“If they’re weak, yes, they eventually die, or a bad provider, such as you, and needs to be taken down so a new male can service and provide for the female,” I stated casually, shrugging to be sure he got the message since his skull was very thick. “A female needs very few things in her life. She needs a strong mate who can provide her substance, dick, and a home for the babes she will eventually give him to fill it. You locked me in a room when I was dripping my scent for you, indicating my immense painful need for your cock. You still chose to abandon me. Even scenting the need I had, you couldn’t pick up the hint. You fed me old, dead meat, which is lazy. A beast needs to hunt for his bitch, giving her enough sustenance to be able to be bred roughly and often. This room is cold, sterile, and reeks of other bitches you’ve fucked, which I do not care for or wish to smell while I fuck you. It proves you are a horrible choice in a mate, and that I need to be ready to find a new one.”
“I had shit to tend to, such as your sisters upstairs causing a shit-storm because you caught fire and freaked them the fuck out. I didn’t have time to hunt for you because you were starving and needed to be fed immediately before your dainty little ass tried to devour me instead of fuck me. The room is sterile because it is fireproofed since you’re a fucking newborn…whatever the fuck you are, and you more than likely have no fucking control over those flames. I have provided for an entire kingdom, and they have never said I wasn’t a good provider to them. You don’t even know what the fuck you are, and you think I’m not good enough? Fuck you, creature.”
“Did your kingdom consist of only your needs? Because it seems to me that is only what you wish to soothe. I am also not a newborn anything. I was born in Aria the moment she inhaled her first breath, and therefore I am not new. I am twenty-five years old. I have slept so she can grow in power, and I can grow in strength.”
“Oh, my bad,” he chuckled, narrowing his gaze on me. “You’re practically a fucking antique.”
“You are mocking me. How old are you?”
“Over one thousand years old, give or take a few centuries,” he replied, carefully studying me and noting the way I sucked my lip between my teeth as I thought within her.
“Your dick works awfully well for someone so ancient. Do you often swallow little blue pills? I saw an ad in a magazine that Aria read one time that said you could get erect at even ninety-four years of age, but they did give a few warnings and precautions for someone as old as you. As long as you do not suffer a heart condition or drink nitroglycerin gas, you should be okay. I guess your balls weren’t too bad; they were firm to the touch with my tongue. You could still produce offspring, but one would assume your age could be an issue. You’re ancient as fuck.”
His lips twitched, and I grew angry as he continued to question my intelligence. “I am very virile and can handle you, creature. You absorb everything Aria sees or reads, don’t you?”
“Aria is brilliant on everything but males.”
“Is that so?” he asked, stepping closer to touch my unhealed shoulder and brushed his fingertips across his bite.
I shivered with the reminder of how his teeth felt buried in my flesh. I danced out of his reach as he watched me, smirking devilishly as he once more closed the distance between us, prowling toward me and letting the sheer masculinity of his body lure me in. Idiot, I was a needy bitch, and it took more than just strength to get me.
“She chose weak men, and I made her sick, so we didn’t mate with one. It would be a waste to find a lame mate who couldn’t satisfy our needs; they’re ravenous as we will become once we are one being. I’d have to eat him, and that’s just messy and not worth the trouble. Plus, they’d have left weak creatures in our womb, and I’m not much for eating my own offspring. I also don’t think Aria would be okay with that before the merge is completed. She loves little ones, mostly. Not so much when they stink.”
He smiled, and it touched his eyes, watching me as he bent over, kissing my shoulder. “But you let me fuck her.”
“You smelled powerful and of equal strength. You and I held a mutual connection, or it was until you hurt her. Witches are sexual creatures, but her bloodline more so than usual because of the curse placed on them. Normally, presenting their virginity to a male is a significant thing, a gift they can only part with once. In her mind, she chose you, but you made her hesitate, and so she chose another. You then played a trick on her when she was already upset that it would not be you. Then when she was happily surprised it was you who would receive her gift, you made her feel as if it was garbage, and not a gift at all. You made her cry, and Aria does not often cry, if ever. Not even at the memories of her mother trying to murder her. She compartmentalizes it and pushes it deep within her soul to use as fire and fuel. You’ve made her cry more than you know, which also makes you, as she says, a dicker.”
“Aria will survive. She’s tougher than she looks. Dicker?”
“It’s just another example of why you won’t be our mate.”
I lunged, slapping him across the face with my claws extended. He was faster than I assumed he would be, pulling my arm behind my back as he slammed me down on the bed, growling in anger. Blood dripped down from his face, and I moaned as he rubbed against my core. Too bad he’d have to prove his worth first. I was needy and shit.
I bucked against his head, turning to use my legs to kick him across the room. He hit the glass and shook his head at the velocity of the impact, staring at me as his teeth grew, and his eyes turned to mere slits. His hands balled into fists at his side as I swayed my hips, walking toward him slowly. He moved, and it was faster than I could detect. I was thrown across the room, landing against the glass to slide down it to the floor. Knox’s bare feet padded across the floor as he kneeled down, rattling from deep in his chest.
My foot came up, moving with speed and brute force to send him to the ground, but he deflected it, pulling me up by my hair to slam me against the glass. His mouth lowered to my shoulder, and I dropped my weight, raking my nails down his chest before I rolled, coming up on my feet at his back. I lunged, but his elbow connected to my face, pulling a gasp from my lungs as he added his brutal strength to the blow. I danced back, dazed as I shook it off. I watched his body moving, lowering to lunge, and at the last moment, I jumped and flung his body mid-air, watching as he slid down the glass, and I snarled.
Standing up, he tilted his head, watching me prowl slowly around him as I tried to cage him in against the glass. His smile was cold as he moved against it and watched as I leapt toward him, only for his hand to catch my throat, slamming me against the glass until it trembled and groaned from the pressure. My knee lifted, landing against his balls before I grabbed his hair and slammed his face into my knee, laughing as I danced away from the anger in his stare. I made it a few feet before he moved with unnatural speed, lifting me up to throw me against the glass, watching as I slid down it to my knees.
I winced, wiping blood away from my nose to stand again. I crouched, and he smiled darkly, mimicking the movement with the sleek muscles of a predator. Standing back up, I narrowed my gaze at the way he stalked me, sensing my movements with ease. Leaning against the glass, I watched him, letting his gaze slide slowly down to where my naked flesh was red and swollen with a need for him.