I scoop the contents on a plate and head back to the dungeon. When I return, Jay is on the mattress, and her eyes are puffy.
Has she been crying?
I drop the plate of food and slide it under the small crack between the cell and the floor.
She lifts an eyebrow as if to question why I would still feed her after she assaulted my men and tried to stab me.
Fair question.
“I don’t need you fainting on me again if I need to move you.”
She starts with the bread and then slides the plate back to me.
Note to self: Bacon is out.
“If you know what I did, why don’t you just kill me?” She sniffles.
“Why were you crying?”
Curse this incessant mate bond. I hate that it makes me even remotely curious about how this monster is feeling. I still hate her.
Against my better judgment, I move closer to the bars of her cell to check on her.
“Fuck you,” she says.
At her curse, a pinch stabs my side.
Grunting, I look down and see her arm extended through the metal bars. My gaze slides along her arm to the location of my pain. The same knife I had tucked away is now lodged into my ribs.
Did this bitch just pickpocket me?
Blood trickles from my insides, down the knife, then drips onto the floor.
First, spilled my father’s blood. Now she’s spilled mine.
My wolf surfaces.
I lift my eyes to meet hers.
Her eyes widen, and her mouth parts. Her lips quiver.
I drink in her fear when she realizes she missed a major artery, and I’m still standing.
I snatch her through the bars with one hand, pulling her into me until her breasts are squished against the door.
She grunts as she’s slammed into the cold metal. The blade, still in her hand, sinks itself deeper into me.
I grab the handle and slide it out of my flesh, careful not to cut anything vital. The last thing I need is for her to kill the last generation in my family. With Jay still in my grasp, I inspect the knife.
Holding the knife up to her, I command, “Lick it.”
“What? No.” Her face, although smushed into the metal bars, contorts into disgust.
“No?” I narrow my eyes. “You’ve been gunning for my blood, and now that I offer it to you, you don’t want it?”
She jerks against my hold on her, trying to move away from me, but my vise-like grip doesn’t falter.
“Tell me, Jay. Is that why you don’t want it? You enjoy taking it more?” I chuckle. “Yeah, that’sexactlythe kind of person you are. Someone who wants everything handed to them. Jay’s taken so much and had little to no consequences. But that ends now. If it’s blood you’re after, fine.” My tongue drags up the cold metal, lapping up crimson. The metallic taste assaults my taste buds. “Open your mouth.”
