Honey Trap (The Guild, #1)

by Tate James

Jean-Claude’s mouth moved in horror, his lips rounding with terror as I went to work with my pliers. Removing his fingernails took no time at all, really, then because I was in no mood to be caught in the act, I quickly cut out his tongue and went to work stitching his lips shut. Jean-Claude ultimately drowned in his own blood, which was a terribly dramatic way to go. It sent a message, though.

He’s always struck me as the kind of guy who put up a good front of being personable, but deep down hated all humans.

Readers were living multiple magical, fantastical lives all within their heads.

It was just so funny, because she was totally rational when she explained that she couldn’t stand the thought of leaving all her book boyfriends behind at night.”

Fuck that bitch, though. If I wanted her continued opinions, I wouldn’t have killed her.

“Are you stalking me? Because I’d hate to have to put a bullet between those pretty eyes of yours.” Oof. Yes, I was stalking her a little bit. But she thought I had pretty eyes. I liked that observation way more than I should have.

How’d you get down there so fast?” I bit back a smug smile. “Teleportation, obviously.” She grinned. “Of course. Apparently, I need to talk to the right people to upgrade my tech, because that would come in handy.”

That made me embarrassingly happy. Oh my god, I was being so ridiculous. Anyone would think Leon was my first crush with how girly I was getting over him. He’d barely even shown me a flicker of interest, and I may as well be doodling Mrs. Danny Marx on my notebooks. Play it cool, Danny. Don’t scare the sexy nerd away.

She never spotted me, because I was more than just… what had she called me? A fucking tech bunny. How insulting.

Wow. Was I seriously daydreaming about my crush while playing dead in an unknown prison somewhere? Yes. Yes, I was. Dissociation was a strength I never intended to lose.

Then again, Belle had always been the Princess who resonated most with me… nothing wrong with a little Stockholm syndrome, was there?

Dammit. Dickhead men shouldn’t be allowed to wash women’s hair. It was an unfair advantage.

And somehow, for some reason, she’d become my sole focus. My only priority. I was quite prepared to burn the whole world to ash just to get her safely returned to me… and I really had no clue when my casual obsession had turned into such full blown possession.

It’d been way too long since my last cup of coffee, and it was a miracle I managed not to kill anyone in a caffeine-withdrawal rage.

“Fucking hell, Danielle,” he grunted when I applied the Band-Aids to his hand and peeled open another wipe for his face. “I think I’d rather get patched up by a pissed off porcupine.”

“Stanley the plant? I like it. I mean… it’s a step further than being a cat lady, but it’s cute anyway.”

I hadn’t even needed to use a silencer, because this was Shadow Grove and the cops were little more than uniform-wearing Timberwolves.

Kai’s grip on my wrists pressed harder, and his free hand moved back to my throat. I loved it there. His right hand was my new favorite necklace.

“This time, I wanna hear you screaming my name, beautiful. I wanna hear you howl. Understood?”

With that settled in his mind, he went back to cooking us breakfast like we were a happy, normal couple. Like one of us wasn’t holding the other captive and trying to lock her down with pregnancy. Like one of us wasn’t secretly working up to kill the other in his sleep. Beauty and the Beast had nothing on us.

“Is that your way of saying you wouldn’t invite me to your home? Where is it again? Norway?” Close. “Not a chance in hell, Marx,” I replied with a chuckle. “You’re cute, but you’re also a mercenary. And I’m getting the impression you aren’t always a tech bunny.” I narrowed my eyes at him in suspicion. His answering smile was pure innocence. “You think I’m cute. Not the best adjective, but I’ll take it for now.” He was teasing, and it was exactly the lighthearted mood I needed. “My bad,” I apologized, smiling. “But bunnies are cute.”

“Did you kick them out?” I murmured, referring to Kai’s team’s hack. Leon flashed a toothy grin. “Sent them packing, along with a virus to seriously fuck up their systems for a while.”

“That wasn’t what I expected,” he told me in a hoarse whisper. I gave a slight frown, rolling onto my side and propping my head up on my hand. “It wasn’t?” He shook his head, his expression dazed and full of adoration. Somehow, I thought it was a good thing… that I’d somehow exceeded his expectations? Still, I couldn’t miss the opportunity, so I gave him a sly smile. “Well then, I probably suggest we try again. And again… and again… for research purposes?” Leon gave a small frown, then laughed and shook his head in disbelief. “Good idea. Wait here, I’ll grab protein bars and hydration. We’re not leaving this room until we’ve covered every variable.”