Page 14 of His Temptation

“You’re full of shit,” she said, her voice steady, though some doubt remained.

Daragh tipped his head, watching her. “Am I?”

She swallowed, her throat moving against the metal. She knew. And now she knew that he knew. The air between them crackled with something hot, something neither of them had expected.

Daragh could feel it in his blood, in the way his body responded against his will, in the way his dominance rose—an instinct as old as time, as undeniable as the pull of the moon.

She was his.

His fingers flexed around her wrist, the need to claim, to mark, to dominate pressing into his skull like a blade. He had never felt it like this before. Never this strong. Never this absolute.

The word pounded through him like a war drum, a call to something primal, something he had spent his entire lifedenying. Daragh inhaled slowly, reining it in. Forcing it back. This wasn’t the time.

He didn’t want a mate. He sure as hell didn’t want a fated mate. God, he’d laughed so hard at Con when he’d fallen for Katie. Even if Daragh did—Siobhan seemed even less inclined to accept the truth than he was. Hell, she’d rather burn the world down than admit she belonged to anyone.

So he did the one thing she wouldn’t expect. He turned her loose.

Siobhan stumbled back a step, her wrists now free, but the collar still locked around her throat. She didn’t run. Didn’t attack. She just stood there, her breath uneven, her entire body vibrating with too much emotion to name.

Daragh crossed his arms over his chest, watching her. “You’re coming with me.”

A sharp laugh escaped Siobhan’s lips, but it was forced and brittle. “Like hell I am.”

Daragh gave her a long, measured look. “You don’t have a choice.”

She lifted her chin. “There’s always a choice.”

Daragh shook his head. “Not this time.”

Something dark and dangerous flickered in her expression, a warning, a promise. But Daragh wasn’t worried. She would cooperate. Because she had no other option, and she knew it.

Daragh stepped closer, watching as she refused to back away, refused to look away, even though her body betrayed her.

Her pulse was hammering in her throat. Her breathing too fast. Her scent had changed, just slightly, enough for him to know she felt it too. The chemistry between them wasn’t one-sided.

But Daragh wasn’t about to act on it, at least not yet.

Instead, he leaned in, dropping his voice to something low and final.

“You’re mine now, kitten.”

Siobhan’s breath hitched, her pupils blowing wide, and for the first time, she didn’t have a response.

Daragh grinned, turning on his heel. He wouldn’t have to drag her out of here. She would follow—not because she wanted to, but because she knew she had nowhere else to go.

CHAPTER 5

SIOBHAN

Siobhan sat in the passenger seat of the sleek black SUV, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. The iron collar still sat heavy around her throat, the weight of it a constant reminder of how thoroughly trapped she was.

She glared at Daragh O’Neill from the corner of her eye. He looked perfectly at ease, his large hands steady on the wheel, his body relaxed in the way of a man who knew he had already won.

The drive had been silent, the hum of the engine the only sound between them. Every attempt she had made to pry open the collar had been useless, the iron dampening her ability to call on the panther beneath her skin, but that hadn’t stopped her from trying.

She had considered throwing herself out of the moving vehicle, but that was a bit melodramatic and probably would only inflict injuries on her, do nothing to him, and result with her in the same position from which she started. She knew better.

Daragh was faster than he looked, and she knew he would catch her before she got far. If it weren’t for the iron collar, she might have a chance in her shifted form, but as a human she had no chance at all.

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