Eternal Beast: Mark of the Vampire by Laura Wright Page A

to be pissed at him for bringing Dillon here—and her entire family for that matter—but it was what it was. There was no going back now. The decision had been made.
His
decision. The moment he’d chosen to become leader of the Impures, his word was law. No matter how much his frenemy here hated it. “Return to whatever it is you were doing, Rio. I need to go see Uma about the run tonight.”
    But the Impure didn’t move, his night-black eyes resolute. “When is the
mutore
leaving?” he demanded.
    Gray shrugged. “When she’s ready.
    “And when I’m ready to give her up.”
    Nostrils flaring with impatience, Rio crossed his arms over his chest. “I heard that.”
    “I know,” Gray said pointedly.
    “That’s not a satisfactory answer.”
    “It’s the only one you’re getting, Rio.” He pushed past the solid wall of male and headed for the door, but in seconds a slam of words—nasty and demanding—boomed inside his mind.
    This wasn’t like when he and Rio had first met, when he was green and cocky and knew nothing of his own power, much less Rio’s. With a quick mental shake, he blocked the rest of the Impure’s rant, then turned around and shot forward. He got in Rio’s face so quickly the Impure barely had time to take a breath.
    “I don’t need to ask your permission,” Gray warned with cool, black rage. “I’m the leader here, and I will keep whatever I want beside me: Impure, human, Pureblood or Beast.” He raised a brow. “And if anyone dares to speak their displeasure to her, in front of her or inside her mind, you will be finding yourself a threesome looking for that missing piece again.”
    Unfazed by Gray’s pluck, and at the memory of the three Impure warriors’ insistence that Gray was the one, the only one, who would complete and exceed their power, make them a driving force with the Order, Rio lifted his chin and sniffed his disgust. “You’re playing a dangerous game.”
    “I know
.”
    Hearing Gray’s thought, Rio snorted and took a step back. “I just hope when the time comes to choose between the Impure Resistance and a
mutore
who hasrejected you at every turn, treated you like shit on a wet boot, you’ll choose wisely.”
    “Fuck you,” Gray said with a snarl, but as he turned and walked out the door, he couldn’t help but think,
So do I
.
    He erased the thought before the male inside had a chance to hear it.

5
    A fter flashing to the back door of the house in SoHo, the large party of Romans and Beasts filed into the house. With the not-so-gentle rumble of irritated voices, they headed straight for the library, where Nicholas and his true mate, Kate, were waiting.
    Nicholas looked up expectantly. “Where is she? Back in the cage already?”
    Erion gave his twin brother a frustrated sneer, then dropped into an armchair near the fire. “Not in our cage, no.”
    Nicholas turned to Alex. “What is my not-so-identical brother talking about?”
    While turning on a second laptop, Alexander answered. “She wanted to stay with Gray.”
    Nicholas didn’t even try to hide his shock. “Why?”
    “Who knows.”
    “And you let her?”
    “Let her?” Alex repeated with a snort, looking upfrom the computer screen. “We’re talking about Dillon here, not a rational
veana
.”
    As Sara went to stand beside her mate, Nicholas’s brows drew together. “She keeps going back to that male. If I didn’t know Dillon, I’d say she was seriously into him.”
    Lucian, who had been checking a text on his phone, glanced up at Helo and snorted. “Speaking of being into someone.”
    Helo’s gaze flickered to Kate; then he growled at Lucian. “Shut up, dickhead.”
    Lucian chuckled. “Touchy, touchy.”
    “But we do know her,” Alexander said quickly, his gaze narrowing on both idiot
paven
s, damning Gray for not only harboring Dillon but letting the entire family know that Helo thought Kate was an attractive
veana
. “Dillon needs him for something, maybe thinks he can