Page 69 of Barbi and the Villain

I nod.

“Good. You will be a good girl and follow me. You will do what I say and you will not get into trouble. Is that clear?”

“It’s not like I have another choice,” I mutter.

“Precisely. You do not have a choice,” he comments. “You wanted to come with me. Congratulations. You are never getting rid of me now,” he adds in a mocking tone. The corners of his mouth curl up, but the smile doesn’t reach his eyes.

He doesn’t like me very much, does he?

Yet before I can let him have the last word, I pick up the knife I discarded earlier and stab him in the chest.

He stares at me wide-eyed as if he hadn’t expected me to do that.

I grind my teeth, waiting for the pain to come to me too.

“I’m not getting hurt,” I murmur as I search for the stab wound on my body.

“It only works one way. You can thank the fates for that one. Males of my kind are built to protect their females.”

He plucks the knife from his chest and his wound closes.

“Oh, and one last thing,” he mentions as he regards the bloody tip of the knife. “I will take you up on your offer.”

My brows go up in question.

“What offer?”

“I will require to feed every day to be at optimal strength. I will accept your blood offering,” he says shamelessly.

My mouth hangs open in shock as I stare at him.

“Absolutely not. That offer has expired, mister,” I tell him, jabbing my finger in his chest to make my point.

Hear that! Now he wants my blood? After he already refused it once and made me that inappropriate proposition that still makes my cheeks burn.

“What did we just agree on, Barbi?” He tsks at me, his tongue clicking against his teeth and drawing my attention once more to his straight, white, beautiful teeth.

“I did not agree to feed you!”

“You agreed to do as I say, and I am informing you that you will be feeding me every day.”

I gawk at him.

“Next you will tell me that I am required to sleep with you, too.”

“Do not get your hopes up, sweetheart. That I shall not do. Not only will I not risk fulfilling our bond, but I made a vow, and I have no intention of breaking it.”

“Get my hopes up? I wouldn’t sleep with you for anything in the world,” I point out, scandalized. “And stop calling me that. I am not your sweetheart, you blackguard!”

He cannot help himself from being a rude, pompous bastard, can he? Yet with every word, he makes it clear what he thinks of me—our bond was an unfortunate accident and I am only an accessory for him.

“I am sure,” he drawls as his mouth curls up in a lopsided smile.

I take a deep, steadying breath.

“I do not care what you think. I do not want to sleep with you, nor do I want to feed you. Find yourself another blood bank. My veins are closed for business—indefinitely.”

“I cannot do that. Since we are blood bonded, your blood is the only one that can feed me. Should you fail to feed me, I will slowly waste away as I was when you first met me. But the difference this time is that we share the same life force. If I waste away, so will you.”

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