Free Lost to the Gray by Amanda Bonilla Page B

as he dug in his suit jacket for presumably his wallet. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the guy. He had
no
idea what tonight was all about. “What’re we talkin’ here?” Sam asked, his voice already starting to slur. “Hunred bucks?”
    Kadambari laughed, and I swear Sam’s eyes rolled back into his head at the sound. “No need to bring out your wallet just yet, Sam. You’ll be buying in with something more valuable than money.”
    While Sam just looked confused, the other players eagerly held out their hands, palms up. Sam looked around the table and followed suit, a silly grin plastered on his face. I alone didn’t readily offer up what Kadambari asked for. In one form or another, blood contained power. After everything that had happened over the past year, I was a little more than reluctant to offer up my blood to anyone. Especially a ghoul who glutted herself on the stuff.
    “You’re not afraid, Jinn,” Kadambari stated. “So why the hesitation?”
    “I thought you said his name was Tyler. . . .” Sam interjected with a drunken chuckle.
    I sighed. Gods, what a mess. “No, I’m not afraid,” I said. “Just . . . untrusting.”
    “You’re here to play.” Kadambari’s tone became diamond-hard. “There’s no backing out now. I’m not interested in whether or not you trust me. The buy-in has been set. Pay up or pay the consequences.”
    The Ambrosia had finally begun to hit me. I wasn’t getting stupid like Sam—yet—but the table definitely tilted at an odd angle, and I couldn’t quite shake the buzzing in my brain. I wondered . . . who protects the protector? I mean, I didn’t exactly have anyone watching my back. Too late to worry about it now, I guessed. The unease drained out of me as my muscles relaxed. Time to ante up.
    I held my palm out to the Raksasha, unable to muster the worry that should have been spreading through my veins like ice. Faolán had been granted full access to fuck with me through Darian’s blood. What if I was handing over access to
her
through mine? I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to her.
Really?
A voice—my voice—echoed in my brain like a shout down a long corridor. The part of me that was still angry with her reared its ugly head, heightened by the drug.
She didn’t give a shit about you when she teamed up with Faolán and left town, more interested in finding Raif’s daughter than taking care of you. Why should you give a shit what happens to her?
Good point. Turnabout was fair play. This was about helping Levi. It had nothing to do with her.
    Kadambari smiled as if she’d heard my thoughts. One by one N>
    She made a silent toast and brought the glass to her lips. Head tilted back to expose her throat, eyelids drooped as she drank, the act was so sensual that I had to look away. The sight of her made me hard, and my stomach clenched with lust. Fucking Ambrosia. The drink had lowered my inhibitions and heightened my arousal. Kadambari had no intentions of letting any of us out alive, and she’d drugged us to make sure we wouldn’t resist. The Ambrosia made us careless. Reckless, desperate gamblers. Drunks with nothing to lose. Fucked up as I was, I didn’t know if I could manage to save myself, let alone anyone else here tonight. When she’d finished drinking, Kadambari licked the inside of the glass with sensuous strokes of her tongue. Sam groaned and leaned over the table, his mouth agape as he watched her.
    “Freya, escort our guests to the wheel,” Kadambari said to the Sylph who bobbed her head obligingly.
    “Follow me, please,” she said. Her voice was soft like a spring breeze. Pretty. She opened her arms, inviting us to follow, and I wondered what it would be like to have that lovely breeze of a voice whispering my name as I pumped into her. The Fae to my left must have been thinking the same thing, but he’d gone beyond mere fantasy, reaching out to cup her face in his large hand before she could pull