Page 24 of Red Captive

“Oh!” I smile. “I see! Steel…not steal.” I snort-laugh and then quickly catch myself when I see how angry he looks. “It suits you. Steel, like the shiny hard metal. I mean, you’re big and all muscly.” I look him up and down, gesturing with my hands. I note how unimpressed he looks. “Don’t you get the correlation? Steel? As in cold and hard like all of you…including your heart.”

I high-five myself for doing such a good job of being extra nice to him. He doesn’t have to be so mean. He could be indifferent. Indifferent I can take. This… This is something else.

“Cute.” He looks like he hates me. I think he does hate me. Why? “Actually, I’m named after my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. I could go on.”

Crap! I put down his family name. Way to get on his good side.

“It’s a good name. It suits you. I mean that in a nice way.” I sound insincere. I’m panicking here.

His jaw tightens again…some more. I’m not too sure which it is. He looks pissed. Then he walks around me and locks the door, pocketing the key. I take note of all the ink on his back. It’s broad. It’s freaking beautiful. It’s not a tattoo of a dragon, as expected. So many shifters have them. Even Steel has a dragon on one of his pecs. His back is covered in the most intricate pair of feathered wings spread wide, each feather detailed with such precision it almost looks real. I can’t help but stare, completely captivated by the artwork.

Down his spine are letters. I think it’s Latin. I’m staring when he turns around, his eyes narrowing with annoyance when he catches me…looking.

I’mnotchecking him out.

“Don’t you own a shirt?” I blurt. “If we’re going to be…living together, you need to make sure you wear clothes. I mean, next, you’ll be walking around in your boxers…or your jocks, and we can’t have that. I mean, you don’t want me walking around half-naked, do you? It wouldn’t be right. It…um…”

Shut up, Jen!

Shut up.

What am I doing? What am I even saying?

I have a feeling that the next few weeks are going to seem like an eternity. I need to get on his good side so that my life can be bearable. I mean, we have to live together for a while. He used the term shadow in relation to me. It will be tough if my shadow hates me…because he does hate me. And very much.

I need to stay on this island. I need to go through with the mating. My family needs the money.

Looks like I’m stuck with this jerk. I smile, and he glowers back. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone this angry before.

Great. This is just great.

7

Steel

I sit up in bed. The human is trying to escape.

I know she is.

She found a way.

I hear her huff out another breath. Then she makes a soft moan or whimper. She’s doing something. What? I have no idea; all I know is that I don’t fucking like it.

She huffs out another breath. What the hell is she doing? It sounds like she’s exerting herself. She’s up to no good. I know it for sure. I know her type.

There’s another whimpering noise.

I jump up, and the covers go flying. I pick up the bed, moving it out of the way of the bedroom door. I put it there last night to make sure that the human didn’t attempt an escape. Now she’s… I don’t know what she’s doing. I need to find out.

“I’m coming in,” I shout before doing exactly as I warned.

I give her less than a second’s notice because I want to catch her red-handed.

I do.

Only…fuck! Her ass is in the air. Red-handed? More like red-assed. She’s doing some sort of exercise, At least, I think she is, since her ass is bobbing in the air. She’s holding a book in each hand, and…yep, I think she’s doing some sort of squats. Very correct squats from the way her thighs look as she goes down and down.

Holy shit!

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