Page 176 of Collared by the Vampire Prince

“No,” I whisper.

He exhales and shakes his head. “You must.”

“I promise not to shift. Truly. I won’t try to escape again.” Anger roughens the plea, making each word feel dragged from me.

I never thought I’d be begging a vampire for anything, let alone a scrap of freedom.

“This is about more than preventing you from shifting.” He doesn’t look at me. “I meant what I told you. I brought you here to be trained. To give you a chance of living within this society. To return you to where you belong.”

“This is not where I belong.”

“You may feel differently in time. Everything changes.”

A bitter laugh catches in my throat. “Do you expect the world to change, or merely me to change until I fit inside it?”

“Both.” He says it without hesitation, his eyes locking with mine. “I expect both.”

I scoff in disbelief. This is what he does to me. He reaches inside my mind and twists everything out of shape until my heart races for him while the rest of me rages.

I wish I knew how to make him stop.

Our gazes fall together to the collar.

A thousand answers rise inside me. Cruel ones. Defiant ones. Words sharpened to wound. But his mind is set, and nothing I say will move him.

So I step closer, until we stand toe-to-toe, and I must lift my chin to bring my face near his.

He is not foolish enough to mistake my intentions—this isn’t a kiss.

Still, something in his eyes softens.

Yes. He might be toying with me, but he is not immune to my charms, either—if I can call them that.

“I meant what I said in your room,” I whisper.

His brow lifts. “And what was that?”

I smile and lean closer, each word barely more than a breath. “I will always, always hate you.”

I pull back in time to see his eyes shutter.

“Yes,” he says quietly. “I know.”

He draws the leather from his arm.

My wings flare instinctively.

Pain shoots through the injured joint and I lower it with a muffled whimper.

“Fold them,” he commands.

“No.”

“They’ll heal better if you’re in human form.”

“You don’t know that,” I say.

“Actually, I do.”