Page 60 of The Sniper

But Reyna? She tested him in ways no one else ever had.

She was reckless—brilliant and deadly, but reckless. And it was going to get her killed.

She didn’t seem to grasp that Artemis wasn’t just some enemy to be tracked and neutralized. This wasn’t just another op. Artemis was playing them. She was leading them exactly where she wanted, using their emotions, their weaknesses against them.

Daniels paced the length of the room, his fingers flexing at his sides as he tried to tamp down the lingering frustration from their argument. From the moment she’d been taken, something inside him had shifted. It had solidified, coiled around him like a steel band. He hadn’t just been hunting Artemis—he’d been hunting forher.

And now, she was pushing back. Fighting him.

It pissed him off.

But worse than that, it made him desperate.

Reyna’s body language said everything—she was still angry, still defiant, still defensive. But her eyes—they were different.There was a fire there, something dark and unrelenting. And under it? A sliver of uncertainty.

She hated that she needed him.

Hated that she was unraveling.

Daniels took a step toward her, then another, closing the space between them. She didn’t back away, but he saw the minute tensing of her shoulders, the way her breathing changed.

His voice was quiet, lethal. "You like playing dangerous games, Reyna?"

Her chin lifted defiantly. "You act like this is something new, something I haven’t been doing my whole life."

Daniels reached out, gripping her chin between his fingers, forcing her gaze up to his. "Not with me."

She swallowed hard.

He could see it—the storm inside her. The war between wanting control and knowing, deep down, that shewantedto give it up.

Daniels ran his thumb over her lower lip, slow, testing. "You disobeyed me."

Her breath hitched.

"You put yourself in danger," he continued. "You don’t get to do that. Not when you’re mine."

Something in her flared at that. She pressed her body against him, eyes full of defiance. "And if I don’t want to be yours?"

Daniels let out a low, dark chuckle. "Then you shouldn’t look at me like that."

Her pupils dilated. She didn’t move as he reached for her arms, wrapping his fingers around them.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

A heartbeat of silence. Then...”Yes."

Daniels backed her toward the bed, pulling a length of silk rope from his nightstand. He caught the flicker of surprise in her eyes as he stripped off her clothes, but she didn’t resist.

"Hands."

She hesitated for only a second before lifting her wrists. He bound them together with precise, practiced movements, the rope snug but not painful.

He pushed her down onto the bed, climbing over her, attaching the bindings to a conveniently placed hook—Fitz really did know how to deck out a safehouse—and pinning her beneath him.

"You need to remember who’s in charge," he murmured, dragging his mouth along her jawline. "You don’t call the shots here, Reyna. I do."

She took a shaky breath. "Then prove it."

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