Ruthless Prince

3

If I knew Kyle, he only had the barest of essentials with him, and he would have chosen the most basic room. I glanced around, missing my home in Baton Rouge. Hell, I missed Nic’s home in Baton Rouge, his club La Petite Mort, and I even missed the damn cell where Nic had taken me before he gave me this reprieve.

Homesickness gnawed a small pit in my stomach, but then a loud jangling echoed through the home.

“What the hell was that?”

Again, Kyle’s face registered faint amusement. “Doorbell, dude, and we ain’t got no Baldwin to answer it yet.”

I glanced at him when he mentioned Nic’s butler and shrugged. “You expecting anyone?”

But he was already busy, opening the fridge to peruse the bags of blood inside. I shrugged again and walked in the direction where I expected to find the front door, and the jangling noise sounded a second time.

“All right, all right. I’m coming,” I muttered. I’d only just arrived and had more pressing matters for my attention than an impatient unwanted guest.

I swung the door open to find Jason standing on the front step, grinning. The homesickness that had been creeping over me immediately began to wane.

“Sebastian,” Jason said. “Got any extra rooms? I could have stayed with the wolves, but the smell of wet dog gets a bit stifling after a while.” He grinned wider, and I stepped back to allow him in.

“How are things going with the wolves and the power share?” I asked. Nic had explained a little of the deal he’d made with Conri, but Jason was his man for keeping the peace between the wolves and the vampires in New Orleans due to his friendship with Conri’s beta, Simon. “Anything I need to know?”

Jason shook his head. “Just the usual teething crap, you know? They’re all pups, really. Too excitable when they have something new. I have no idea how Conri keeps them all in line. Bet he’s watching me trying to wrangle the liaison s**t and laughing. He’s busy concentrating on the business angle of his and Nic’s deal.” His smile faded to a grimace before returning. He glanced up at where the stairs led to the second floor. “What do you think of the place? Nic thought you needed a base close to the club and also something befitting someone of your family.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I haven’t really looked around yet, but it seems pretty nice.”

But really, the house was the lowest priority item on my agenda. I’d been to The Neutral Zone, and I agreed with Nic’s description of it. It was like stepping directly into a w***e’s rotting p***y. God alone knew what Francois had been thinking with all the red and black decoration—although perhaps his madness at the hands of his dead man’s blood addiction probably had a lot to do with that. More than any of us actually knew.

The restaurant and club needed to be a space people wanted to come to.

Somewhere modern. Somewhere genuinely sought after, where membership meant something. Exclusivity, perhaps. As I considered the possibilities, unexpected excitement fizzed in my chest. I’d always wanted to be successful, to prove myself…

This just might have been the opportunity I’d been waiting for.

“Come on.” I turned to Jason. “I was just about to take my s**t upstairs and find a bedroom. You might as well do the same.”

THE MORNING SUN came streaming in, rudely waking me as I groaned and rolled over, burying my face in the soft pillow. That was different—the softness rather than lumpiness and the smell of new paint that I could taste in the back of my throat. Then I huffed and flung myself onto my back, throwing my arm over my face to cover my eyes against the sunlight I hadn’t managed to prevent from streaming through the windows with the dainty little curtains.

“Sebastian!” My name rang through the hallway outside like Kyle had forgotten which one of us was the prince.

I shook my head—there was no way in hell he even cared which of us was royal.

“We need to get to the club.”

Huffing again, I clambered from my bed. “Coming. Give me ten.” Before joining him downstairs, I introduced myself to the shower and dressed.

He handed me some sort of foil-wrapped breakfast blood bag. Food in disguise…Perfect. “Let’s go. We’re walking so you can get a better knowledge of your local area.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

The walk was quite scenic, but I was glad when it ended. It was as if I’d just stepped out of the shower all over again as a mixture of sweat and humidity clung to me.

We reached the club and I looked up at the exterior. It was on a busy street, but nothing called for customers to come in. The sight before me was quite unwelcoming, It was as neglected as Francois’s home, with the paintwork chipped and peeling. Decay was evident even here. The Ricard rule had clearly been on its knees for a long time before Nic made his move. “We need to close it,” I said, certainty tinging in my tone. “For a proper renovation job, we need the building quiet and empty.” I couldn’t half-ass this. It needed to be done correctly.

Kyle nodded without argument and slipped his phone from his pocket before wandering away to have his conversation. After he slid his phone away again, he returned to me. “Contractors are on their way.”

“Do you have anything else you’d rather be doing? Or that you need to do?” I all but made a shooing motion with my hand. It wasn’t that I wasn’t grateful for his help and ability to handle the situation, but…Hell, I wasn’t f*****g grateful at all. I wanted to do it myself, without any reliance on anyone else at all.

I didn’t need Kyle liaising with contractors on my behalf. They needed to know I was the new prince in town and that I’d be the one making the decisions.

He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, his eyes narrowed. Then he nodded. “Yeah, I try to check in with Jason and Temple fairly regularly. See what the general feeling is among the New Orleans vampires and the wolf shifters. Maybe I’ll go do that.”

I nodded too. “Let me know what they say.”

Kyle was already gone before I even finished my statement, his silent feet carrying him down the busy street and away from me. I barely saw him as he wove himself into the crowd then disappeared from view entirely.

I drew a deep breath and looked over the front of The Neutral Zone again. The Z hung crooked, almost tempting me to reach up and rip it off entirely, but I could discuss all the changes with the contractors when they arrived.