She wants to reprimand me for caring but restrains herself.
“Put them back in the treehouse,” I say. “Help Andrew with the clean-up. I’ll meet you back at VMR.”
She wants to push back more, but her lips press into a thin line. She picks up Olivia easily and tosses her over her other shoulder before walking off.
Then I turn back to Elliot.
The blonde picks herself up from the ground, her eyes blazing with unholy fire as they fasten on me and she wipes the dirt from her cheek.
“Fuck you, Lucian. You did this to me. You turned me into a monster.”
She stomps off, past the treehouse, into the full coverage of the wooded backyard. I debate whether or not to follow her, but since she’s such a wild card still, I groan and march after her.
“Get away from my, Lucy,” she bites out, speeding up. “Leave me alone.”
“Never.” I catch up to her easily and seize her by the back of the neck. She squeals.
“Lucian!”
De Santis’s estate is barely visible through the tree line, and being alone with her, in the darkness, has lust spinning high. This is regular lust. Nothing to do with blood. Everything to do with sex.
I shove her forward, pressing the front of her body into the rough bark of a tree.
“I almost bit achild,” she grunts from the force of it. “I could’ve killed her.”
“But you didn’t,” I say and step closer.
“Only because you stopped me.”
She struggles against me, but I push harder so the side of her face is pressed into the tree, her back curved, and her sweet ass is out. At least she feels some remorse for what almost happened. That’s a good sign that she hasn’t become completely lost.
“I’m a monster,” she whispers. “Even now, I still want to eat her.”
“It’ll pass.”
She growls low.
The need for her is feverish, burning in my veins. I should be disgusted. Annoyed. I’m definitely the latter, but not close to being the former. Because she’s only exploring what I made her. Trying to tame the beast, but her instincts are still making all her decisions. It happened to all of us, but it’ll pass.
I just need her to understand…
Maybe I can redirect that bloodlust into something else.
I look down at her. Bent over like this, she’s in the prime position for me to take her. She’s trapped and completely at my mercy.
As if she can sense the shift inside me, her limbs twitch under my hold and her thighs clench together.
She’s thinking the same thing I am.
“Undo your pants and pull them down,” I say.
“Screw you.”
“That’s the idea.” I grin. “Your pants, Monty. Now.”
She wants to fight the order, but her hands shake as they move toward the button of her pants. “You’re compelling me again, aren’t you?”
“No, Monty. This is all you.”
