Aeromancist - The Beginning (Seven Forbidden Arts 2)

Jack’s eyes bulged. He clawed at Lann’s fingers, but his struggling had no effect on Lann. Dear God. Lann was going to kill him.

“Lann,” Kat begged, “please, put him down.”

Her lover glanced at her then, and after another second, unceremoniously dropped Jack.

Lann turned to Diana, who had been looking on with huge eyes. “My apologies for the unpleasantness. The bill is on me.”

The usually brave Diana actually cowered. Without another word, Lann took Kat’s arm and pushed her in front of him from the club and into the Jaguar parked on the curb.

For the thirty minutes of the drive home, Lann said nothing. Too afraid to open the floodgates of his anger, Kat held her tongue. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Her stomach was in knots, and she hadn’t even done anything wrong.

At home, Lann kept his hand firmly on her upper arm as he guided her to his bedroom. Inside, he slammed the door, released her, and stood watching her with his arms crossed.

She hugged herself as she waited for him to speak. His silence was worse than his wrath.

Not able to stand it any longer, she said, “Just say what your problem is.”

His eyes shimmered. “My problem?” His muscles flexed. “You need to ask? I go away for a week and at the first opportunity, you seek out a boy to paw you.”

Her jaw dropped. “He didn’t paw me. We were dancing.”

“Looking like that?” He dragged his gaze over her.

She propped her hands on her hips. “I’ve worked a long, hard week and I needed to go out and have some fun.”

“Tempting other men?”

Her anger flared. “I don’t fuck every man I meet, Lann. You’re the exception.”

“Don’t make this about us.” His eyes narrowed. “This is about you breaking our agreement. He had his hands all over you. I thought you understood the rules.”

“It was only a dance,” she said, exasperated.

“Don’t you know what he was thinking?”

“He was enjoying the dance, as I was. I wasn’t going to let him take it further.”

“His dick was hard for you.”

“Stop it!” she said, shivering with contained emotion. “What’s wrong with you? You don’t own me. You’re not even my boyfriend.”

“We have an agreement, Katherine. You consented to the rules. Let me remind you, as you seem to forget easily, I said no touching other men while I’m fucking you.”

She balled her fists at her side. “You’re acting crazily. It was innocent. I wasn’t going to fuck anyone. What do you take me for?” Indignity made her shake even more. “I don’t break my promises. Is it because I said yes to you too soon that you think I’m easy?”

“I don’t think that,” he said in a heated voice. “And that’s not the issue.”

“Then what is?”

“I turn my back and you defy me. I had to leave an important business meeting to pull your very exposed ass from another man’s arms.”

He left a meeting to come and drag her from the club? “Where were you, anyway?”

“Buenos Aires.”

“Argentina!” she exclaimed. “How did you get here so fast?”

“Private jet.”

She was at a loss for words. How did he know she was at the club? She hadn’t mentioned anything to Alfonso.

She fixed him with a stare. “How did you know I was out? How did you even know where to find me?” When he didn’t say anything, she said, “Are you having me followed? Is that why the driver is always there, why I can’t walk out of this monastery without having him on my back?”

The driver hadn’t followed her tonight though. She waited for his answer, but Lann said nothing. He only watched her with guarded eyes.

A terrible suspicion started to grow in her mind. The thought was so disconcerting, she prayed it wasn’t true.

“Tell me, Lann. How did you find me?” She took a step forward. “I know you’re a man of many resources. Did you have me tracked?”

Still, he didn’t reply.

“Oh my God,” she said as his silence told her the truth. “How did you do it? My mobile phone?”

He regarded her cautiously. “No.”

“What then? Did you plant something on me?”

His eyes tightened. It was a slight movement, but it was there. Oh, God. That was it. It had to be something she always carried with her. If not her phone… And then it hit her. She lifted her hand slowly, fingers spread, to stare at the sparkling diamond.

That hurt. That he tracked her secretly hurt, but what caused even more pain was that she actually believed, or maybe hoped, that that ring meant something. To her, it was a symbol of belonging, of affection of some kind. She felt violated and utterly stupid. Having an agreement is one thing, but having her privacy compromised is another.

Lann studied her as the truth dawned on her. For a minute, he almost looked regretful, but when she started to wiggle the ring from her finger, he grabbed her shoulders and shoved her toward the bed. The momentum had her stumbling backward, but he broke her fall by catching her in his arms. When her back hit the mattress, he was on top of her.