Page 38 of Tempted to Rebel

“Where do you think you’re going?” His voice is raspy and deep, and my overstimulated body responds accordingly: my knees buckle and I drop.

With alarming speed, Thanatos lunges and catches me before I hit the floor. He holds me against his chest and exhales hotly into my hair, his body going completely rigid as he keeps me steady and on my feet.

I push away from him as hard as I can as my adrenaline kicks into overdrive. This is the man who hates my guts. The one who hog-tied me and spat in my face, calling me a terrible mother, saying that my baby would be better off—I gasp as pain lances through my chest, the memory hurting more than I can bear. “Let me go,” I cry, trembling.Shit.I can’t cry. Not here. Not now.Notwith him.

“What’s wrong?” He searches my eyes, and I spot the familial resemblance immediately. Although his brothers’ eyes are all variants of black, Thanatos’s are a deep, charcoal gray with flecks of green making them appear lighter. I wonder what he sees when he looks at me—the desperate woman taking advantage of his brothers, or the fragile girl in the mirror I thought I’d left behind?

“Get off of me!”

A muscle in his jaw tics. “Tell me what’s wrong, Celia.”

“I didn’t—” I take a shallow breath. “I didn’t know you’d be here!” Just like with his brothers, he’s too strong for me to escape by strength alone. I dig the heel of my palm into a gap inhis armor, hoping to find flesh beneath but hitting a bulletproof vest instead. “What the hell are you wearing?” I ask, exasperated and growing more tired by the second. I didn’t get enough sleep before Rebel dragged me out of the apartment last night, and after all the emotions from learning I might be—could be—hopefully am—pregnant, and how bone-tired I am from all the sexual stimulation today, I’m running on pure willpower and a sense of responsibility that’s fading extraordinarily fast.

Thanatos pulls me to my feet. He tries to let me go, but when he does I fall back toward the wall and he’s forced to grab me again. With another growl, he curses under his breath. “So much fucking trouble,” he grumbles, gripping my arms tight. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

I blink up at him, and he sighs.

“You’re pregnant,” he clarifies, taking a step back to hold me at arm’s length. He probably thinks the baby is a disease or a menace or, I don’t know, something inherentlybad.He’s said it before, and I’m bracing myself for him to say it again when his gaze drifts down to my belly. “You need to be more careful,” he murmurs, quickly looking away and clearing his throat. “That’s all.”

My mouth falls open. That’snotwhat I expected him to say at all.

“I can take care of myself,” I remind him. “I was doing fine before you kidnapped me, remember?”

He scoffs. “You were rolling around in a dump like a stray dog.”

I shove his chest as my anger flares. “Excuseme?”

“I grabbed you within sixty seconds, if even that.” He checks my body from head to toe, clearly displeased with what he sees. “Your gun wasn’t even within arm’s reach, and you didn’t have an alarm system or a dog to warn you of any security threats. Itwas sloppy work, which created a bad outcome for you, and an easy pickup for me. It’s like youwantedus to catch you.”

My anger flares even hotter, burning in the back of my throat like lava. “I would have been fine against anyonenormal!” I wriggle out of his grasp. The only reason I slip away is because heletsme, and it pisses me off even more. He’s right. I was sloppy with security, and even now, I stepped into the hall without a weapon. I didn’t even look for one before leaving.

“You have a murderer following you,” Thanatos continues, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “You can’t afford to be careless, or it’s light’s out, Princess.”

This again.Gritting my teeth, I mirror his posture and cross my arms. “Good thing I have three overbearing men to protect me, then. If I fail—” I barely contain a wince, but I manage—“they’ll keep me safe. Problem solved.”

He swallows, but it looks like he’s downing a bucket full of nails. His mouth pinches at the edges, the creases around his eyes giving away his age. Older than Rage, but by how much? Five years? Ten?

“Four,” he grunts.

I blink. How did he read my mind?

“You havefourmen now, Princess.”

Oh,fuckno.

I open my mouth to protest, but he clamps his hand over my lips.

Grimacing, he shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. “Look, we don’t have to get along. You don’t have tolikeme. But until my dad is out of the picture, you need all the protection you can get. He won’t spare your life just because of that baby in your belly. Do you understand?”

I wrap my arms around my middle and fight the panic rising like a tide. Silently, I nod, unable to speak. If I thought having Rage as a father was bad, having his dad as a grandfather isundoubtedly worse. I chew on the inside of my cheeks while Thanatos and I stare at each other, the seconds ticking past. Finally, he removes his hand from my face and looks away. “Good. That’s settled, then.”

An idea forms slowly as my emotions settle, a few of the tumbling stones inside my chest polished enough for me to grasp. I pluck out the most refined for the moment, the one that makes the most sense, and take a deep breath. “Teach me, then.”

Thanatos visibly flinches, a flush creeping across his neck. “What?”

I clear my throat, trying not to get embarrassed and utterly failing. Clearly, he doesn’t want to spend any more time with me than he already has to. I’m about to ask him to sacrifice his time—hell, a good part of his life, probably—formysake.

And hehatesme.

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