“Stop,” I demand in frustration, planting my feet. “Where are you taking me?”
“Until we find the La’tari unit it isn’t safe for you on your own,” he says, “You will stay in my chamber for the time being.”
That wakes me up. I squint a glare at him, voicing my protest, “Absolutely not.”
“Until we find out who was aboard the warship, there is no safer place for you to be,” he argues, pushing against the small of my back assertively.
I step to the side, the male nearly tripping without the weight of my body bracing his arm. Turning back toward my room, my brow is drawn in defiance and annoyance, and I’m utterly unaware of which I feel more. I say over my shoulder, “I’ll take my chances. Thank you very much.”
“I’m not asking,” he growls, hooking my waist with his arm, hefting me off the ground, and throwing me over his shoulder as if I were nothing more than a sack of feathers.
The male is halfway through his third stride when I land a well-placed jab to his kidney and he grunts, falling to his knee. I twist out of his grasp, my bare feet smacking against the cold stone when I land surefooted and begin marching back toward my room, a self-satisfied smile tugging at the corner of my lips.
“Enough!” he bellows. “You are coming with me and that is the end of it.”
My hands bawl into fists at my sides, the heat of my anger rushing to my cheeks as I again voice my protest at the incessant male. “No. I’m. No—” The word trails off in a scream when he hooks my waist, pulling me over his shoulder.
He positions my legs to hang against his back and clasps my wrists in one large hand. Each time I attempt to kick him, he shifts his shoulder beneath me, pitching my weight enough that I lose my balance and fail in my attempt.
“What?” I sneer, the guards in the hall eyeing the spectacle, “You’ve never heard a woman sayno?”
“This has nothing to do with your refusal,” he hisses.
“You can’t get what you want by asking, so you just take it?” I snide, as he kicks open his door with a growl, throwing me into the center of his bed.
He points toward the pillows and yells, “Go to sleep!”
“I’d love to,” I spit, “as soon as I’m back inmyroom.”
“That isnothappening,” he rumbles, “If they decide to attack tonight, you’ll be defenseless by yourself.”
I huff an incredulous laugh, scooting to the edge of the bed. He has no idea how incredibly wrong he is about that.
“If you’re that concerned, I’ll stay with Awri,” I say.
“That isn’t an option,” he says, the heat in his voice fading as he latches the door. “Her bed is already occupied.”
Interesting.
“Then I’ll stay with Riesh,” I say flippantly, as I storm toward the hall.
He’s too fast and hooks my waist from behind, tossing me back into the center of the bed as he growls, “Over my dead body.”
“Don’t tempt me!” I snarl.
His brow pitches down and he pins me with a dark stare. Leaning against the mattress, one arm on either side of my legs, he says, “I will stay up until dawn, dragging you back to this bed if that’s what it takes to keep you put. You are staying right here, where I can keep an eye on you whether you like it or not.”
He doesn’t wait for me to agree before he stalks off to drag a large chair in front of the door. When he plants himself in the dark velvet cushion, I give in. I’ve never cared where I slept before, why should I let it bother me now. If he is willing to keep his hands off me, I’m happy to let him spend an uncomfortable night awake, playing bodyguard.
I slip into the covers and put my back to him, wondering how exactly I got myself into this mess. There is a shuffle behind me before the lights dim and the room fades to black. My mind is a brutal and torturous thing when it conjures another image of the green-eyed female. I brush a hand over the silk sheets, a pit forming in my stomach when I wonder when she last slept where I am now.
It’s too late when sleep finally comes to take me. I’ve already thought about his lips on her neck. Wondered if he touches her the same way he touched me. And for once, the bloody visions of my sleep are a welcome reprieve.
CHAPTER 24
THE A’KORI PALACE
Present Day
