Taming the Beast

No! I don’t know who shrieked inside my head; my dragon or myself? I didn’t care. He didn’t get a choice in the matter. His claws tore into me, his roars faint and unheard, his demands insignificant.

She is the path to redemption.

Lies.

This is what you need to forgive.

Forgive who? You? Never.

Flexing my hands, I wrenched my eyes from hers, shoving my dragon back and caging him inside my mind. My chest heaved, the air burning my lungs. Sweat cooled on my skin, cold infusing me and working its way into my bones. He didn’t have the right to speak now, not after staying silent for so long. I was in charge.

I made the decisions.

Faye

I was rapidly losing the fight with my knees, my traitorous legs intent on hitting the floor. Keeping my eyes pressed shut, I sucked in a gulp of cool air, forcing it down into lungs that struggled to remember their purpose, my breath coming out in raspy gushes. I could still feel him on my lips, the flesh tender and bruised from his lustful attack. I could still taste him on my tongue, rich and unique. Addicting. I could feel his strength surrounding me. Holding me. Protecting me from the world and it’s evil.

Not like my douchebag ex-husband, who’d used his superior strength to bully and belittle. Little nudges and withheld caresses to drive home the fact that I was weaker. Worthless. Ugly. Chipping away at my sanity until I believed every word out of his rotten, stinking, lying mouth. Playing with my mind until I cracked, unable to carry on with his game.

Not like that.

I sucked in another breath, this one less of a struggle. In Bastian’s arms I’d felt both unbreakable and fragile at the same time, his large hands caressing me with a firmness that fired my blood, but with a gentleness that warmed my heart. His body telling me without a shadow of a doubt how much he wanted me. Desired me. And—for that single moment before he possessed me—his eyes had locked onto me, like he couldn’t do anything but kiss me. Like he’d rather touch me than bre

athe.

But, why did he stop? I blinked open my eyes, reality rushing up to greet me.

He stood a few steps away, not moving an inch, the only sign of life was his chest rising, then falling, and a muscle jumping in his jaw.

“Bastian—”

“Why are you here?” He ground the words out through a jaw set with tension.

“I told you—”

“No. Why are you here?” He flicked a hand out, indicating the basement.

“Oh. I thought you meant…” My voice trailed off at the look in his eyes, the raw hunger burning in the sapphire blue, silver flames leaping up and dancing in the bottomless depths.

“You need to leave.” Blunt. To the point. No room for argument.

I might have believed him, from his rigid stance to the grim set to his mouth, but his eyes continued to burn through me, scorching in their intensity and flickering with indecision. He might need me to leave, but he sure as hell didn’t look like he wanted me to. I didn’t have a clue what the hell was going on here, but if he thought I was the kind of woman he could kiss into a puddle, then yank the rug out from under, he had another thing coming. I might not have been born with a backbone, but I’d sure as hell grown one over the last year. No man made my decisions for me. Not anymore. “Why did you do it?”

He shook his head at my question, his feigned indifference morphing into a now familiar smirk. “Sweetheart, do you really not know how fucking hot you are?” Dark hair flopped down into his eyes, making him hard to read.

My fingers itched with the need to brush his hair back and reveal his inner thoughts. I wanted to peer into his soul, search out his demons, and demand they give me answers.

“That’s not what I meant—but thanks, anyway.” I shot him a grimace, I’d never been good at accepting compliments. Time to see if he could pass the test. “What I really want to know is why did you gamble all the money away? Why did you arrange for your sister to be mated off to the highest bidder?” What are you hiding from me, from the world?

“Three alphas, each powerful and rich enough to provide her with everything she could possibly need. You say it like it’s a bad thing,” he replied, choosing to focus on my second question. Surprise, surprise.

But we were getting somewhere—talking. “She didn’t want them. You didn’t even ask!”

“No. She chose true love.” He uttered the statement with so much lack of inflection, I had to ask.

“Do you not believe?” A strange thing for a shifter. Their culture was built upon finding their true mate—the one person who would mean more to them than anything else in the world. If only humans were built like that. I bit back the sigh, waiting for him to answer.

“In love? It’s a pretty idea for some people.”