Her eyes flashed.There it was.That defiance I’d glimpsed in my office, quick and bright before fear smothered it.
“I said kneel.”
She hesitated.I waited.I was very good at waiting.
Slowly, her knees bent.She sank to the floor in front of my chair, her face flushing with humiliation.The sight of her there, on her knees before me, sent a bolt of dark satisfaction through my chest.
Yes.The wolf was purring.Ours.Where she belongs.
I rose from my chair and circled her.She stayed in position, trembling slightly but holding the pose.Her scent was stronger now, mixed with the sharp copper note of fear.But underneath that, something else.Arousal, faint but unmistakable.
Interesting.
“Look at me.”
She raised her head.Those eyes.Dark and defiant despite the fear.She was trying so hard to be brave, this little girl who’d sold herself to save her father’s legacy.
I crouched in front of her, close enough to count her eyelashes.Close enough to hear the catch in her breath when I reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then let my fingers trail down to grip the back of her neck.Not hard.Just enough pressure to remind her who was in control.
“You told me in my office that you’d never been fucked.”I let the crude word hang between us, watching her flinch.“That boys had touched you.Kissed you.Nothing more.”
The flush deepened, spreading down her neck.She remembered that conversation.Good.
“But I want to know something else now.”I reached out and traced a finger along her jaw, feeling her tremble.“I want to know what you’ve imagined.When you’re alone at night, what do you think about?”
Her eyes went wide.This was worse than the factual questions I’d asked before, and she knew it.Facts could be recited.Fantasies were private.
“I don’t… I don’t think about anything.”
“Liar.”I kept my voice soft.“Everyone thinks about something.Do you touch yourself, Lena?Do you slide your fingers between your thighs and imagine a man’s hands on you?”
Her face was flushed red now, her breathing ragged.She couldn’t meet my eyes.
“Have you ever made yourself come?”
A tiny nod.Barely perceptible.
Something hot and possessive tightened in my chest.The wolf was howling.
“And when you did,” I continued, leaning closer until my lips nearly brushed her ear, “whose face did you see?The boy from that empty classroom?Some movie star?Or did you imagine a stranger?Someone dark and dangerous who took what he wanted?”
She shuddered.Didn’t answer.Didn’t need to.
I pulled back, satisfied.Innocent, yes.But not without curiosity.Not without hunger buried beneath all that fear.
I was going to be her first.Her only.And the darkness she’d fantasized about was nothing compared to what I would actually do to her.
Ours.The wolf agreed.No one else.Only us.Always.
“Stand up.Remove your clothes.”
Her eyes widened.“Here?Now?”
“Did you expect privacy?”I rose, watching her scramble to her feet.“You signed a contract giving me access to your body.There is no privacy between us anymore.When I want to see you, I will see you.When I want to touch you, I will touch you.Your body is mine now.The sooner you accept that, the easier this will be.”
Her fingers shook as they went to the buttons of her blouse.One by one, she undid them, revealing a plain white bra beneath.The blouse slipped off her shoulders, pooled at her feet.Then her hands went to the waist of her jeans.
“Slower.”
