Aubrey bared his teeth at me, and my fingers on his throat spasmed in warning. It just made him laugh in a little punched-out sound that was more pain than amusement. More taunt… like a demand. Hewantedme angry.
“Mmm, is that right?” I shifted my hand, sliding my fingers along his jawline and slipping them through his hair to jerk his face up to mine. “You’ll learn to bark like you mean it before I’m through with you.”
CHAPTER
SEVEN
AUBREY
It waslike he could see right through me—usually when I taunted someone, I at least got a response. A hit. An attempt to kill me. With his broad body pinning me down and proving that sizedidmatter when one of the people was restrained, I realized I would rather taunt him and have the life choked from me than ever be put in a position where I was someone’s victim again.
I wasn’t doing it.
I couldn’t do it.
But apparently he wasn’t taking the bait. He leaned down, and the press of him against me was almost too much. Heavy and warm. He smelled like blood and sweat and smoke.
I blew out a slow breath and wondered if there was a way I could make this easier, if Icould?—
“You need to figure out if you’re hungry or not, Killer. You saw what we’re having for dinner.”
There was a slow clinking sound of metal playing against metal, then he rolled off me.
“What?” My eyes drifted away from his figure long enough to see he’d used some kind of old cuff to chain me to the metal pole holding the edge of the tent up. It was smart—I could pull it out of the ground easy enough, but the whole thing would collapse and give away my escape attempt.
“Blythe cooked upsomeonefor dinner, and I’m sure you worked up quite the appetite trying to raze the city to the ground. I just don’t know if you’re ready to admit you’re more like me than you are that bastard you shot earlier.”
Thatbastard I shot.
My stomach twisted; I hadn’twantedto shoot Ben. Fuck, there’d been some part of me when I’d first started things with him that thought maybe…
Maybe I could actually let myselffeelthings again.
It had obviously been a mistake. The second he realized I wasn’t who I said I was, the moment he knew I wasn’tfitto be part of the Order, he looked at me like the soldiers had looked at me when I’d been taken by those fucking scientists.
Like something less than.
Like an animal.
Which made it even stranger that Phoenix straddling me with his fingers around my neck… that being called a dog felt better than actually being treated like one.
It didn’t mean I was going to accept his invite to… dinner. I gestured to my bag.
“Can I have that?” He gave me a look like I’d asked him a stupid question, and I rolled my eyes. “You can watch me. I’m just going to get food.” He arched one dark brow, and I sighed. “You can get it for me?”
He’d already taken my gun. And my knives. Yeah, I had some more things stashed in the bag, but I wasn’t ridiculous enough to kill him while I was staked to his bed. I might get away with it, but then I’d have to deal with the rest of the group when they found out what I’d done.
And…
There was something about the air of danger that hovered over him, the way he was cautious as he got up and started rifling through my bag that made me hesitate.
I could have killed him.
I could have done a lot of things.
My entire body tensed when he pulled out the bloodstained letter. If he’d been watching me, he probably heard Ben mention it. His eyes flicked over the yellowing paper, but he kept moving before I had a chance to tell him to put it down. He was quick, taking inventory of everything I had—a change of clothes, a medical kit full of some of the experimental antibiotics the Order had, packets of dehydrated food and water purification tablets, and…
He started pulling out pistol ammo and didn’t stop until he’d built a little pyramid, then topped it with a knife and a gun. When his eyes shifted over to me, I gave the most innocent shrug I could manage.
