Dark Wish

Eli now focuses his attention on him.

“Soren. Would you do us a favor and eat …” Eli pauses. “Somewhere else?”

I don’t know what he meant to say when he said nothing instead, but it’s caught my curiosity.

Soren stops chewing his food and looks over at Eli with hatred. Then he loudly scoots his chair back, gets up, and steals a few more buns off the table before stomping off.

“Thanks,” Eli adds, but Soren doesn’t reply. He merely grunts like a bear.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard him speak. Can he? Or does he just refuse?

I shift in my chair as I glare at all the food left behind … and how little my stomach can suddenly handle now that we’re by ourselves. Eli won’t stop staring at me.

“Why did you ask them to leave?” I ask.

He picks up his fork and knife and elegantly cuts off a piece of bacon. The way he shoves it into his mouth captures my attention as though he’s chewing off a piece of the pig’s soul, and it makes me swallow.

“Because I prefer to be alone with you,” he replies.

My whole body tingles.

“I thought these breakfast moments were meant as a way to introduce me to them,” I reply, the chair suddenly feeling very uncomfortable even though I’m as far away from him as possible.

He takes another bite of his bacon and looks up at me. “It’s merely tradition. Nothing else.”

“Tradition. So you do this sort of thing more often?” I ask. “To other people?”

His eyes narrow, and he places his fork down on his plate. I guess I’ve hit a chord. “Bold of you to ask so many questions when you know what’s at stake.”

Rubbing my lips together as my stomach does a backflip, I think about all the possible outcomes if I try to nudge him a little farther to expose the truth. “I’m merely trying to understand.”

“I’ve told you everything you need to know for now,” he replies.

“You want me to give in, yet at the same time, you won’t give me anything in return and no leeway.”

He plants his hands on the table, spreading his fingers as he gets up from his chair. The menacing look on his face makes me wonder what he’s going to do … and maybe regret that I ever spoke up.

He suddenly marches over to me and puts his hands down on the table right in front of me until we’ve locked eyes. “Do not mistake these moments of calm for kindness. When I choose to let you eat with us, I can take that privilege away again with the snap of my finger,” he says.

I just stare back at him without saying a word.

“I can put you back in your room and let you eat by yourself for all eternity. Is that what you want?”

I shake my head, willing the tears to stay away. “Please, don’t. I can’t take being alone for so long.”

He reaches for my face, and the moment his skin touches mine, electricity shoots through my veins as he tips up my chin. “I wish you would just accept what I gave you without so much of a fuss,” he muses, giving me a smile. “But I guess that goes with the territory of finding a girl like you.”

“Why?” I mutter.

“Because you weren’t brought to me. You weren’t given. You came willingly,” he says, leaning in so close I can feel his breath on my skin. “And that is priceless.”

I suck in a breath as he lingers close to my lips, the mere thought of him kissing me making my whole body shiver. I don’t know what I’m feeling, whether it’s excitement or fear or all of it at once.

“You don’t even know how special you are …” he whispers. “And just how hard it is for me not to give in.”

The top of his lip touches mine, and I want nothing more than for him to kiss me. Not because I crave it, but because it will make him crave me. Because it will give me leverage when I have none. At least, that’s what I tell myself as his lips hover dangerously close to mine.

“Then why don’t you?” I whisper back, opening my mouth, ready to let him take me.

Suddenly, his eyes burst open, and he leans away, staring at me as though I’m the devil himself.

His eyes narrow as he shakes his head. “You try to seduce me …”

“I’m not trying to do anything,” I retort, folding my arms.

A smirk forms on his lips. “Don’t lie, angel, or I might have to punish you.”

My eyes widen, and my cheeks become as red as the strawberries on my plate. I don’t know what he has in store for me, but it can’t be good, so then why is my pussy thumping all of a sudden?