King’s (The King Trilogy #1)(47)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

“So you can make people do things they don’t want to do, pop in and out of rooms like a ghost, and tear off a man’s limbs with the flick of your finger, and you’re saying there’s an explanation, but you just don’t know what it is?”

He crossed his arms. “I confess I do know quite a bit more than I’m letting on, but many of the objects in my arsenal remain a mystery even to me.”

I just didn’t buy his story. How could someone dedicate himself to finding these “unique” abilities and objects but lack any interest in them. He was hiding something. But what? “And you’re not the least bit interested?”

“I’m interested, but there are only so many hours in a day. I can spend them attempting to unlock the mysteries of the universe, or I can focus on acquiring the tools and power necessary to obtain what I really want.”

“Which is?” I asked.

“It is something I’ve been after for a very long time.”

“The Artifact.”

“No. The Artifact is simply another tool. What I’m after is far, far more important.”

“Which is?” I asked again.

He gave me a look indicating he wasn’t going to tell me. Possibly because, as Mack stated, members of 10 Club never wanted their true desires known. Desire meant you had a weakness. Weaknesses could be used against you. And King would never put himself in that position. He’d never admit to desiring anything. Not even me.

Still, what could a man like King really be after? He had wealth, looks, power, and, well, he could call it what he liked, but I called them supernatural powers. He could do things that no regular person could. The only thing my mind came up with was eternal youth or immortality.

“So this…thing you’re after. Is it why you belong to 10 Club?”

He took a step closer, and I instinctively wanted to take another step back, but the desk blocked my way.

“What I’m looking for,” he said in a deep, low voice, “is like searching for a needle in one billion hay stacks—a f**king unicorn. So yes, the club is symbiosis at its finest. I possess abilities and have acquired things people want. In exchange, the members bring me things I need to aid my search.”

“You trade with them. Just like you were about to trade me away to those disgusting bitches you screwed.”

He laughed, clearly amused. “My standards are infinitely higher than that, Miss Turner. They were merely testing you. So was I.”

“Sorry?”

“The party was a test, as was your dress. I rolled you in honey and sent you into the bear’s lair.”

So that’s what the dress was about? “Why would you do that?”

“I wanted to see if you could be trusted. You failed. You disobeyed me yet again, leaving me no alternative but to punish you.” He grinned, clearly pleased by the thought of laying his hands on me again.

“Oh my God. You’re lying. You knew I wouldn’t be able to hold my tongue. You wanted me to screw up so you would have an excuse to ‘punish’ me.”

The vibe inside the dark room turned heavy and hot, like a steam room that instantly made you sweat and want to shed your clothes. My breath became quicker. My skin began to tingle with anticipation. Images of King touching my na**d body, pressing against me with his hard frame, kissing me with that seductive mouth bombarded my mind.

This had to be another of his mind games. Didn’t it? Yet, more than anything, I want it to be real. “Don’t touch me, King.”

“Maybe I won’t.” He spoke quietly. “Maybe I will trade you to Anna and Talia.”

“I won’t play your depraved game anymore.”

“It’s not a game, Miss Turner.” His voice was deep, seductive, barely above a whisper. “You belong to me. I can do as I please with you.”

The twisted little part of me that enjoyed belonging to him delighted in his words, and I hated myself for it.

“People aren’t things; you can’t own them,” I murmured. “It doesn’t matter what the rules of your degenerate little club say.”

He placed his index finger directly under my chin to level me with his gaze, though he didn’t have to. I was already crumbling. “Everyone participates of their own free will, Miss Turner. Even you.”

“Free will?” I took a shallow breath. “You took advantage of my desperation.”

“Yes. And you let me. Because I had something you wanted: the ability to find people. Which makes you no different than me. People use people to get what they want, and you went in with your eyes open.”

“Uh-uh. It’s not the same, and I had no idea what I was getting into.” However, as I said those words, I already knew they weren’t entirely true. I felt a sick little rush every time I got near him, even—and God forgive me for it—on that first night.

“But didn’t you?” He stepped in, just inches away, and I felt the heat from his supremely masculine body.

I began to tremble with fear, with yearning, with adrenaline. He was like a flame fueled by pure sin that I craved to touch.

“Didn’t you know,” he slipped his hot hand to the side of my face and threaded his fingers in my hair, “deep down inside, that I was a dangerous man? That, if you made a deal with me, you would have to keep it?” His eyes flashed down to the desk as he bent to my ear. “That I’m a greedy, cruel bastard who gets what he wants?”

Maybe. Still, a part of me wanted to believe that there was a redeeming, good side to him, too. And that part was the reason I felt an attraction. Otherwise, what sort of person did that make me?

There isn’t any real good in him. He only protected you because he sees you as an asset.

I sighed inside my head. Maybe King had been right; I was too frightened to take a good look at myself. I was attracted to a man who was evil—a cruel greedy bastard who gets what he wants.

“Yes, I knew,” I whispered.

“Then why did you take the deal, Mia? What is it that you really wanted from me?” His stubble scraped against my cheek as his husky voice hummed inside my ear, touching my thoughts.

“Help finding Justin.” Another half-truth.

My knees began to shake, and I leaned my entire weight back into the desk to keep from falling.

He quietly tisked at me, sounding like a deadly viper hissing its displeasure. “You’ll have to lie better than that if you’re going to convince anyone, Mia.”