Addict (Hunter #2)(81)

“You look amazing, Kelsey.” My heart skipped a beat at the appreciative tone of his voice. I told myself I hadn’t dressed to impress him.

“She’s far too elegant.” Matthew frowned at his brother. “She has to change.”

Gray’s eyes were warm as they rolled over me. I didn’t like to think about the parts of me that were heating up. How did he do this to me? “Of course. She’s dressed all wrong for the mission. But she’s lovely and that should be acknowledged, brother.”

Matthew inclined his head. It seemed formal to me. I didn’t understand demon protocols. “I honor her, brother.”

“I thank you.” Gray’s face flushed when he turned back to me. “Come on, Kelsey. We need to get you ready. We don’t have much time before the limo picks us up. Did you drive?”

He reached for my hand. I held back. “I took a cab. And I thought I was ready. Gray, I’m not walking around naked.”

His smile was slightly shy and did strange things to my insides. “I bought you a slave collar. Does that count?”

“Asshole.” I slapped at his perfectly cut chest.

He laughed. “From you, babe, that’s a term of endearment.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled away from him. He was too comfortable. I was a bundle of raw nerves and he was laughing. “What’s wrong with you, Gray? This is serious.”

His lips tugged up in a rueful half smile. His hands cupped my shoulders. “But we’re going in together, Kelsey mine. Everything’s going to be okay.”

He tried to lead me on. I knew where we were going. I remembered where the bedroom was. “Gray, is this some sort of trick? I’m here to back you up. I’m here because this situation is beyond serious. I don’t have time to play games.”

“No games, Kelsey. You can’t go in like that. People would talk.”

I noticed the young man from the sex club sitting at Gray’s bar. He was quiet. His big blue eyes took in the room with a sort of fatalistic acceptance. There was no curiosity there. He was simply waiting for the next thing to happen to him. I wondered briefly what his childhood had been like. I bet it had been even crappier than mine. All thoughts of Matthew’s slave’s shitty lot in life fled when I realized he was wearing a perfectly respectable cashmere sweater. Sure the pants were leather, but they covered him up.

“Why does Matt’s boy toy get to be all dressed and I don’t?”

Matt laughed. He ran a hand possessively through the young man’s platinum curls. “Oh, dear, he certainly won’t be so clothed when we get to the duke’s. How cruel are you? Do you want him to be cold? He would look very silly getting into the limo wearing nothing but leather short shorts and his collar.” Matt petted his boy toy. “Don’t worry, puppy. I’ll take care of you. I won’t let the mean girl hurt you.”

My eyes rolled. “Yes, I want to hurt the passive victim. Actually, I think I spent time with his twin earlier. It’s weird. He looks just like this werewolf…”

I was cut off when Gray pulled me firmly down the hall.

“Let’s not talk about that.” Gray seemed eager to put some distance between us and the other couple. I heard Matt talking softly to the blond as we walked into Gray’s enormous bedroom. “My brother had a relationship with a wolf a couple of years back. They lived together for a long time. Don’t bring it up unless you’re willing to listen to him moan about his long-lost love.”

“Okay, I give, Sloane.” He had a goofy grin on his face. It was making me crazy. “Why are you so happy? Don’t bullshit me.”

“I wouldn’t dare.” His eyes were that deep purple they got when he was serious. You can tell a lot about a demon by looking in their eyes, at least the half demons you can. “I had a long talk with my brother last night, that’s all.”

“About what?” I had a suspicion.

“You.” And it was confirmed. “I didn’t understand the whole Hunter trainer relationship. Now I do.” He looked smug, but sadly, smug suited him. “You don’t love Vorenus.”

“I never said I did.” I wanted him so much it felt like love. My life would be infinitely easier if I loved Marcus. Why couldn’t what I felt for Marcus be love?

“You need him. You’re drawn to him because you need a trainer. But you won’t need him forever. You’re strong, Kels. So strong. You’ll be on your own before we know it.”

I backed away from him. It was hard not to look at the big bed that dominated the room, but I was determined to ignore it. It was the first place Gray and I had made love. It was the first place where someone had loved me enough to take care of me. “Hugo Wells married one of his Hunters.”

It was stupid, but I held on to that piece of history like a plate of armor. It could work. Marcus said he loved me. We could have a life. I would grow old and he would stay the same. I would die and he would go on.

I would be a sidenote in his history.

Gray shrugged and took away the option of ignoring the bed. He threw his body on it and grinned up at me. “Hugo Wells isn’t your trainer. Vorenus is. Tell me something, Kelsey mine. Has that vampire of yours had any prophetic visions about you lately?”

Gray’s power as a demon went beyond his ability to change forms and his strength. He had power that allowed him to see things the rest of us can’t. Gray was the culmination of centuries of his father’s attempts to breed the power into his line. Gray could touch an object and sometimes he would get a vision. From what I understood, it was sometimes the past, most often the future. Gray had first seen me in a hotel room in Dallas. He’d taken a suite at a hotel and when he lay down on the bed, he was suddenly transported to his wedding night. I played the role of the not-so-blushing bride. According to Gray, our wedding night was hot. Or it was going to be.