Page 23 of Veil of Shadows

I lost it. Before I caught myself, I lunged at her, slamming her into the wall. Her hand wrapped around my neck as she kicked off the wall with her foot, sending me flying across the kitchentable. She charged me, roaring out as she pounced. But, I was quicker than that. I slipped out from beneath her and watched her tumble to the floor before I reached my hand town, twisted it into her hair, and yanked her up.

“Get off me, Dom!” she exclaimed as she swung herself around.

I let her twist her hair up into a knot before I cupped the back of her head. I stared her down as my free arm wrapped around her waist, pinning her against me. I backed her toward the wall. She kicked and struggled. She balled up her fists and slammed them against my chest.

It tickled, honestly.

“Bexley,” I snarled, “take a breath.”

I get that she had emotions she needed to get out, but I just remodeled my fucking place. The last thing I wanted to do was slap more paint and plaster onto these walls because she had to process her feelings on shit she didn’t understand.

That was, until she slammed her knee into my groin.

“Oooooooh,” I groaned as I released her.

She slipped away and grabbed the back of my neck. “Let’s see how you like being pinned.”

She slammed my head into the wall before she took off. I was quick, though. Even as I hobbled, cradling my fucking junk, I leapt over the table and slammed down in front of her. My eyes sharpened. My talons elongated from my fingernails. If a fight was what she wanted, then a fight was what she’d get.

“Come here,” I growled.

Every punch she threw, I blocked. Until I grabbed her fist out of thin air, wrapped it around her body, and wrenched it up her arm. If a fight was what she wanted, then she’d realize exactly how well Ronyn had all of us trained. Every single shifter in our pack was required to take a certain amount of training lessonswith him. It was one of the first things Ronyn instilled when he became commander general of our armies a while back.

I met her, punch for punch. Kick for kick. Slowly backing her away from the door. She cartwheeled into the kitchen, and I moved quickly, tossing dishes out of the way that I didn’t want her busting. She threw silverware at me before she made a break for the front door. She scrambled to get to it. But as I pounced, wrapping my arms around her from behind, I picked her up off her feet and turned toward the stairs.

“Let me go! Dominic!” she shrieked.

“Not until you calm the fuck down, you’ll freak the entire goddamn pack out,” I snarled.

She brought her elbow back, trying her best to break my nose. But, I dodged it. I fought her all the way up the steps until I came to my bedroom. Around and around we went, dodging punches and throwing kicks until I backed her all the way up to my bed. And as sweat permeated her forehead, I slammed my shoulder into her chest, causing her to gasp for air as she collapsed back onto the mattress.

“Jesus… Christ…,” she gasped as her lungs cried out for mercy.

I rushed around the bed, moving as quickly as I could. I had to get this woman tied down. She was on a fucking rampage, and if the pack knew why she kicked up, I wasn’t sure they’d let her stay. Or even worse, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to convince her to stay.

Not when she finds out that every single shifter she’s surrounded with would’ve done the same thing we had.

“There,” I said as I bound her wrists and ankles to the leather bindings of my four-poster bed.

I panted for air softly as I flopped down into a chair at the head of the bed. I swear to hell on high, I never met a woman capable of putting up a fight like Bexley. She really was one ofa kind, and I had to admit, I got a bit of joy in watching her struggle with herself.

“Let… me go. God… damn it!” she exclaimed as she struggled to catch her breath.

She tugged at the restraints, and I watched the leather tighten against her softly tanned skin. I licked my lips as her face reddened with her efforts, and I waited her out. I waited for her to absolutely destroy herself against those fucking things, and eventually, she collapsed. She panted for air until her lungs were back on a normal rhythm of breathing. And as sweat poured down the sides of her face, she finally stopped fighting.

“Thirty-seven minutes,” I said as I took my eyes off my watch and looked back over at her. “Have to admit, it’s impressive.”

The anger of her clouded stare gave way to more focus as she looked over at both of her wrists. Then, she looked down at both of her ankles.

“Are you fucking serious right now, Dom?” she seethed. “You think you can just tie me down and that’ll make things better?”

I spread my legs wide and folded my hands into my lap. “Well, you do seem a bit less murdery.”

She snickered before she shook her head. I knew she didn’t like it. I knew she didn’t enjoy being surrounded by people that knew more than she did. That knew more about her than she did. But the restraint did, in fact, calm her down. Her anger finally subsided. Her face cleared of its angry red tint. She stopped tugging against the restraints and, instead, laid there with her gaze pointed toward my bedroom ceiling.

Then, when I knew I had her attention, I cleared my throat. “You know those safe words we talked about?

She nodded, but she didn’t speak.

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