Page 43 of Bloom in Darkness

She moves closer, stepping right into the space I keep clear for a reason. “You know that’s not what I mean.” Her gaze flicks toward the main floor where Astra’s set is starting soon, then comes back to me. Her voice drops low. “Letting you have certain liberties with my merchandise doesn’t mean I approve.”

My jaw locks. “Don’t call him that.” The growl under the words is impossible to hide, and I stop trying.

She doesn’t even flinch. She only tilts her head. “And tell your boy toy he can’t rent my private rooms anymore.”

For a second, I just stare at her. Then I remember Caelan rented the private room.

A low, ugly sound starts tearing its way up my throat as every instinct I have pushes me to close the distance between us, but Sabine only lifts her brows. “Caelan King. Seriously, Bryn? You thought you could drag your little Forge arrangement into my club and I wouldn’t notice?”

“He paid for the room,” I force out around the growl building in my throat.

“That isn’t the point.”

“It usually is with you.”

Her scent goes sharp and brittle as she steps even closer. She has to tip her head back to hold my gaze, but she doesn’t give an inch. “The point is your Alpha used my business to get private time with one of my top earners. You’ve both been scenting him so heavily my regulars have started asking questions.”

My pulse hammers hard behind my eyes. “He decides if he’s available.”

“No,” she says softly, stepping close enough that one move would put her within reach. “His contract does. You seem to have forgotten that.”

I don’t move. If I move, I make things worse for Astra—that’s the only thing keeping me still. I make myself unclench my hands; my nails have left crescents in my palms. “You’re done talking about him like he’s not a person.”

“I’m discussing an employee with contractual obligations,” she says smoothly.

“You called him merchandise.”

“And you are security,” she says, and whatever false politeness she was using disappears from her voice. “You’re very good at it. That’s the only reason I haven’t fired you. Do your job, and keep your personal attachments out of my business.”

My Valla side pushes hard enough against my control that my hands start to shake. I curl them tighter at my sides. “He isn’t your property.”

“No?” Sabine tilts her head, that mocking little smile playing on her lips. “Then I suppose you’ll be paying his contract balance before you take him home tonight.”

My fists close. For one ugly second, all I can see is her throat, and I have to lock my knees to keep from moving. Astra’s “Hey” cuts clean through the rush in my ears before I do something neither of us can take back, and I turn immediately. He’s still in his first costume, sheer black shirt open over his chest and glitter catching along one side of his throat, but there’s nothing playful in his face as he comes toward us.

“Quit it.” His eyes go over me first, quick and searching, before he looks at Sabine. “Both of you.”

Sabine’s attention shifts to him. “You should be backstage.”

“My set ended four minutes ago.” Astra steps into the space between us before I can stop him and plants one hand against my chest. He has to feel how hard my heart is hitting. “Bryn, stop.”

I look down at him, still fighting the urge to move around him and finish this, until his fingers press harder into my shirt. “Please.”

That gets through where everything else hasn’t, forcing me to take one step back. Sabine laughs softly, a cruel and dismissive sound. “Look at that. He does have some control over you.”

Astra’s shoulders tighten; I feel it through his palm still pressed to my chest. “Don’t,” I warn her.

Sabine’s fingers close above Astra’s elbow before I register her reaching for him as she turns him toward her. His breath catches sharply, scent souring at the same moment a roar tears out of me hard enough to freeze the hallway. Astra jolts beside me at the sound, and Sabine finally lets go.

I’m between him and Sabine before I register moving. One arm comes around Astra’s waist as I guide him back behind me, keeping the hold loose until Astra’s hands close around my forearm and keep me there.

“Bryn.” His voice shakes. “Bryn, hey.”

I can’t answer yet. My eyes stay on Sabine, every part of me fixed on the hand she just put on him. She’s gone pale, though anger quickly replaces the surprise. “You do not roar at me in my own establishment.”

I bare my teeth, my vision tunneling down to the hand that touched him.

Astra grabs my forearm tighter. “Stop. Please stop.”