“You aren’t even supposed to be here, Jahlee,” he snarls in her direction. “I told you that you needed tostay away.”
“I wanted to support you! So that you wouldn’t have to go through these dinners alone, you jackass! You think I don’t know what they say around you, Kai? How they try to make you feel like you’re beneath them? How Tualetsthem? I came because Iloveyou!” Her voice cracks as she drops her hold on me and stands, pointing a finger in his direction. “You are allowed to push everyone else awaybut not me!” She turns and stomps out of the room, leaving me in perhaps an evenmorecumbersome position than before.
Chapter Forty-Four: Bahira
Kai doesn’t meet myeyes as he stares down at his plate. “What do you want?”
“I didn’t know Jahlee was bringing me here,” I offer lamely.
Kai doesn’t react. For the first time since I began my stay in the Shifter Kingdom, he looks truly exhausted, as if this ill-fated meal has sucked out every ounce of energy within him.No one gives him the chance. Jahlee’s words bounce around my head like an annoying fly that is desperate to not be ignored. I groaninternally but stand and move two seats closer until I’m sitting next to him.
“I could help you.”
Kai’s eyes rise to meet mine, frustration and anger reflected in them. “Your jobisto help me. It’s the entire purpose of your being here,” he grits out, his head tilting to the side in a movement too smooth to be anything but animalistic. “Speaking of, what are your updates regarding the blight? When will you try using your magic to heal my people?”
“Imeant, I can help you with court politics,” I reply, ignoring his question about my magic. “In case your small brain has forgotten, I amalsoroyalty. You—”
“That won’t be necessary.”
I lean forward and brace my hands on the table. “Youneedthe help. Have you talked with anyone yet about what Magda said? How her plea for aid was denied without your knowledge?”
He narrows his eyes as he also leans forward, abandoning his chalice on the table. “That is none of your concern, Princess. You are here to do one thing and one thing—”
“You’re pathetic.” I stand abruptly from the table, the dishes clinking together from my sudden movement. Kai rises as well, his chest heaving with drawn out breaths. “You are a king, and yet you sit back as if you rule only yourself. You are weak-minded andpathetic.”
Stepping around the chair, I march towards the door, my hands curling into fists at my sides.Stupid, infuriating pric—I jolt as I’m tugged backward, Kai pinning one of my wrists between our bodies while his other arm wraps around my front, his hand going to my neck.
“Did you really think I’d let you insult me and do nothing about it?” he growls near my ear, the heat of his breath and scent of his body causing desire to spark to life low in my belly. He has the strength to end me at any moment—all he would need to dois squeeze—and I’m not sure I could fight my way out of his grip before he snaps my neck. The thought doesn’t terrify me nearly as much as it should.
“You let everyone else get away with it,” I retort, my lips parting when his hand squeezes more tightly in response.
I catch our reflection in a large standing mirror propped in the corner of the dining room that I didn’t notice on our way in. He walks us forward, stopping about five feet away from it. Shadows from the flame gems ripple on its surface, altering our reflections for the briefest second. I take in the image of us—Kai’s large presence behind me, the muscles of his arms bulging and the way a few pieces of hair hang over his forehead. His eyes still glow, a haunting beauty to them that has me working hard to swallow.
He breathes deeply, his body going rigid before he dips his head until his cheek is scraping against mine. “You call me pathetic? Weak-minded? Tell me, Bahira, how wet are you between your legs right now?”
I grit my teeth together, my eyes alight with a fury of my own as I try to jerk out of his hold. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Kai’s dark chuckle shows his canines, his grin as sharp as any blade. “Your lying tongue can’t hide the truths of your body, Princess.” With torturous slowness, he releases his hold on my neck and begins to slide his hand down my front, going lower until his fingers tuck under the waistband of my pants. I stare at his reflection, watching as his nose skims over the exposed skin on my shoulder. “I can smell how badly you want me to touch you.”
Our gazes clash in the mirror, his hand gliding to where the evidence of my want of him can’t be denied. A deep sound rattles between us when his fingers swipe at my slick entrance.
“So fucking wet. Is thisallfor me? I think it is, and I bet youhateit.”
I don’t answer him. I won’t—can’t—give him the satisfaction of knowing that he is right. Keeping my breathing steady is a losing battle—particularly when he plunges two thick fingers into me, his palm beginning to work my clit. He taunts me with his fingers, drawing them in and out slowly enough to draw an eager moan from me. At the sound, he smirks, pumping his fingers faster until tension builds at the base of my spine.
My free arm reaches back, and my nails dig into the hard muscles of his thigh as I struggle for purchase, the arm held behind me tingling from Kai’s grip on it. Neither one of us looks away from the other’s reflection in the mirror, the energy crackling between us caught between feral lust and unbridled animosity.
Shockwaves ripple through me at his touch—at how the fantasy of my imagination pales in comparison to the real thing. He nips at my ear, the shot of pain making me gasp before he then drags his teeth down my neck. My hips move hungrily with the thrusts of his fingers while need barrels through me, relentless in its intensity. I push my head back against his chest, my breaths quickening as the precipice of release approaches. Just a few more strokes—
He stills, curling his fingers decadently inside of me, the pressure both perfect and agonizing. Speaking into the space where my neck meets my shoulder, Kai’s animal is thickly laced within his voice as he growls one word, “Beg.”
My voice is haggard as I rasp, “What?”
“If you want to come, Princess, beg me for it.”
The fuse of my desire quickly burns away to anger, and I clench my jaw as I dig my nails harder into his thigh. There is no way I’m begging him foranything. “Fuck. You.”
He smiles as his eyes flash a completely molten gold—no remaining brown to be found at all. “You will.”
