The thought is intoxicating.
She’s shackled to my bed, to my will, my strength. It would be easy to ruin her now, if easy was what I wanted. But it’s not.
I want the moment she begs me to take her. I want her to hate herself for wanting me. And I want the world to see that reflected in her behavior—how much she needs the man who ruined her father, how much she craves him like a good, obedient girl.
That’s when I’ll take her.
Consummating my marriage was never in my plan. In fact,Victoriawas never in my plan. I was supposed to take her sister, Nikolai’s golden progeny. And I was going to drag her with me everywhere I went, flaunt her as my possession, maybe wrap a pretty collar around her neck. But that was all.
Then I met Victoria. And something about her—maybe her raw, unfiltered honesty, maybe the wound we both seem to share, maybe her feisty yet sweet demeanor?drew me to her. A rare event, since nothing ever gets to me these days.
I’ve experienced more than the average person could experience in a hundred lifetimes. I also fucked as much as I wanted, had everything I needed in the palm of my hand. But the way this woman responded to my touch at her birthday party—afraid, yet daring, challenging… The way she stands up to me with her little acts of defiance… It woke me up from a slumber so deep, there’s no going back.
So I changed the fucking plan.
I don’t just want Victoria to be my puppet. I’m making it my mission to bend that feistiness until it bows to me. Until she recognizes me as her new master, willing and pleading for all that I could give her. I can’t fucking wait.
I crack the muscles in my neck, releasing some of the tension, then take a seat next to her limp body. She whimpers, trapped in some dream, and it’s the sweetest fucking sound I’ve ever heard.
I brush a strand of hair away from her face. She stirs, and while I focus on how soft she feels under my hands, her eyelashes flutter. Confusion etches on her pretty face as she looks around, probably trying to figure out where she is. When the realization dawns on her, she sucks in a breath, catches my gaze, and jolts upright, supporting her body on her arms as she tries to get away.
“I didn’t take you just to kill you,” I say. “You’re safe.”
For now.
She shakes her head, tears pooling in her baby-blue eyes before she blinks them away. One of them still escapes to her cheek. It makes my cock harden further, and my hand instinctively reaches out to wipe it away. Not because I want to soothe her, but because I need to taste it on my tongue, even if I don’t end up doing it. I don’t yet want her to know how much I want to take from her.
Let her wonder, let her try to anticipate my needs, my moods. Let her come to her own conclusions slowly, in time.
“It was y-you. Wasn’t it?” she asks, her voice mellow, timid, still laced with sleep.
I frown. “I don’t follow.”
“The whistling. You were trying to scare me.” She tears her gaze away from me, bringing her knees to her chest. Her camisole strap falls to her shoulder—one of the many I filled her dresser with prior to her arrival—revealing the top of her breast. My fucking mouth waters.
“If I wanted to scare you, I’d employ much more enjoyable methods. Besides, I was out all evening.”
“All evening? Then who… who was it? What thehellis this place?!”
“What happened, Victoria? I can’t help you if I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She scoffs, as if she doesn’t believe I actually want to help her. But in this case, I do. She’s my possession now. Mine. No one else gets to torment her but me.
“All night, someone was out there, whistling. It was creepy, and loud, and it wouldn’t stop. And I thought… I thought you were trying to mess with me.”
Of course.Fucking Mikhail.
That’s why I couldn’t find him anywhere to take him with me to The Hive. He pretended to be out already, when in fact, he was here, waiting to prey on my soon-to-be-wife. Knowing him and his motives, I knew this would happen eventually. But this was the first goddamn night. I didn’t think I’d have to impose myself so quickly.
“It wasn’t me. Sorry it bothered you.”
Her head shakes in what looks like disbelief.
“I warned you, didn’t I? About the others.”
“Don’t paint yourself into a savior whenyou’rethe one who brought me here in the first place—”
I wrap my hand around the back of her head, grabbing her hair and pulling a little so she tilts. So she looks at me.
