Petra finally had the presence of mind to pull her hand away from his thigh, but the fact that she experienced a moment of hesitation at all was galling.
“What is going on?” she demanded, ignoring both of his instructions on principle. “Seriously, Shade, what the fuck is happening?”
“I’m taking you for a drive,” he answered. His tone was infuriatingly glib. Nothing in the relaxed way he steered the car — a small, sporty thing that zipped along the streets at speed thatdefinitelywasn’t built into the m-grid — indicated that their situation was in any way unusual.
Petra wanted to claw his spooky demon eyes out. “Where?”
“Good girls get answers,” he sing-songed, “and good girls buckle their fuckin’ seatbelts.”
It cost her greatly, but Petra did, in fact, put her seatbelt on. Not because her stomach did unwelcome little flips when he praised her, but because she worried she really would attack him again if she didn’t occupy her hands.
She opened her mouth to demand answers again, but he beat her to it. “Tea, little goddess. And maybe a bite of the snack I brought you.”
Petra’s fingers clenched in the paper bag. Her throat went oddly tight when she asked, “Youdidbuy me food?”
Shade didn’t look at her. He simply shrugged, his wide shoulders moving under his tight black t-shirt, as he guided the car onto the Golden Gate Bridge. “You haven’t been eating much.”
And just like that, any uncomfortable feelings she might have felt tickling at the back of her mind vanished.
“You’re watching me.”
“Of course I am.” Shade rested his right arm on the console between them. His long fingers dangled over the edge, just enough to tickle her knee with the very tips of his claws. “You think I’d let you run around unsupervised when I still don’t have my half of the deal?”
“It’s not like I have mine either,” she argued. “All I’ve gotten is a demon invading every aspect of my life! And nowkidnapping.”
“Don’t forget a drink you’ll love and egg rolls for naughty priestesses who don’t finish their dinners.”
It was absolutely shameless, the way he talked about watching her, the way he mocked her. He didn’t try to hide it or even make it overtly threatening. It justwas.The fact that he knew she hadn’t eaten much at dinner was as much a simple fact as it was a power play.
“Did you tap into the cameras? Do you have an informant? Tell me, Shade,” she demanded.
“None of the above.”
“Thenhow?—”
“Easy, Petra,” he drawled, giving her knee a little tap with his fingertips. “I’m just protecting what’s mine. Now that I’m back from my little trip, no more surveillance.” He paused, jaw working from side to side, before he added in a darker tone, “No one and nothing has been in your room. That’s a promise.”
“Why on Burden’s Earth would Ieverbelieve you?”
“Because,” he replied, finally losing patience and reaching over to open the bag himself, “starting tonight, you aren’t leaving my sight.”
Petra recoiled so fast, the back of her head hit the window. “Excuse me?”
Shade rooted around in the bag for a moment before he extracted a bottled drink. Pale green liquid sloshed against the sides and what looked like cubes of dark pink jelly tumbled around the bottom. Still somehow watching the road, he stuffed it into her limp hand. “You heard me. We’re going to go for a little drive, have a nice chat—” he cut her a disconcertingly hard look “—without glamours, and then we’ll go back to the cathedral. I have my bag packed and everything.”
Petra’s fingers closed weakly around the chilled bottle. “You can’t do that.”
“I can do whatever I want.”
So much for showing him who’s boss.Petra felt a bit like she was drowning. Her breath fought to come faster, but she ruthlessly clamped down on her panic, trying to will it out of existence. “No, youcan’t.I’m the one who hired you, remember?”
Shade released a long, slow breath and tipped his head toward her. “Petra,” he drawled, “if you think you’re the one in control here, then you aren’t nearly as smart as I thought you were.”
It was ludicrous to argue when she had been kidnapped not fifteen minutes prior, but still, Petra had to try.
“This is my deal, Shade,” she rasped, “and if you aren’t going to listen to me, then I don’t have to honor it.”
The truth was that she had no intention of making him her bondmate, but he didn’t know that. Shade had proven to be far more volatile than she could have ever guessed. It was well within her rights to call off their deal now, since neither of them had fulfilled their end of the bargain yet.
