He spins, walking backwards, grinning snidely. Why is that glittering menace so attractive?
“I liked him better when he didn’t talk to me,” I mutter darkly.
I lift my voice so it carries to every damn corner of my house. “You will clean this up. I don’t care if you have to pick every single hair off my couch with your damn teeth.”
The feeling of the five of them converging towards me is a little bit unsettling, but I’m too mad to care.
“What’s wrong with you now?” Khaos asks in exasperation. Like I’m being unreasonable.
I point to the couch. “Clean it.”
“Now, you know what being a pet owner entails,” Wrath murmurs and reaches out, pulling wolf hair off my damn chin.
I whirl towards him and stand up on my toes, gripping his face in my hands. “That is my very expensive couch. I had to have it designed and custom-made. This is not okay.”
Hazard snickers, and I whirl towards him, dismissing the man I was holding. I almost trip as I realise I willingly grabbed the alpha and nothing happened.
No, focus on the anger.
I prowl towards Hazard and poke him in the chest.
“Clean it,” I growl.
“It looks nicer this way,” Wrath smirks and crosses his arms, leaning on the wall.
I inhale and exhale, fighting for calm. “Please don’t destroy my very precious custom couch. I have plenty of other toys for you to ruin.”
I don’t like the way they look at me like that. Like I just challenged them to the world’s best game of hide and seek.
“Just clean it up, please.” I stress the last word and turn away from the mess before I cry.
I walk into the kitchen and start making myself a coffee. I go to the fridge and reach for the carton of milk. It’s empty.
I close my eyes and go to the pantry and put the long-life milk in the fridge. This is going to drive me insane.
How long was the bad weather forecast? A week. I’m not going to survive three days.
We’ve eaten. It was tense. I sat on the floor by the wall and kept a wary eye on the wolves sitting in the piles of fur on my beautiful couch. Now I’m standing in the kitchen staring out the window as the storm ravages the landscape.
Angel appears in the reflection. “Why aren’t you punishing us?”
I still, our eyes connecting and holding. Tension in both our bodies. What is he going to do?
“Cleaning it up is punishment.”
He frowns. “You aren’t hurting us.”
His voice is deep gravel, much deeper than I would have expected.
I turn to face him but lean against the sink and hold my cup in two hands in front of me.
“Listen, I don’t know what kind of monsters you’ve had before, but I’m not about to treat anyone with anything less than respect.”
“Why?”
My eyes drop without my say-so. Hiding my shame. “Because I’ve experienced it. So, if you want a monster, you’re not going to find it here. I won’t be that person. Just please don’t destroy me.”
He advances towards me, leaning over me, his eyes wary and hostile. “Don’t you want me?”
