Risk didn’t even spare the guards a look as they lined up at his back. Fear was dripping out of me in steady streams of webs that fell at my feet.
But then, a wide, cocky smirk suddenly spread across Risk’s face. It chilled me all the way down to my bones. “You sent her on purpose, didn’t you?”
Belvini grinned maniacally. “What ever do you mean?”
Risk cocked his head in my direction. “My new pet you sent to retrieve me. Black Widow. Curious abilities, that one. Strength, webs, lure, sexual cannibalism...” he purred, making it sound like a delicacy. “It’s rotten luck for the ones she feeds from…unless she takes them as a mate.”
As Risk’s words sunk in, hot tears collected in my eyes. Certainly Belvini didn’t intend for me to mate Risk? That would mean all of this was a sham.
“I’m very aware of my hybrid’s abilities, Risk. I created her, after all. We’d been studying how her mating works, even tested it on a hybrid to see how she chose. I figured her spider wanted an organic mating, which is why I sent her to collect you. She performed exactly the way I’d hoped she would.”
The blood drained from my face. Risk’s grin widened, and he pulled down the collar of his dress shirt, revealing the red hourglass mark right there on his skin. “Hmm, it does appear that way,” Risk replied, looking like the cat that just ate the canary. “Such a pleasant welcome basket from Spector, brother. I knew the moment she stepped foot in that casino what you had planned. I’d been hearing whispers, you know.” Releasing his collar, he started walking toward the door unassisted, while the wary guards followed after him. “I think this could be a fun arrangement. The risk appeals to me. I’m glad you reached out, and even more glad for the delicious taste of invincibility you’ve gifted me with.”
Belvini nodded. “I’m a good man to be in business with, Risk. I’m glad you recognize it.”
Risk paused at the door to speak once more. “I’ll supply whatever you need. There was no need to threaten my child. But I want a cut of the profits. Wealth, power, status, and all that. Plus, my child’s safety, of course,” he added.
Risk looked at me, and my stomach dropped.
“Oh, and make sure that my new mate gets a nice room to stay in, yes?” Risk said offhandedly over his shoulder. “I might want to enjoy her specific...talents while I’m here.”
Without waiting for a reply, Risk strode out of the room, with eight wary Spector guards trailing after him.
My mind exploded with spitting sparks of betrayal.
It had all been an elaborate ploy. Belvini wanted me to mate Risk. Risk wanted to work for Belvini.
I’d just given them an indestructible high level demon and an endless amount of blood to supply more possession rituals. I’d played right into their hands and made Spector even more powerful than they already were.
Chapter 19
I didn’t pay attention to anything as I was escorted out of Belvini’s office. Escorted was a loose term. I was basically dragged down the hall. Not because Spector was using overt force, but because my body forgot how to move.
I was spinning.
Round and round my mind went, replaying everything that had happened since I stepped foot in the casino. My head was stuck in a tailspin, screeching tires on pavement like the sound of my screams, repercussions spiraling out of control and landing me in the shattered remains of my own choices.
Risk tricked me.
That term was like a physical blow. Like someone had shoved a spiked spoon into my gut and emptied me out like a pumpkin on Halloween. I was hollow. Scraped raw. Lit up from inside my abraded heart with the realization of how thoroughly stupid I’d been.
I’d played right into his and Belvini’s hands. It was so reckless. So...risky. I was disgusted with myself for thinking that Risk actually cared, when all along, he’d simply outsmarted me. I guess that was bound to happen with a gods-knows-how-old high level demon.
As the guards roughly led me down the labyrinth of hallways, I barely had the wherewithal to place one foot in front of the other. I was a mess of thoughts and a jumble of emotions, and every second I replayed how Risk had called me pet or how he’d told Belvini he wanted in on the operation, the knife of betrayal in my gut sunk in deeper.
I scratched at the blood-red hourglass on my throat as if I could skin it off Risk’s neck.
He used me. Used my spider for the sole purpose of becoming indestructible. And now he was my eternal mate. He carried my mark. The mark that was also on Crow and Tomb. It was supposed to be something meaningful. Something that showed our everlasting bond to one another. But now it felt tainted.
I didn’t even realize that tears were spilling down my cheeks until I tasted salt on my lips. My spider was in an agonized ball curled up inside me, refusing to come out. I was still floored that he managed to trick her too. My hands curled into fists in devastated anger, my sharp nails cutting into the skin of my palm, the pain just a fraction of what I was feeling inside. Spiderwebs immediately pushed out of my fingertips and wrapped around the wounds, fitting my hands with silk wrappings. My spider’s way of trying to protect me from our shared heartache.
I hadn’t been paying attention to where the guards were leading me, so when they suddenly stopped, I looked up, surprised to see I was at the cafeteria doors. “You’re not taking me to my cell?”
The one to my right shifted on his booted feet. “Your, uhh, new room isn’t ready. You’re to come here first.”
The fact that I was getting a newer, nicer room because Risk demanded it
