She flinches as though I struck her, then stiffens and sharpens her gaze. “Well, Ben thinks it does.”
My blood boils, the heat of anger pulsing through my veins. I lean down, pressing my chest against hers, pushing her deeper into the mattress. I bring my mouth to her ear, my lips brushing the soft flesh, the sweet scent of her hair filling my nostrils.
“You don’t need to worry about what McKenzie thinks.”
She turns her face toward me, and the tip of her nose brushes mine, her breath warming my lips. “Why not?”
I slide my hand along the length of her arm, then up the slope of her neck to wrap my fingers around her throat. I tighten my grip until she gasps, and the sound has my dick twitching.
“Because you’remybride, not his.”
“Then act like it. Why don’t you want me to go with you?”
“You don’t belong there.”
How do I explain the level of depravity that’ll pervade the room, filing every inch with perversion? How the members of the Order will leer at her, the things they’ll say and do? The things they’ll expect me to do to her?
I won’t subject her to that.
I can’t. Not if I want to stay alive. Because I’ll kill anyone who touches her, and that’s likely to happen in an orgy.
She turns her head, unaware how tempting she is in this position, offering her throat to me. Her mouth is pinched with anger, and her body is rigid underneath me instead of pliant and welcoming. I want to bury my face in her hair and my cock between her thighs until she can’t dismiss me or the way I feel about her.
“What about the other brides?” she asks.
“What about them?”
“Will they be there? Or am I the only one who doesn’t belong in your world?”
I clench my jaw, my grip tightening on her neck. “Enough.”
“Answer the question.”
“No, I won’t answer the fucking question, so you’ll have to get used to not having an answer. Now it’s my turn. What happened with you and McKenzie today?”
She blinks at me, confusion covering her features. “What are you talking about?”
“He touched you.” When her eyes widen and the color drains from her cheeks, I press in. “I saw it, little raptor.”
“That was nothing.”
“After everything I’ve told you, do you really believe that?”
She bites her bottom lip. “No. But it doesn’t change anything. He’s still family.”
“Family or not, he doesn’t touch you.Ever. Understand?”
“Xavier, you can’t?—”
I slam my lips against hers, swallowing her words and replacing them with my tongue. The kiss is savage and bruising, an assault on her senses, a declaration of how she’s mine.
Only when she surrenders do I tear my mouth away and stare down at my bride, watching her chest rise and fall. I want her underneath me, spread wide, her thighs cradling me as I sink into her. Instead, I grab her face, forcing her to meet my gaze.
“He. Doesn’t. Touch. You.” I can’t stop myself from grinding my cock into her, wanting her to feel how fucked up I am because of her. Delilah’s pupils dilate, and her nostrils flare. The reaction has my dick jerking in my pants. “Do you understand me?”
She slowly nods.
For the millionth time, she’s saved Benjamin’s life by agreeing to my demands.
