He put a finger under my chin and lifted it to meet his terrible, smoldering gaze. His eyes alone were entangling me, claiming me, looking at me like I was something he definitively owned.
“When I ask something of you, Natalia, I want you to say ‘yes.’”
I stared at him.
“Is that clear?”
I swallowed. Partly my pride, partly my fear. “Yes,” I said bitterly.
“And one more thing,” he growled, putting just enough pressure under my chin to highlight the vast difference in our strengths.
Message received, right through the center of my being.
“Call me sir when you talk to me.”
I hesitated.
His eyes went dark again and burrowed through my core.
“Yes, sir,” I said quickly. “I understand.”
I should have left it at that. But I have an attitude problem.
“Sir,” I added, as he rose from the bed.
The unknowable flicker of dark amusement I had seen in him before flashed in his eyes, and his mouth actually turned up in a smile that—well, you could interpret a lot of different ways. And I didn’t have a lot of room to maneuver.
And then... he left.
Chapter Six
Alaric
I didn’t have time for this.
The feel of Natalia’s skin beneath my palm burned, but it wasn’t just that.
