He was one of them, though he was uneasy with the distress in her eyes. Jacob had told him what this could be like, but Jesus, seeing it firsthand . . . he felt like he was in the middle of a macabre circus. Despite his offhand banter with Anwyn, his pulse was up, his cock was hard and his hands were sweating. Which was what he was sure these bastards wanted to see.

“Lord Stephen,” Anwyn said unexpectedly. “Would you mind if I had my servant wipe your servant"s chin? I think she"s becoming a bit of an eyesore for those of us eating our dinner.”

“Drooling on the carpet is considered bad manners,” Helga mentioned wryly. Her tone suggested Stephen"s decision to punish his servant so severely at the table, when it wasn"t a planned part of the central entertainment, was improper etiquette. She sent an approving look toward Anwyn, as if she appreciated her subtle objection.

“Of course,” Stephen said, though agreeable was the last thing Gideon read in his voice.

“Whatever will give you ladies more comfort and pleasure. In fact, he can remove the gag. Tell him to push her to her knees and use his cock to remind her what her tongue is for. Or do you have to ask the vampire hunter to do such things for you? A „pretty please," perhaps, to coax him to do your bidding? Beg him to eat your sweet cunt?”

Gideon"s blood went to boil, but Anwyn"s laughter checked his desire to use a dinner fork to teach Stephen manners. He did note that several Council members were less than pleased with his vulgarity. Apparently, as Daegan had said, such bald sexual behavior toward another vampire wasn"t encouraged in a private Council gathering.

“Do you think I"m so easily baited, Lord Stephen? A new vampire I may be, but I"ve been dealing with pushy males for a very long time. I"ve spent time with Lord Daegan, after all.” She tossed Daegan a provocative smile and leaned back in her chair, crossing her shapely legs so the dress inched up. Daegan acknowledged her barb with an indulgent nod, but Gideon noticed his eyes didn"t leave Lord Stephen, unwisely oblivious to his regard.

The women responded with appreciative chuckles, though Barbra was not one of these. She smiled because the others did, but it was tight, unfriendly. “Are you refusing to entertain us with your servant, Anwyn?” she asked. “For all his exploits, your vampire hunter is expected to have far larger balls than most. I for one am curious to see.” Gideon, Daegan said to tell you Stephen’s servant is pleased to be punished by her lord this way. She’s very aroused and not being tortured against her will.

I know how servants work. He managed, barely, to keep the contemptuous sneer off his mouth. At the flicker of hurt from Anwyn, he cursed his stupidity.

Yes. Her response came slowly. But can you work the same way?

I told you I can. Issue your order, Mistress. Let’s get done whatever bullshit they want to prove.

I like it when you call me Mistress.

He remarkably liked using it, but he decided he wouldn"t admit that to her. At least not directly. He"d rather let her fish for that one than throw it right in the boat. Her lips curved, a softer smile that told him he was forgiven.

Then she met Lady Barbra"s gaze. “I am not refusing you at all, my lady. I"m simply new to your ways. You must forgive me if I am not as quick to respond to your games . . . or rather, entertainments.”

When Barbra"s eyes narrowed, Anwyn"s brow lifted, as if in innocent question. “And of course,” she added, “I"m never averse to showing off his gifts. Gideon?” He moved forward. She"d lifted her hand toward her shoulder, toward him, though she didn"t turn her head, clearly expecting he would be there. Following impulse, when he reached her, he bent so his lips touched the cup of her open palm. He left his hands out of it, not touching her or grasping the wrist, just offering that teasing homage, tickling her lifeline with the tip of his tongue so her fingers curled slightly. He inhaled her perfume, the scent of her hair, and it steadied him. “Yes, Mistress.”

“Please go relieve Lord Stephen"s servant of her gag in the manner he described.” He would shut his mind down and do this. He could do it. He"d had to do a lot of things as a vampire hunter, and keeping a poker face was one of them. Inclining his head, despite the turmoil of his feelings, Gideon turned toward Stephen"s servant. She was a beautiful woman, exotic and long limbed, with red hair that swept around her face and shoulders like tongues of flame. Her eyes were a rich dark brown, an animal"s liquid deep color that gave her Fey-like face a fragility that pricked his dispassion.

He reminded himself she served Stephen, probably helped with his kills. Her Master was the guy who"d likely sold out Daegan, who wanted to see him dead. She was part of that.

It both helped and hindered that this servant"s eyes were consumed with particular venom when they shifted to him.

“You might be interested to know that Alanna"s twin brother was a servant as well. To Lady Theresa, who died in the bomb blast at the Gathering.” Lord Stephen offered the information with satisfaction. “Their bodies were found together, of course. Maybe you"d like an oral bit to protect your servant"s overblown assets, Anwyn. Alanna has very sharp teeth.” Shit.

“Gideon knows how to handle himself around angry females exceedingly well. I am not concerned.” When Stephen curled his lip, the tips of his fangs showing, Anwyn gave him an indifferent look.

Great. With a slight bow for permission, just as Daegan had showed him, only the vampire"s movement had been much smoother, Gideon took a piece of chocolate off the silver tray next to Anwyn"s plate. He also borrowed her cloth napkin. When he reached Alanna, trying to walk normally despite the dildo, he thought if she could have spat at him, she would have. He was conscious of every eye in the room, some murmurs over the stripes he revealed on his back.

The dried blood itched but had been left uncleaned at Daegan"s suggestion, for more dramatic impact. As he unbuckled Alanna"s ball gag, he slid the slick orb from her mouth. Using the napkin, he caught the saliva that came with it and dried the rest from around her lips and chin.

He hesitated over the cleft of her breasts, where more saliva had dripped, but at a glance at Anwyn, receiving her nod, he rubbed it off, trying not to linger. Despite what he"d been sent there to do, he didn"t want to take excessive advantage of the situation. Servants might be willing and ready to do whatever their masters ordered, but he didn"t like the idea of touching any woman without clear consent. And this one clearly hated him.

Still, after he did that, he brought the piece of chocolate to her lips, knowing from his earlier gag that the rubber left a nasty aftertaste. While there was a flicker of surprise in Alanna"s eyes at his courtesy, the flash in her gaze warned him. When he put the chocolate on her tongue, she snapped down, just as he expected.

One of the vampire hunters he"d known had a dog named Evel, who would bite anything that aggravated him—which was pretty much everyone. When he tried to bite Gideon"s hand one day, Gideon had deterred him from doing it again by doing what he did now. Though he did it in a bit gentler fashion, since a fragile woman"s jaw was a little different from the machine grip of a Rottweiler"s, he jammed his closed hand toward the back of her throat.

Expecting him to pull back, she hadn"t been prepared to lock her jaw against a forward thrust. It wrenched her mouth wide-open, hitting her gag reflex.

“You won"t bite me,” he growled. “You"ll behave and do as you"re told, or you"ll learn worse tricks I have than this. Settle down to business and we"ll be done in no time. I"m not any happier about it than you are. Okay?”

It took some coughing, gagging, some outraged strangled snarls from the back of her straining throat, but eventually her jaw relaxed and he removed his fingers. She gasped for breath, staring at him with hatred and uncertainty both. He was cognizant of some audience appreciation of his tactics, but he wasn"t interested in their approval. He focused instead on his connection to Anwyn, held that silken cord of awareness, already wanting to climb out of this moment and be back beside her.

Gripping Alanna"s shoulder, he pushed her, not ungently, to her knees. He focused on the wall when he opened the tight latex pants and freed his cock. At least his ass was still covered, concealing the dildo shoved into it. He couldn"t say he"d accepted Anwyn doing it to him with good grace, but it had been reluctantly pleasurable. Now it grated, suddenly a symbol of what this group wanted to do to him, how they would humiliate him.

Gideon, no. Nothing has changed. It’s only you, me and Daegan here. Just focus on that.

Then who’s this pathetic creature being forced to suck off the dick of her brother’s murderer?

Gritting his teeth, not waiting for an answer, he fed the head of his cock into Alanna"s mouth. He did it slowly but inexorably, keeping one hand on her face. He was ready to jam his thumb in the hinge of her jaw if needed, but she eventually opened, took him deep.

“Don"t move your mouth, Alanna,” Stephen said abruptly. He tossed his next comment Anwyn"s way. “I like the look of this. More torment for them both. It gives us something else pleasurable to look at. Push those pants down to your knees, servant. They"re hampering the view.”

“Absolutely,” Helga murmured, to amused chuckles around the table.

He knew what Daegan had said, but it would be a cold day in Hell when he did anything that asshole ordered. If he"d set up Daegan, he was also responsible for Anwyn"s attack.

Gideon, do as he says. Anwyn"s voice in his head, urgent.

Damn it. This was his choice, for her. With a rough jerk, he shoved the pants down his thighs, wishing he could go deaf rather than hear their salacious reactions to the additional stripes there, as well as the dildo"s wide base spreading his ass cheeks. He knew his balls had to be visible from his spread leg position. Alanna"s breath was hot on him, her tongue moist on the underside, and of course he couldn"t help getting harder. Maybe that was good, because it kept at bay the horrified incredulity he was actually doing what he was doing, and exposing himself this way in front of a group he"d give away his soul to stake.