Page 86 of Wolf.e

“Say you’ll take me with you and I’ll eat every bite,” I demand, trying my best to sound bold.

He pops another bite between his plush lips. I eye him as he does. Those lips might be my demise. So full and perfect looking against the square, strong angles of his jaw, he’s too gorgeous. I don’t know how I didn’t see the depth of his beauty the first time I laid eyes on him.

“You won’t get very far with blackmailing me, little hummingbird.”

“We’ll see,” I say curtly, like I would’ve before I met him.

Gabriel isn’t used to people standing up to him and that’s fine, but I want this. After being around him, I want to know more of him. More of his life. What drives him, which is why I’m so adamant about going to this rally. I need it and I won’t let him push me around on it.

Gabriel takes another bite, chewing slowly and analyzing me. The longer I wait for him to finish eating, the more nervous I get. It’s like I can feel him calculating how he’s going to handle me or punish me.

I feel his eyes on me as I start to lose confidence, fidgeting with the hem on my tank. I clear my throat and straighten up, resting my palms in my lap.

He doesn’t speak, just continues eating, watching my posture, watching my nerves build under his stare. By the time his plate is clean my hands are sweaty, not knowing what he’ll do. Gabriel’s eyes never leave mine as he takes a long drink of his own tequila.

Finally, when I’m just about to crumble under the weight of his stare he stands and makes his way over to the kitchen. He pulls a roll of heavy twine out of the drawer. My heart rate instantly starts to increase as he starts to unravel a hefty length and cuts it.

He calmly puts the roll back in the drawer and begins to stalk toward me.

“When I was young, I fought for every morsel of healthy food I could put into my body,” Gabriel says as he gets closer.

“My mother tried to prepare good meals, but it was always hard to do when my father drank, snorted or shot up every penny we had.”

I breathe in a slow shallow pant as Gabriel moves directly behind my chair, sets the twine in front of me and swipes my hair off my neck, bending down to kiss my shoulder—once, then twice. He breathes in my freshly showered scent, his nose pressing into my skin, then slides his hands down both my arms, unclasping my sweaty palms from my lap and lacing his fingers through, forcing them to relax.

Just as I feel the need to clench my thighs together, he grips both my wrists hard and pulls them tight behind my back with no concern about hurting me. I jolt forward with the pain trying to fight him but there’s no use.

“What are you doing?” I ask, my voice higher pitched than normal.

He holds my wrists securely behind the chair as he reaches for the twine.

“When I was old enough to work, I started buying my own food and cooking for myself and my mother with money he couldn’t touch.”

I feel the twine wrap around my wrists, and he pulls it taut. So tight it hurts as it digs into my skin.

“And I promised myself that good food would never go to waste. See, when you have to fight for something as simple as nourishment, you tend to appreciate it more. Something you wouldn’t have ever had to learn during all those princess-like etiquette classes.”

“What do you think you’re going to do? Force feed me?” I spit out in question.

Gabriel moves in front of me without answering.

“Stop trying to fight it, it’s a Klemheist knot, the more you pull the tighter it’ll get.”

He picks up my fork and loads it up with a scoop of quinoa.

“Now, I said eat.” One strong hand holds my head still as he uses his thumb to press against a joint near my lower jaw. Fucking hell.

My mouth pops open instantly and he shoves the fork in, swiping it out and holding my mouth closed.

“I told you this once—you won’t win.” Gabriel bends down to look in my eyes before removing his hand. “Now do as you’re fucking told.”

Fury rises in me like I’ve never felt. I shouldn’t fight back. I know I’ve pushed him far enough but the wicked side of me, that he does his damnedest to pull out every day, is the side that’s hurt by his insinuation that I’m being a princess. Without thought, I spit the food out on the floor. I don’t even raise my head back up before the knot at my wrists is pulled tighter by his hand. I cry out in pain and push the chair back, kicking at Gabriel. He easily places both his feet over mine to stop me and grabs my hair at the roots, tipping my head up to face him. He leans down and plants a line of gentle kisses up my jaw until he reaches the spot under my ear that he loves. His lips and tongue trail slowly along my pulse just before he bites my flesh. I whimper and ask myself why being tied here like this, completely at his mercy is doing it for me.

“You want to fight me? Once again you find yourself faced with a choice,” he growls.

“You leave me no choice but to fight. I’m not just your captive. I’m your—”

Gabriel silences me with a kiss to my lips. His knuckles graze my cheekbone with his free hand, and I fight with tears in my eyes to not let him pull me under as his other hand stays rooted in my hair. He pulls back from my lips, and I watch as his eyes focus on my mouth. His jaw flexes, he swallows and I know he’s just as strung out as I am right now. The thought of his hardened cock so close to me threatens to overtake every sliver of my anger.

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