“Isabelle, come out of there,” he ordered from the other side of the door.
“No.”
Stefan forced himself to take a deep breath before he ripped the door off its damn hinges and drug her out. He knew that there was more behind her anger, and hurt, than what he had said. The tears in her eyes had proved that, but he couldn’t think of what it could be, and he wasn’t in the mood to puzzle it out. His anger was growing by the moment. He’d had enough of fighting with her, and he wasn’t about to let her lead him around. It was beyond time she learned that he was the one in charge. He grabbed the handle and pushed the door open. She quickly shoved it shut again.
“Let me in that room, or I’m going to rip this door off its hinges!” he bellowed, his patience snapping as he shoved the door back open.
Isabelle scrambled forward, kicking the door quickly shut again. The breath froze in her lungs as he grew eerily quiet on the other side. For a moment she feared that he truly would rip the door off, but when seconds ticked by with no sound, and no further attempt to enter, her shoulders slumped in relief, and her head bowed.
The loud crashing snapped her head up. Her eyes widened in surprise, and a strangled cry escaped her as the door, and part of the wall, was torn awayandflungeasilyaside. Stefan stepped into the room, wrath radiatedfrom every inch of his body as he towered over her. Unable to move, her breath froze in her lungs as his eye blazed a violent red at her. Pure terror spurted through her veins, her heart jackhammered wildly in her chest, and a thick lump constricted her throat. She would have jumped up and fled the room, but there was nowhere for her to go. He blocked her only chance of escape.
“Get up!” he hissed.
Isabelle knew that her legs wouldn’t hold her, so she never even attempted it. Instead, she shook her head numbly, unable to tear her gaze away from his thunderous expression. She hadn’t thought it was possible, but his eyes blazed even brighter.The fury radiating from him beat against her in waves that threatened to drown her within their terrifying depths. She started to recoil, but he seized hold of her arms, lifting her easily, and striding out of the room.
Isabelle didn’t even attempt to struggle for fear that he would truly kill her if she did, he certainly looked irate enough to do it. She was fairly certain that he would never hurt her, but she wasn’t about to take her chances in the face of his hostility. Instead, she hung limply, waiting to see what he was going to do as fear hummed through every inch of her body. Never had she seen him this mad, never had she thought it possible. But, even though he was trembling with rage, his hands upon her arms were not painful, or overly tight.
He threw her onto the bed, climbing on top of her so that his knees were on either side of her hips, and his hands clasped her arms tightly at her sides. She stared breathlessly up at him, trembling slightly with dread as he glowered fiercely down at her. Power and strength radiated from him. She clearly recalled how he had ripped the door from the wall, and tossed it aside as if it weighed no more than a feather. She didn’t even want to think about what he could do to her if he truly wanted to.
“Now, you are you going to listen to me!” he spat. “I amnotgoing anywhere.So you had better get that realization through that thick skull of yours right now Isabelle, or so help me I will ram it in there! Do you understand me?” When she didn’t answer fast enough for his liking, his hands tightened upon her arms, and he shook her slightly. “Do you understand me?” he bellowed.
Her lower lip trembled slightly as she managed a weak nod. “Yes,” she whispered softly. Some of his anger melted away as he slowly unclenched his rigid jaw. Finally he was beginning to make some head way with her. “But you left before.”
His head snapped up and his eyes narrowed fiercely as fury raced through him again. He should have known better than to think that she would concede so quickly. But just once he wished that she would make things easy for him, not constantly put him on the defensive. “I left because I thought that it was the best thing for you, for me,” he grated through clenched teeth. “I got you hurt that night...”
“No you didn’t!” she cried.
“Yes, I did,” he growled. “You were trying to avoid me;that’s the reason youevenwent to that club. I thought it would be better if I left, but like it or not Isabelle I came back, and I am not leaving again! Do you understand that?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
The anger melted again, but he remained completely rigid on top of her, knowing better than to think she would acquiesce so easily. Not Isabelle.Never his Isabelle.“You are going to stop fighting me Isabelle, I mean it. There will be no more of this.You’re mine, and the sooner you realize it, the happier we will both be! Do you understand that?”
She looked up at him as some of her fear, and doubt, melted away. His face was still fierce, his body still rigid. His eyes had returned to their dark onyx color, but there was still a savage gleam in them. She was his, she knew that, but it wasn’t enough. “Are you mine?” she demanded haughtily.
His jaw clenched again. He was hers, he knew that, he had learned it over the past couple of days, but to tell her that, to let her know exactly how much he had come to care for her, would be opening himself up tovulnerabilitythat he wasn’t sure he was ready for. Her eyes darkened with pain, and in that instant he knew he would have told her anything to make her happy.No matter how much he hated how weak, and exposed, it made himfeel.
“Yes, I am.”
The beautiful smile that spread over her face would have made him rip the moon out of the sky if she had asked for it, and he knew that the admission had been worth it. “And I am yours,” she whispered.
The remaining dregs of his anger vanished as he lifted his hand to gently stroke her silky cheek. “Now, do you care to tell me what you were really so upset over? And don’t even try to tell me it was over what I said, because you know as well as I, that there was more to it than that.”
“No,” she mumbled.
His jaw locked again as his hand stilled on her cheek. “You said you were going to stop fighting me,” he growled.
“I’m not fighting you!” she cried. “I just... I...” she broke off, her face turneda bright shade of red as she lowered her long, inky black lashes.
Stefan stared down at her in confusion as she refused to look at him. He knew that it took a lot to embarrass her, but her entire body was becoming suffused with heat as she bit nervously into her lower lip. “Isabelle, tell me.” She quickly shook her head. He sighed wearily and stroked her warm cheek. “Tell me,” he urged softly. “Please.”
That please tugged at her, makingher want to pour her heart out to him. To tell him all of her insecurities, but what if he didn’t reassure her, but only confirmed her worst fears. Sighing softly, she decided to just take the plunge and ask. He would just keep bothering her anyway, and try as she might, she couldn’t come up with a plausible lie to keep him at bay. Besides, she was fairly certain that she couldn’t lie to him, even if she could come up with one. Lifting her eyes back to his, the last of her hesitance melted away as he gazed at her with concern and tender warmth.
“Am I any good?” she whispered so softly that he had to strain to hear her.
When her words finally penetrated, he almost laughed, but managed to catch himself in time. He didn’t want to think about what she would do if he burst into laughter. Instead, he continued to lightly stroke her cheek as he stared at her, remembering clearly now that she had started to grow distant when he had told her that he would teach her how to make love. Sometimes, he really was an insensitive idiot, he realized with an inward groan.
“I have never felt anything like what I feel when I’m with you. Trust me darling, you are much better than good, you’re spectacular.”
