“And if I don’t?” she asked through gritted teeth.
“Best not to worry your pretty head with such dark thoughts, dearest girl.” He removed his hand from her chin, but her relief was short-lived. “Now if you would please undress for me.”
She started, her heart slamming into overdrive as she automatically drew a step back. “W-What? You said?—”
“I said you won’t be penetrated. You will, however, need to be prepared for your claiming. Now don’t make a fuss, hmm? It’s in your best interest as well.”
“How is it in my best interest?” she hissed, withdrawing several more steps until the large bed was between them. “You want to make me more pliant—to make it seem like I’m willingly submitting. I won’t. I will never submit to any of your kind.”
The large demon didn’t move, but the air around him seemed to darken and she dug her nails into her palms at the crackle of his power. When he spoke, his voice was soft, but deadly.
“It is in your best interest, Breeder, because there is going to be more than a hundred and fifty demon Lords fighting for the right to seed you. Women have died during their claiming, ripped apart from within as they screamed underneath their new mates. The more pliant you are, the better chance you’ll survive.
“I am not about to let you face your auction with anything but the best preparation, so either you strip for me of your own volition, or I will do it for you. But Selma—before I leave this room, one way or another, you will yield.”
22
Kain
Deceitful, traitorous, cunning little bitch!
Kain roared and punched yet another hole in his living room wall before tossing the letter to the floor. Governor Maell had sent out the invitation to her auction, and the arrival of it had sent his already spiraling mood into another fit of rage.
Ever since the Agents had taken Selma from his side, he’d been alternating between anger at her for lying to him and a nearly insurmountable desire to kick in the Governor’s door and rescue the cursed little Breeder so she would be safe.
He knew what had to happen to prepare a Breeder for auction, and the mere thought of it made bile rise in his throat.
Panting, Kain leaned against the ruined wall. He knew how scared Selma would be during the few lucid moments they’d allow her to have. She’d risked everything to avoid this exact fate—the fate Kain had promised he would protect her from.
He still remembered her cries for him as they took her away. Why did she have to be a fucking Pure Breeder?
A snarl made its way up his throat as he recalled those cursed words leaving her lips. She’d pleaded to stay by his side, promised she’d no longer run. He knew they’d been lies spurred by her desperation to avoid an auction, much like she’d lied to him in her failure to mention what she truly was.
Kain understood why she’d lied—he’d been a tool she could use to ensure her freedom, but she would’ve been dumb to entrust him with that particular secret. He was a demon Lord, after all. She wasn’t going to risk him going back on his word, tying her to his side with a mate claim despite his promise to set her free.
No, the anger churning in his gut wasn’t because she’d lied. But acknowledging the true cause…
He grimaced and fisted his hands tightly as a wave of intense longing rolled through him powerful enough to make his body shake. Every cell in his body had craved her with an intensity like hellfire from the first moment he laid eyes on her, had craved to fuck her, protect her… claim her. And it’d been bearable while he’d believed he never could, that forcing his cock inside of her would cause his innate magic to turn her to ash and bloody pulp in his grip.
But now…
He glared at the letter beckoning him to come bid on the pretty girl he’d promised to keep safe, the yearning deep in his gut making it impossible to ignore how much he wanted to win her. Possess her.
He was furious with her for being a Pure Breeder, not for lying about it. When she’d just been a regular Breeder on the run, he could pretend like the longing for her from the very core of his being stemmed purely from hormones and that there was nothing he could do about it.
Now he was forced to acknowledge that she could be his. He could win her. Claim her. Possess her. And by all the stars in the sky, he fucking wanted to.
Which was the problem.
He’d sworn to never, ever claim a mate—just the thought of tying a Breeder to his side made him ill. It was all primitive urges, something he’d made sure would never dictate his life until Selma waltzed into his territory.
Selma. Just her fucking name made him shiver with need.
It was more than just the instinct to claim and protect. Her gentle spirit, the way she’d obviously ached for his loss when he told her about his mother… Something in those chocolate brown eyes spoke to him more than he would ever willingly admit. Even the way she’d back-talked him like no one else ever dared had increased his fondness for the girl.
Just the thought of having her by his side loosened the tight coil in his chest that’d been there as far back as he could remember.
But she didn’t want to be mated to a demon. She was desperate to be free, exactly like his mother had been, and he would rather die than go through a loss like that again.
