“I wasn’t sure.” He steps back; the heat of his body retreats.
I sway on my feet, but he doesn’t right me. It’s as if he knows the emotions that hold me in thrall. That if he touches me now, I’ll lash out or do something crazy…like what? Try to get over the wall again, knowing those bars don’t lead anywhere?
“There is no door in the wall, is there?” I crack my eyes open in time to see him shake his head.
“It’s my summer retreat.” He folds his arms over his chest, and his gaze rakes over my face. He’s watching me closely, waiting to see what I’ll do next.
“You always teleport in and out.” Realization sinks into my blood.
“It keeps out unwanted visitors.” He leans back on his heels.
“Keeps in your guests, too.”
“I’ve never brought anyone here before.”
“Should I be flattered?” A scream bubbles up, and I bite the inside of my cheek to swallow it down.
It feels strange, that I am the first he’s brought here. It doesn’t mean anything, does it?
“I am not sure.” He angles his head, and his gaze narrows. “I’ve never wanted to do to anyone else what I want to do to you either. I’ve never soul-bonded to anyone else before you.”
“It’s why you need to let me go.” Panic flutters in my stomach. A part of me understands all too well what this means. But I don’t want to accept it. I don’t want to accept that this means anything to him, and yet I know it does. It has to. It’s the only reason he brought me here and saved my life. “I don’t mean anything to you.”
“Not true.”
I take a step back. “Why did you say that?”
“You know why. You feel it, you just don’t want to accept it.”
He doesn’t move, just stays there, and that scares me further. If he’d threatened me, tried to harm me, it would have been more in keeping with how I’d expect him to be. As a captor, if he’d forced me, I could have resisted.
But this patient watching and waiting, it stretches my skin, twists my insides with heat. With anticipation. And he knows it. He knows the only way to get to me is to give me enough space to hang myself, literally.
“It won’t work.” I shake my hair out of my eyes.
“What?”
“Whatever game you are playing…” I wrap my arms around my waist. “You think you can trick me into being conciliatory?”
“I am not tricking you.” He flexes his shoulders. “I thought I could take you by force, but I can’t.”
“Well, that’s honest.” I rub my forehead. “So why don’t you let me leave?”
“I can’t do that either.” He leans back on the balls of his feet.
“So then what?” I huff out a breath. “We just rattle around in this space until one of us breaks?”
“Something like that.” He drops his arms to his sides as if coming to a decision. “You are bonded to me. I will keep you here until you accept your fate. Until you take me for your mate. I cannot let you leave without that.”
“And if I don’t want to accept you?” I frown.
“You will.”
He draws himself up to his full height, and once more I am struck with how big he is, how powerful, how lethal. He could force himself on me and I wouldn’t be able to resist. Yet he hasn’t.
“What if it’s you who breaks first?” I tap my toe on the ground.
“No one’s ever brought me down—yet.” He props his arms on his waist.
“Is that a challenge?” I raise my chin.
I am insane. No way can I resist this man, not living in such close quarters with him. But what is the option? I can’t escape this place either. And damned if I’ll just submit to his will. No, I have to find a way to break this bond between us. I have to. Before I submit and accept my fate.
His forehead creases and he pins back his ears…his back-to-normal human-shaped ears. Perfectly shaped to complement his face. Those high cheekbones, those intelligent blue eyes. My fingers tingle with the need to trace his profile. Touch his lips, feel his skin. Instead, I hold out my hand. “Don’t tell me you are worried about me getting the better of you?”
His gaze drops to my hand, then he grips it, his thumb making slow circles over my wrist. His touch seeps into my blood, and my stomach flip-flops.
I am definitely going to lose this game but damned if I am not going to fight until the bitter end.
His lips flatten. “Challenge accepted.”
18
Dante
I’d been so sure of myself when I’d accepted her challenge. I escorted her back to the safe house, to a room separate from my own bedroom, then left.
Only I’d been worried about her.
Enough to not have slept in the last two nights. Or maybe it was the frustration of knowing that she was next door that made me walk around with a raging hard-on.
Carrying a tray filled with water and the sandwiches that I made, I shoulder open the door of the room and barge in.
“You haven’t eaten much in the last few days.”
“What do you care?” She sits up in bed, her shoulders tense. Then she scrambles back to rest her back against the headboard.
Fear radiates from her.
“I won’t do anything to you.” I keep my voice low and reassuring.
She snorts, and I can’t stop the smile that curves my lips.
I stalk over to the table and place the food on the bed. “Well, not anything that you don’t want, that is.” I straighten and turn to face her.
No way is she going to best me. How can she, when she has no access to the knowledge the Fae have? We are well-versed, and not just in weaponry.
Every warrior trained by the Fae is schooled in the pleasures of seduction by courtesans. Women who taught us how to give and take pleasure so that we will never confuse the high of sex with emotional gratifications. Everything we needed to perform our tasks with the utmost efficiency.
I hadn’t quite explained to her the nuances of what it means to be in a bonded pair either.
A better mate would have done so. He’d have told her that sooner or later the force of the bond would kick in and bring her to me. The soul needs the body to comply, will make it comply.
She stands no chance.
Only I haven’t revealed that to her. I want her to think she has some kind of semblance of choice. Some measure of control over her destiny at least.
All a charade. That’s what I am good at. Acting things out. Fooling myself. Like I have been all these years.
Being a part of the Fae Corps is the only life I’ve ever known. I’ve always thought I’d been content with my choices, too, until I met her. Until I realized I wanted more with her. For the first time, I saw a future, with a mate, a family of my own.
A vision powerful enough to have prompted me to flee with her.
It had invigorated me enough to decide to go up against the Elders themselves. I realize that now.
Already, I’ve turned my back on the only way of life I know…because I couldn’t leave her.
The thought brings me up short.
I can’t abandon her, not with an unconsummated bond. That will only drive her out of her mind with frustration.