• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

“Yes, Directrix.”

“Stay there for the rest of the cycle. If I see you on the grounds, I will be most displeased.”

“Yes, Directrix.”

Cormia squeezed her eyes shut and prayed for her friend as the female left. A whole cycle in that temple? You could go mad from the sensory deprivation.

The Directrix’s words were clipped. “I would send you there, too, were there not things you need to attend.”

Cormia brushed off her tears. “Yes, Directrix.”

“You shall begin your preparations now by reading this.” The leather-bound book landed on the bed. “It details the Primale’s rights and your obligations. When you have finished, you will have your sexual tutorial.”

Oh, dear Virgin, please, not the Directrix…please, not the Directrix…

“Layla will instruct you.” As Cormia’s shoulders sagged, the Directrix snapped, “Shall I take offense at your relief that it shall be not I who teaches you?”

“Not at all, my sister.”

“Now you offend with untruth. Look at me. Look at me.”

Cormia lifted her eyes and couldn’t help but draw back in fear as the Directrix pinned her with a hard stare.

“You shall do your duty and do it well or I shall cast you out. Do you understand me? You shall be cast out.”

Cormia was so stunned she couldn’t reply. Cast out? Cast out…to the far side?

“Answer me. Are we clear?”

“Y-yes, Directrix.”

“Mistake this not. The survival of the Chosen and the order I have established herein are of the only significance. Any one individual who obstacles either will be eliminated. Remind you that when you feel the urge to pity yourself. This is an honor, and it shall be revoked with attendant consequences by my hand. Are we clear? Are we clear?”

Cormia couldn’t find her voice, so she nodded.

The Directrix shook her head, a strange light coming into her eye. “Save for your bloodline, you are wholly unacceptable. As of fact, the entirety of this is wholly unacceptable.”

The Directrix left in a whisper of robing, her white silk sheath flowing around the doorjamb in her wake.

Cormia put her head in her hands and bit her lower lip as she contemplated her station: Her body had just been promised to a warrior she’d never met…who was begotten of a brutish and cruel sire…and upon her shoulders the noble tradition of the Chosen rested.

Honor? Nay, this was a punishment—for the audacity of wanting something for herself.

As another martini arrived, Phury tried to remember whether it was his fifth? Or sixth? He wasn’t sure.

“Man, good thing we ain’t fighting tonight,” Butch said. “You’re drinking that shit like water.”

“I’m thirsty.”

“Guess so.” The cop stretched in the booth. “How much longer you plan on rehydrating there, Lawrence of Arabia?”

“You don’t have to hang—”

“Move over, cop.”

Both Phury and Butch glanced up. V had appeared in front of the table from out of nowhere, and something was up. With his wide eyes and his pale face, he looked like he’d been in an accident, though he wasn’t bleeding.

“Hey, my man.” Butch scooted to the right to make room. “Didn’t think we’d see you tonight.”

V sat down, his leather biker’s jacket bunching up and making his big shoulders look positively immense. In an uncharacteristic move, he started drumming his fingers on the tabletop.

Butch frowned at his roommate. “You look like roadkill. What’s doing?”

Vishous linked his hands together. “This isn’t the place.”

“So let’s go home.”

“No fucking way. I’m going to be trapped there all day long.” V lifted his hand. When the waitress came over, he put a hundred on her tray. “Keep the Goose coming, true? And that’s just for the tip.”

She smiled. “My pleasure.”

As she took off for the bar like she was on roller skates, V’s eyes sifted through the VIP area, his brows down low. Shit, he wasn’t checking out the crowd. He was trolling for a fight. And was it possible that the brother was…glowing a little?

Phury looked to the left and tapped his ear twice, sending a request to one of the Moors that guarded a private door. The security guard nodded and spoke into a wristwatch.

Moments later a huge male with a cropped mohawk came out.