And froze. Grace stood there, legs braced apart, hands loose at her sides. Trying to appear relaxed when she was anything but.

“Sorry, I should have called.” She glanced back down the hall. “Maybe I shouldn't have come.” She looked back at him and bit her lower lip.

He felt it in his balls. “It’s fine,” he choked. “What's going on?"

"Can I…come in?"

She wore leather pants, the kind she fought in, and a black tank that clung to her gentle curves. His mouth went dry.

"I was just leaving." He needed his focus back, his unwavering control, and just being in the same room with his female in front of him turned him into a male he didn't recognize, a male he couldn't afford to be, not now.

She placed a hand on his abs and stared up at him. "Please."

Something was off. There was something different about her, and it was the only reason he stepped back and motioned her in. "What is it?” He crossed his arms to stop from reaching for her.

She moved in, until they were only a foot apart. “I, uh…I thought you might like some company?" She did some more lip biting and stared wide-eyed at him.

Sex. It was written all over her face and in the way she held her body.

His dick instantly went hard and his breathing choppy. He didn't move. He knew if he did, he'd tear off her clothes and pounce on her. That's how badly he wanted her. She could destroy his resolve with a single look.

Leaning in, she pressed her forehead against his chest, nuzzling into him, and slid a warm hand up his bicep, the other fisting the shirt at his waist.

"What do you say?" Her voice was different, not the way she sounded when she’d been in his bed, all husky and full of need. This was something else. Grace was trying to seduce him, but she didn't want him, not right then. There was a thread of something he didn't understand.

Then it clicked into place. This was the persona she wore when she worked, the voice, the expressions she used when she was at Revelry. It was Gigi Fury begging him to fuck her, not Grace.

He forced himself to take a step back. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?"

Then she fucking batted her lashes at him. "Desperation."

She flinched, and the mask dropped, revealing a whole lot of pain and vulnerability. He'd be lying if he said it didn't get to him, because it did, but he held his ground. “What’s with the act? What is it you really want?”

Grace turned and walked away, and he was about to go after her when she sat heavily on his couch. "I need your help." She looked up at him. "One of the girls from Revelry, one of my fighters went missing. She showed up dead on the roof above my apartment a week ago. And her body...a human didn't kill her.”

Shit.

“Then Hannah didn't show up for work. She’d called in, said it was a family thing, but when I called to check on her tonight, her family said she wasn’t with them. James went to her apartment, and she hasn’t been there in days. No one’s heard from her since that first night.” She stood and paced to the other side of the room. “It’s Oden. He has something to do with it, I’m sure.”

Grace had come here to manipulate him, to soften him up because she needed his help? She’d assumed that before an information exchange could happen, she had to give him something first.

That's what she truly thought of him? Yeah, that cut in a way he wasn’t prepared for. It also pissed him the fuck off.

“Just an FYI, you don't need to offer up your pussy as some type of bribe to get me to do my job. I agreed to work with you because I respect your abilities, not for what you’ll give me in return."

It didn't stop him from wanting her, though, but the fact she was willing to let him fuck her to get what she wanted, yeah, that did not sit well with him, not at all. He didn't deal in that type of currency.