Page 49

That comment has my hands clenching around the pillow. “He is whatever I let him be.”

“Huh. So you’re the boss out here.”

“No.” I throw the word out there in a way that’s impossible to argue with. I don’t want that kind of power or responsibility, and when it comes to leading, Wilde is a natural at it. People like him. Even I hold a measured level of respect for him. “Wilde is in charge because he does it the right way. I don’t believe in power going unchecked and refuse to blindly follow a leader that will endanger us. I’m already watching him closely because of his involvement with outsiders, and if he brings harm to anyone here, I won’t hesitate to act.”

“And when you say act … do you mean kill him? Or just a little maiming and taming?”

“I will do whatever needs to be done to protect the End.” My reply is more stilted than usual because while I always used to believe down to my bones that was true, since my confrontation with Sasha and my inability to act, I’m not sure it’s true.

“You know you’re involved with an outsider. Does that make you a threat too?”

A threat? Because of Sasha? A short laugh slips out. “We’re not involved in the same way he and that brother are. Besides … I can handle you.”

“Oh, can you?” He sounds just as amused as I feel, and I turn a curious eye on him as he uncrosses his ankles and recrosses them again. His legs are stretched out in front of him, showing off just how much skin he’s leaving vulnerable to my eyes. The shorts he’s wearing are tight at the hips and loose everywhere else, but they barely reach his mid-thigh. Thighs where I can just make out the blondest hairs dotting his skin.

I toss the pillow onto the mattress and straighten, turning to face him. “Your tricks won’t work anymore. I’m ready for them.”

“Tricks.” His eyes crease like he might laugh. “You mean you’re ignoring how attracted to me you are.”

“Attraction is pointless.”

“Attraction is amazing. The racing heart, the fluttery belly, the feeling of being high …”

“Useless. And dangerous.”

His blue eyes run the length of my body, and my mouth goes dry. “Sometimes the danger is the best part.”

“Is that what you liked about Antonio?”

Sasha takes a moment to answer me. “Yes.”

“And now you’re still dealing with the consequences of those choices.”

“I am, and as much as he scares me, I’d probably still do it again.”

“Why?”

His eyes settle on mine. “Because like you keep saying, I have zero self-preservation skills.”

“That isn’t a compliment.”

“No, but it’s true.” He recrosses his legs, and I warn myself not to look this time. “Maybe I like being vulnerable.”

“You shouldn’t.”

“Maybe it makes me feel powerful.”

“That makes no sense.”

“It wouldn’t … to you.” He says it like it might make sense to literally anyone else, but I don’t see how that can be. Being vulnerable means you’re putting your safety and protection into someone else’s hands. It means trusting them, potentially with your life, and I don’t think I’ll ever trust anyone like that again. Not when the only people I ever trusted that way failed. “See, to me, there’s nothing hotter than when someone who’s always so in control completely fucking loses it.”

I tighten my hands into fists. “They’re not so in control, then, are they?”

“I think you’d be very surprised at how easily even the most in control men snap. The way all it takes is a glimpse of my skin or a pretty pout or me saying how badly I want to wrap my tongue around their cock …”

That promise trickles south, and I’m horrified when it actually makes my dick react. “Those men are weak.”

“Are you weak, Lynx?”