Page 81 of Her Tortured Beasts

Abruptly, he lets me go and I’m left reeling with his words.

“That was a Freudian slip,” he says tightly as we get to the car. To my surprise, it’s a fancy bottle-blue sports car. The type that looks sleek, expensive, and powerful. I suppose this is what he drives when he’s not transporting me. He opens the driver’s side door and gestures like he wants me to get inside.

“Oh, I’m driving?” I say with a giddy sort of excitement. “Okay! It’s been a while, but no worries.”

He growls with irritation. “No, you’re not. You’re getting into the passenger seat from this side.”

I make a face at the chain. “Just undo it.”

“No.” His nostrils flare.

“What? That’s silly.”

Xander just stands there, glowing eyes staring unblinking at me, black smoke streaming from his nostrils like toxic gas. His shoulders move up and down in great strain.

“You don’t want to separate the chain,” I say, working this out like a quadratic equation. “You don’t want to be separated…from me?”

Still, he says nothing, simply heaving and glaring like there’s a war going on in his head.

Glad to fucking see it.

I press my lips together to suppress the grin of amusement and oblige him, crawling into the driver’s seat for longer than is necessary, so all he can see of me are the two round globes of myass bouncing and shaking before I stretch one leg over into the passenger side and then the other.

Once we’re both in, Xander Drakos, silent and fuming, drives hispreciousprize and treasure back to the Estate.

The pre-dawn light spreads across the horizon by the time we get back to the estate and I crack an eyelid open to see it before shutting it again and pretending to sleep.

“I know you’re awake,” Xander mutters after he turns the engine of the sports car off. He tugs on the chain a little and I bite down on the hiss of pain that comes from the wound where it’s melded into my skin.

He huffs in annoyance, but to my surprise, I feel his hot hands under my thighs and behind my shoulder blades. I keep my eyes firmly shut and my mouth open a little for good effect, and he somehow manoeuvres me across the gearbox and outside, into his arms.

Xander clutches onto me like he thinks someone is about to snatch me away.

Light footsteps sound on the steps outside.

“What happened?” comes Selena’s voice. “Why is she here?”

“I won’t talk about it,” Xander mutters, taking the steps two at a time. “Get out of my way.”

“Alright.” She sounds concerned and slightly disturbed, but we quickly leave her behind. I just get to see her call to Eugene and scoop him up before I lose sight of them both.

Before we know it, he’s kicking the door shut, and just when I think he’s going to put me in my cage, he opens the bathroom door.

I stir then, blinking my eyes open against the golden heat lights.

“What are you doing?”

“Washing the stink off you,” he mutters, his movements determined as he sets me down and bustles about. “You smell of other beasts and metal.”

Blinking blearily around, I stand bereft as Xander rolls up his sleeves. He fills the tub with water, testing it with his fingers first and filling it with bubble bath. He reaches for me, a stern, no-nonsense look on his face that I’ve never seen before. Before I can stop him, he picks me up and gently lowers me into the tub.

I hiss at the sudden heat.

Xander freezes my descent. “Is it too hot?” he asks quickly, testing the water with the hand curled around my thigh.

“No. But you’re acting weird.”

His jaw clenches, but continues to lower me into the tub. The hot water engulfs me like a perfect hug. He picks up my left arm and begins rubbing a wash cloth along it. “Don’t ask questions.”

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