Page 38 of Vicious Little Princess

“No idea.” Milo started for the door. “Nico! Nico, what are—”

They collided as Nico returned quickly.

He rounded Milo and then I saw some cuffs in his hands.

“I’m claustrophobic,” I reminded him.

“Nice try. Small, confined spaces bother you, but not actually bondage or restraints.”

Crap.

I stepped back. “You can’t be serious. You arenotgoing to—”

He was on me in the next second, gathering me in his arms, then tossing me onto the bed.

I’d barely got my bearings from the shock of it all when he snapped a cuff to my right wrist, then attached it to the headboard.

“Nico, stop!” I yelled, twisting and trying to free myself.

But I didn’t get far as his full weight bore down on me and in my current state, I couldn’t do much to stop any of it before he’d snapped one to my left wrist too, essentially binding me to the headboard.

He pulled something from his jacket pocket and I found myself looking at what appeared to be a belt from a bathrobe. In the next second, he was tying my ankles to the foot of the bed too.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I yelled, bucking on the bed.

“Nico,” Milo protested. “There’s doing what’s necessary, then there’s blowing right past that into extreme territory.”

Nico pushed off me with a growl. “Really? So you think she’ll rest without venturing intoextreme territory?”

“I… maybe not, but—”

“But nothing. She’s exhausted, she’s sick, she’s suffering. And she’s in obsessive mode, trying to find Julian, so she can’t see anything else. Believe me, I recognize the signs.” He eyed me. “You haven’t slept for over forty-eight hours. You haven’t eaten either. You haven’t stopped for a fucking second.”

“This is what it’s like when you’re down to the wire trying to—”

“You were shot up with a heavy-duty sedative. You were nearly gang raped. You were in a motorcycle accident. You took down several big motherfuckers all on your own.” He leaned over me. “You. Are. Resting.”

“How the hell am I supposed to sleep like this, anyway?”

“You’ll be able to.Icould.”

“What?”

“A few times, hisferalstates necessitated it,” Milo told me.

Jeez,that was brutal.

It almost had me softening toward Nico.

Almost.

“I swear to fuck, if you leave me like this—”

“You’ll what?” he demanded with a snarl, his eyes flashing.

“I’ll break your dick off,” I snarled right back.

He started, obviously not expecting the challenge, or the animalistic nature of it to rival his.

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