“You think I took you for sex?” he asked. “I could get that from anyone.”
That should’ve made Riven feel better. It didn’t.
“Then what do you want?” he snapped.
Thane took a slow step toward him. Riven didn’t move.
“I want to see what happens when you’re no longer hiding behind all that noise.”
There it was again—that strange attention. Not lust. Not cruelty. Something more intent, like Thane was a scientist, and Riven the live specimen.
Riven’s chest burned with resentment. And underneath it, heat.
Gods, he hated him.
The Beast turned his back on Riven, crossed the room to a sideboard. He uncorked a bottle of dark amber liquid and poured two glasses.
“I don’t take what hasn’t beenoffered,” he added, then smirked slightly. “Even when it’s already mine.”
“You branded me.”
“Iclaimedyou. That’s different. Besides, you offered yourself to the House.”
He brought over a glass, handed it to Riven.
Riven stared at it, then him. “This is your idea of aftercare?”
“You’re not here to be a prisoner,” the Beast said. “You’re here to work off your debt. And to try not to get yourself killed.”
“Nice of you to say thataftermagically enslaving me.”
“Your sister is more in debt to us than perhaps you know,” the Beast said evenly, silver eyes glinting. “The Matriarch was ready to take her for whatever meager service she could provide.”
He took a long sip of his drink.
“You offered me a better solution.”
Riven hesitated, then took the glass. The liquor hit his tongue like fire and honey, burning its way down to settle behind his ribs.
“Why?” he asked, quietly. “Why accept?”
The Beast’s expression didn’t soften, but it changed, slightly. A flicker beneath the surface.
“You’re talented. Dangerous. Andclever, if not especially wise. A good combination for the kind of work I do.”
Riven’s skin prickled, though he wasn’t sure if it was the fact that Thane Virellien had researched him or the wording he’d chosen. “What kind of work is that?”
A slow smile. “The kind that gets blood on your hands.”
He downed the rest of his drink and turned away.
Riven watched the long line of his back, the way his trousers hung low on his hips, just above the curve of—
He looked away, scowling.No. No fucking way.
He hated men like this. Powerful. Controlled. Arrogant as fuck. Just because the Beast had a body carved by war and a voice that did things to Riven’s spine didn’t mean—
“You don’t like me.”
