“Careful, little lamb,” he warned huskily. “Not even I am immune to your scent right now.” Knox held me in place as the rattling in his chest sounded, and my body went pliant in his grip.
I stared down the pitch dark hallway, or what I assumed was one, and waited for whatever was happening to him to pass. I didn’t breathe, let alone move.
“Walk,” he ordered, and I bolted at the sound of his voice, only to be yanked back. “You run, this ends with you mounted and screaming my name, Aria. Do not fucking tempt me right now.”
Chapter 16
Knox followed me, issuing directions in the dark and preventing me from slamming into walls as we made our way through the labyrinth of secret passageways in his mansion. We passed walls with holes that allowed a little light into the darkness, and I hadn’t missed that they looked into bedrooms. I also hadn’t missed that my vagina was covered in pineapple and that I’d left it in my panties due to the room being in danger of being breached.
We approached a glowing doorway, and I slowly turned, watching his head nod as I pointed at the room. Once through it, I took in the library, staring at the changes that had occurred since I was in it last night. We ended up in the room where I’d found him last, but the fireplace was gone and had been replaced with a chair if you could call it that. It was large, plush, and looked as if it could fit several people. The couch was missing, along with the entire length of the passageway that led out of the room.
“Uh,” I whispered as my eyes focused on anything but him as he watched me through a hooded stare. “So, is there a garbage can in here by chance?” I asked carefully.
“For?”
“I have a pineapple issue.” I watched his lips curling into a wolfish smile that set every nerve ending on high alert.
“So you do,” he chuckled, stepping closer, watching me for any sign of movement.
It wasn’t his usual predatory gaze. It was feral. It was the look a wolf had as he watched his prey for any sign of weakness, and once shown, he’d exploit it to get an easy kill. He stopped in front of me, holding my gaze as one hand lifted my dress while the other slipped between my legs. I gasped and then sucked air into my lungs to hold the moan in as his fingers collided with my clit and then slid through the slick, sticky mess the pineapple had made.
The entire time, he watched me, trembling lips and all. My body shivered, reacting to his touch as if he was the match that lit the fire within me. He pulled the pineapple out, smelling it, and I opened my mouth, snapping it closed as his smile formed the closest thing to an actual smile he’d had since I’d met him. His teeth were no longer blunt, which I wasn’t sure he noticed as he plopped the chunk of pineapple between his lips, devouring the fruit that had been in my panties.
“That was… Oh my God,” I uttered, watching as Knox licked his lips clean.
“It does make it taste sweeter,” he rasped, sending every nerve in my body to high alert with need.
“Gross!” I cried, taking a step away from him, noting he moved forward with me. “Remember, you don’t like me.”
“I don’t need to like you to fuck you. It’s better for you if I don’t.”
“Knox,” I whispered, licking my lips to wet them. “I’m a witch, remember?”
“I’m not planning to fuck you.” He watched as my legs buckled, and I slammed down on the chair ungracefully. “Do not fucking move. I mean it, Aria. You move, and they’ll smell you. They smell you, and I’ll bend you over and breed your cunt myself, woman. You get me?” he snapped harshly. “I’ll take you first, but they won’t care as long as they can have whatever scraps are left of you when I am finished taking what I want.”
“Understood.” I swallowed hard, folding my hands in my lap as I sucked my lip between my teeth and waited. Staring up at him, I watched his eyes narrowing as his nostrils flared, even while his tongue slipped over his bottom lip seductively.
“So, you can listen,” he snorted, taking a step away from me. “Good girl.”
I watched his eyes darkening before he turned, taking long, angry strides toward the wall that opened up and expanded a moment before he would have walked into it. His footsteps receded down the hallway, and I watched as he turned back, looking at me over his shoulder, smirking before he spoke softly.
“Do not let anyone get near her unless she moves. Do not hurt my men if they come, just stop them from reaching her, understood?”
My eyes lifted and my jaw dropped open as the gargoyles I’d assumed were statues crafted by an artist moved, watching me as they grew in size and dropped from the perch they’d been sitting on to stand around me, one resting gray eyes on me as he took in my naked legs.
“Are we still beautiful, mistress?” he asked, his tone eerie and foreign, and yet he spoke English flawlessly, as if he’d been doing it his entire life.
“Very,” I whispered through the dryness of my throat. Gargoyles were freaking extinct, and yet here they were, hiding and very much alive in Knox’s freaking library! “So very beautiful,” I swallowed thickly.
“Move for me, little one.” He watched me with a wicked grin as he shivered, inhaling deeply.
“No,” I countered. “Where are you from?”
“Not here, nor will I spill his secrets to his enemies.”
“I’m not his enemy.”
“You most assuredly are, as you are the granddaughter of Hecate.” He stood up taller, his wings unfurling but no longer stone. He was all man and sexually charged with enough power that it slithered over my flesh. “You are pretty and clean. You are not pure witch, are you?”
“No, my father was other, but it is unknown.”
He leaned closer, sniffing me, which almost caused me to retreat, but growling sounded, and they cleared out quickly. My gaze moved to Knox walking with Lacey and another woman. Lacey looked different, her eyes were vacant, and there were marks over her flesh, including red handprints on her throat. I studied her before moving my stare to the new lady who marched beside Knox with her hand touching him. The man had women falling all over him, and I found it pathetic.
“Examine her, Regina.”
“Hell no,” I stated.
“Option A, or option B, Aria?” His face tightened, and his eyes slanted as he smiled coldly. He looked like he was hoping I would choose option B. Option B was violent, it was apparent in the way he’d spoken of it.
“Tell me what option A is.”
“I will put blood into a vial and add ink into it, mixing the two together. Then I’m going to use the ink to place my personal runes on your flesh as well as my name, at which time every male will know you are mine. Ovulation isn’t a one day process, and the mark should outlast it.”
“How long will your name be on me?” I asked carefully, knowing that what he was planning to do was something men did to their untouched brides in the Nine Realms. It was taught to every child in the academy we’d attended. It was also the only way to prevent my scent from luring men to me in mass, but there was more to it, a lot more to it.
“Three weeks, since my blood is pure, and my scent is rather potent.”