Page 57 of A Bond in Blood

I rolled my eyes. “It’s fascinating you’re keeping it up. The commitment is impressive.”

I moved my arms behind me, shoving myself away, but his hand went under the water, wrapping around the top of my covered foot.

“Let go!” I yelled, kicking out.

His hand released me, and I scowled.

“I was going to come back.”

“When?” he asked.

“When I felt like it.”

“You would have frozen to death.”

I laid on my back once more. “Wouldn’t that be convenient for you? We would have made it three months. Likely your shortest deal to have failed.”

“Actually,” his voice was muffled now with my ears under the water, “the shortest deal lasted one hour.”

I propped myself back up, kicking my legs underneath me. “An hour?”

He laughed and I held in my gasp when I realized he had no suit to keep his body warm.

“You’re going to freeze to death!”

His bare shoulders shrugged. “I like the cold.”

“You’re insane,” I replied.

“But yes, to answer your question. It was only an hour. They wanted to be able to bed anyone they wanted for the rest of their life. A stupid request, but my only rule was that their bedmates would be willing.” His eyes glanced at me from behind his mask.“They attempted to rape their second bedmate, and I cut them right in half as punishment.”

“When you say…?” My eyes widened with disgust.

“I lifted their cock and sliced upward until they were split in half,” he replied blankly.

I shook my head. “Fuck the Gods that’s disgusting.”

“So is assault,” he replied.

“You’ve assaulted me,” I replied, shoving further from him, heading toward the shore.

He followed me. “When?”

My hands hit the sand while the shore grew closer and I flipped onto my stomach, slowly crawling through the water.

“Is that a jest?”

“No,” his voice was blank, emotionless.

I twisted back, my brow tight. “Ulrich, are you serious?”

He leaned back while we reached the water’s edge.

“Will I admit that I was responsible for the scars now lining your back? Yes.”

“You—” I interrupted.

His hand rose. “I am not done speaking.”

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