“I am honestly on my last legs with you, Caleb,” he growls.
I finally raise my eyes to meet him, but I remain silent.
“When you disappeared, I thought you had left with Celia.” He stalks towards me with dark eyes. “But then I found out she wasn’t the one you left with.”
My blood runs cold, and I do everything I can to not think about Evan.
“Who was it, Caleb?”
“No one,” I grit. “I needed a moment to myself. It was overwhelming.”
Ryker scoffs. “Did you leave with another woman?”
“No.”
“Because if it’s not Ceila, fine. Any woman will do. They all do the same job.”
I force myself to hide my grimace. He only sees women as objects, and it’s disgusting. They’re not baby-making machines. They are more important to our world than men are. Without them, our entire world would come crashing down, and I know he doesn’t see it like that.
“I wasn’t with anyone,” I huff eventually.
He rolls his tongue over his bottom lip as he studies me. “There was the most beautiful woman ready to jump into bed with you, and you decided you needed a moment to yourself? She could have given you a child, Caleb. She could have given us everything we’ve wanted.”
There’s a rough twitch in my eye at his words.
“I’m not going to settle down with the first woman I meet.”
A woman at all, for that matter.
He stares at me like he wants to murder me, and it’s not the first time. “You’re waiting to meet your mate?”
I inhale slowly.
“Because even if you do, she’ll always be below you. All she’ll be useful for is her womb and a nice pussy to slide into after a hard day. She won’t be your equal or your Luna. She’ll be a parasite who needs you twenty-four-seven, and that’s a distraction we can’t have.”
I snarl at his words. “Why do you have to talk like that?”
“It’s the truth.”
“My mate will beloved,” I state.
Ryker rolls his eyes. “Oh, please. A mate will only be a distraction. Hell, impregnate a woman, take the baby, and then kill her. I don’t care.”
I grit my teeth together. “I would never do that to someone.”
“We need our bloodline to carry on.”
Fury bubbles in my veins.
“If you don’t get a woman pregnant by the end of the year,” he murmurs harshly, “then I’ll have to take matters into my own hands, and you definitely won’t like my methods.”
My eyes narrow a centimetre as I try to hold in a frustrated tremble.
Ryker checks his watch before glancing back at me. “I’m watching you, Caleb. You don’t want to make me furious. It would be easier for us all if you complied.”
I say nothing.
“Show me up like that again, and you will regret it.”
