There was really nothing more for her to say. Survival ruled. Always had. And right now, she needed to survive her heart breaking under the weight of his disappointment. “What did you expect?”
Disgust flickered over his features. “Remorse.”
“Orrr,” she dragged out the word with a fake chuckle that cut like a blade to her chest, “are you mad because I fucked you too? Poor little soldier allowed himself to get fucked by a big, bad Marenian. What are you going to do about it?”
Shock flashed over his face. He stared as if he didn’t know who she was. A lump lodged in her throat.
“You’re amused by this. And to think I believed I had feelings for you. I should have known.”
His gaze narrowed as he delivered the last on a sneer. “A Marenian can’t care about anyone but themselves.”
He was wrong. So wrong because sitting in this cell awaiting her fate, Mischka had finally accepted the truth. She was in love with Jutak Bane Hardusho and would do anything to protect him. She pressed her lips together to hold back the declaration. Being selfish by telling him would serve no purpose at this point. “You finally get it.”
He drew close, cornering her and smacked his palm on the wall close to her face. “You’re not who I thought you were. I’m not sure what I ever saw in you.”
She flinched then forced a smile to her lips. “You wanted to fuck and we did.”
He pounded his fist on the wall. “Stop saying that.”
Sweat broke out on her brow. His tone was deep, dark and conveyed a warning Mischka wanted to obey. Except she needed to sever whatever feelings he had for her once and for all. “Or else? What exactly will you do if I refuse to stop, Jutak?”
The first dart of desire shimmered on the air between them. She shouldn’t have said that. Her dare hung in the air like a blatant target and Bane wasn’t going to ignore it based on the tensing of his muscles, the shift and angle of his head as he swiftly glanced down.
“Spank you,” he snapped, gaze smoldering. “Maybe that’s what you want. Perhaps, you would like me to swat that pretty ass until your lying lips tell the truth for once!”
Mischka froze. “You’d hit me?”
She couldn’t help that her voice quaked and hated herself for flashing to the violence of her past.
“If that’s what it took for the truth,” he snarled, leaning in closer to her. The position placed them nose to nose. Her gaze caught on his mouth, full and tempting. So close. “Believe me, you’d like it when I was done.”
His chest pressed against her breasts. His thick cock twitched, the display of arousal catching her off-guard. Shocked, her eyes jerked up to meet his smoldering gaze. Ruddy cheeks and glittering orbs of midnight. His look spoke volumes. All of it there to witness. The hunger, savage and primal.
Her body responded in its own sensual way, breasts growing heavy and each breath coming in short pants. Licking her lips, she reminded herself not to give in. Lothar would only use the feelings against them if he ever found out. “Just because I let you restrain me before doesn’t mean I want to be subjected to more of your forced fucking.”
His mouth dropped open. “Forced fucking? It was sex sharing. We were both in agreement and into it. There was no force involved.”
“If you say so.”
What was wrong with her? Heat of another kind was building deep in Mischka’s core. His sensuous lips turned up at the corners. He tugged a strand of her hair and looped it about his finger. His voice was a husky drawl when he countered. “I could prove otherwise in a matter of minutes.”
“Not likely!” Yanking her hair free, Mischka tried to dodge to the side and bumped into his other arm braced on the wall beside her head.
There was nowhere to go. This small room barely fit the bed and Bane took up most of the space with his hulking frame.
His face lowered until their mouths were separated by breath alone. “Not likely, huh? Shall I prove to you how much we both wanted one another that night?”
Every cell in her body screamed yes. Her lower region throbbed and the thought of being with Bane again, feeling the touch of a male in pleasure instead of pain was its own draw and one Mischka unfortunately was not immune to.
“Don’t go quiet now. What’s it going to be, Mischka? Tell me.”
If she didn’t go to a prison colony after this, Lothar would hunt her down and kill her in the most painful way possible. Gorge heaved in her stomach at the infinite possibilities of how he’d do it.
She glanced at Bane’s face, the look daring her to defy him as he awaited a response. Would her death hurt him? Of course it would. A tiny fissure split down the center of her chest at the realization. Despite what she’d told him, he did have honor. More than anyone she knew. And he’d demonstrated his strong feelings for her from the very beginning.
In his eyes, she was the one without honor and rightfully so. He was entitled to his anger because of her deception and she owed him to make things right. Which was why she’d pay with her life if necessary.
Mischka shut her heart down refusing to break and confess all. Lothar had promised to let her leave after one last mission. Not that she trusted him but it was all she’d had to cling to. The thought of being free of him had sustained her for two very long years. Freeing years in ways she couldn’t count.
Her love would draw Lothar’s attention to Bane directly. He’d have the means again to attack the Jutak warriors he hated. The thought shook her to the core. Bane’s gaze flickered, concern blotting some of his anger. “Mischka, what’s wrong?”
She had to save Bane before Lothar could destroy him. She couldn’t let that happen. She’d done enough. Gathering her courage, she raised her chin and added a hard edge to her voice. “Haven’t you learned? I wasn’t interested in you. It was all fake.”
“Really,” he hummed under his breath, gaze dropping to her swollen breasts, her nipples making their presence known and crying for his attention with their turgid tips.
Heat flushed her cheeks from the intense stare. Bane smoothed a hand along her waist, her hip. Back and forth. His other hand joined the fun from the opposite side until he gripped the round globes of her ass, kneading, squeezing. “All fake?”
“Y-y-yes,” she stuttered the lie.
He held firm to her butt with his big hands and yanked her into his hips. The move locked their bodies together, the intimate contact soaking her inner thighs. Bane nuzzled his way to her ear, his next words feathering over her lobe. “Mischka, Mischka, Mischka.”
The rough texture of his voice as he sing-sang her true name teased over her senses. She shivered and craned her neck back, hoping to escape.
“S-stop,” she muttered in a breathy voice. Giving in wasn’t an option if she was to protect him.
“I’ll find out the truth, you know.” He growled low and ran his nose along the side of her face. Her skin tingled and a gasp escaped her parted lips.
Pulse racing, she pushed her narrative, lies and all. “You want to believe your version of the truth instead of accepting I don’t want you.”
He nipped her ear, then licked the sting away. “Are you sure about that?”
She wasn’t sure about anything when his warmth surrounded her and his hands stroked her body. Instead of pushing him away, her hands clenched on his shirt. Drawn against her will by her body’s demand, she tipped her head up. His face was close, black eyes swirling. She leaned up as much as his grip would allow, the desire to climb his body pounding at her temples.