She yanked her arm out of his grasp, eyes flashing. “I willnotbe misdirected, or handled, or managed, or whatever else you think you will do here.Answer me.”
Her body vibrated, feet firmly planted, and fists pointed at the ground. Short of throwing her over his shoulder, he doubted he would be able to make her move without answering her question.
Keeping her gaze, he said in an even voice, “Technically speaking, we are legally bound.”
A primal sound erupted from her throat. She threw herself toward him, arms outstretched, like she intended to strangle him. He moved quickly, redirecting her aim using her momentum, and clasping both her wrists in his hand. They’d rotated until he held her back to his front, and faced a room full of wide-eyed tyros, his arm banded around her ribs. Grey stood to the side with a dubious expression, his head tilted.
Nia’s chest heaved in front of him. With another cry of outrage, she tried to break free, but he held fast, waiting for her rage to burn out. When she kept struggling, he realized it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Her passion felt Tellusian and ignited his own.
“Let me go, you waste-humping bastard,” Nia gritted between clenched teeth, then threw her weight like she wanted to head butt him. All she hit was his sternum.
Without thinking too long about it, he adjusted his hold, and tossed her over his shoulder, his arm trapping her thighs so she wouldn’t kick him in the face—and identical position to the one he’d forced her in the day he’d taken her. His chest tightened painfully.
“Hope you all took note of how to subdue an unarmed civilian,” he said loudly to the tyros as he headed for the exit. “As you were.” Dee’s jaw dropped as he passed her by.
He bounded the steps two at a time. Nia spat obscenities. She wouldn’t stop struggling and dug her fingernails into the skin of his back to the point where he touched his vambrace and bound her hands.
An outraged shriek surged from her chest. While she flailed against him, he ignored the astonished stares of the warriors he passed in the corridor leading to the exit. She didn’t let up, even when they stepped out into the atrium.
“Put me down!”
He headed to the nearest lift. “Not likely when you’ll attack again.” The door opened, and he stepped inside, careful not to bang her head on the door frame. The trip to his quarters felt long with her writhing and screaming at him the entire time.
He didn’t set her on her feet until the door to his quarters closed behind them. Face red, she backed up two steps and glared at him.
“I hate you.”
“I know,izar.” He touched the control on his vambrace to separate her wrists.
Her body seemed to deflate, her shoulders caving in. “How could you do this to me? How could youmarryme without my consent?”
“It was the best way to protect you.”
“Protect me?Protect me?”Her breaths left her in short gasps. “You were the one to bring me here. I wasprotectedonElara Five.”
“Not nearly well enough.”
A frustrated groan left her lips, her arms flying up in exasperation as she spun around to stare at the bulkhead.
He took a step back and turned to press the control to open the door. Now she seemed calmer, he could return to training.
“No,” she said, her voice forceful.
“No, what?” He glanced over his shoulder to find her glaring at him, fire flickering in her eyes.
“I won’t allow you do this to me again.”
He faced her fully. “Do what?”
“I won’t allow you to foist your responsibility on others. You can’t take me from my home, say you’re going to protect me, then ignore me for weeks at a time!” By the time she finished, she was shouting again.
Disbelief shuddered through him. “You don’t want me to ignore you?”
Her expression changed, like she hadn’t realized what she said, then she fisted her hands. “No. I don’t want you to ignore me.”
He stepped fully into the room, and the door closed behind him. “Then what do you want?”
Her breathing turned ragged, fingers flexing at her sides. She looked around his quarters, eyes almost wild, then they settled on him.
