“When?”
“Does it matter?” Her face is a perfect mask of guilt.
“Yes, baby. It matters.” I speak softly. “Before, or after I left?”
“After, obviously.”
“How?”
She looks at me. “Um. I went out and I got some candy and I called the house and I got them to send the dog to…”
“Oh, my god, don’t make it worse by lying!” Luke exclaims. “He probably already knows what happened.”
She blushes bright red, and I know that what has happened here is nothing I would approve of. Luke’s belief in me as a sort of omnipresent entity is very gratifying though, and in this case,useful. I fold my arms over my chest and wait for Ella’s now inevitable confession.
“When we went to take Leo to the doctor, I went to the house and stole the dog back and someone got hit in the face with the door, but they deserved it, and you don’t have to worry about lecturing me about it because Luke and Leo haven’t stopped talking about it.”
She can’t meet my gaze, and for good reason. She knows what kind of trouble she will be in now. The painful kind.
“Leo, Luke, take the dog for a walk,” I say. “I need to deal with my wife to be.”
She swallows hard and backs away from me a step. For once, Luke and Leo do not argue with me. They take the dog and they leave. All three of them have expressions on their faces as they go that indicate they are glad not to be suffering what Ella is about to endure.
I have become even more myself of late. I have killed those who wronged me, I have outwitted those who wished to hunt me, I have bested my enemies. I am master of my domain, and my bride will not be an exception.
“Please don’t be angry at me,” she says in pleading tones that will do nothing to earn her clemency.
“I’m not angry at you. Not in the usual way. This won’t be about anger. This will be about you learning a lesson you have to learn in order to be happy. I am going to marry you,” I tell her.
What a difference between this girl and the woman I left Eric with. Ella is strong. She is a survivor. She has made her way in aworld that sought to break her over and over. She was never bred or raised to be in control. But she keeps striving for rebellion.
I have just ensured our safety by ensuring my dominion over Mr. Red, but I am not done yet. I have a further incarnation to embody.
Leo may have become more sensual. Luke may have matured emotionally. I have become even more what I always was. A man to be feared, and a man to be obeyed.
Ella
I knew I was going to be in trouble, but for some reason I really thought that I could talk my way out of it. I’ve never really been in very deep trouble with Aiden. Not even when he found me in New Zealand. This has a different feeling. Something in the very pit of my stomach is telling me I am going to be terribly regretful.
He’s looking at me with an intensity that makes me tingle. I’m scared. His brown eyes are light, almost lit with that internal fire that is so particular to him. Sometimes I really do not understand how all these men were biologically made by the same people. Aiden is the most singular of all of them.
He is elegant again, and he is powerful. Every movement he makes is self-possessed. I can’t move. I am caught in his gaze.
He is my master.
The thought pops into my head unbidden, a truth.
“I’m sorry,” I whimper. “I’m sorry. I just wanted my dog. And…”
“Shhh,” he says, reaching for me. He takes me by the hand and he leads me deeper into the bunker, into his room. The only room I never slept in, I think.
He shuts and locks the door behind me.
“Take your clothes off,” he says.
I don’t want to, but I do, because I sense that some obedience now will earn me favor when I start to bargain later. I remove my dress and stand in my underwear for a moment, before his expression indicates I should be removing that too.
“Do I need to tell you that having disobeyed and gone out on your own after we were all almost killed, and after you were shown remarkable clemency for your earlier escapades, is an unforgivable mistake that will only be remedied by the strictest correction?”
