Page 31 of Monster's Pretty Bride

Instead, I press my mouth close to her ear, my voice smooth, dangerous. “Where would be the fun in that?"

Her pulse jumps beneath my fingers, and for a moment, I wonder if she hates me more for this, the way I refuse to let her have the control she so desperately craves.

"Let go," she grits out.

I do.

She stumbles back but doesn’t move to strike again.

Smart.

She won’t win this fight.

I straighten, towering over her. "You should rest," I say, motioning to the wound along her temple, the blood still drying at her hair. "If you drop dead before I break you myself, I’ll be very disappointed."

She laughs, but there is no humor in it.

“You think you can break me?" She tilts her head, silver eyes gleaming with something close to madness. "You think what you did tonight is enough? Naranus, you are going to have to try harder than that."

She is pushing me, tempting something violent, and I don’t know whether it’s from sheer desperation or if she truly does not fear me anymore.

I step forward, crowding her, forcing her to feel the heat of me, the sheer size of me. She does not back away.

"You want harder?" I murmur, voice low. "Careful what you wish for, little bride."

Her breath hitches, but she masks it quickly, shifting her stance.

"You don’t scare me," she whispers.

She’s lying, but she says it anyway, because she wants me to believe it.

I lift my hand. She tenses, expecting violence.

Instead, I drag my thumb along her jaw, tracing her throat, pressing just enough to feel her pulse beneath my touch.

Steady. Strong. Alive.

My chest tightens.

I let my fingers slip lower, grazing over the bruises that litter her collarbone, reminders of what she just survived.

I did this.

Not with my hands, but with my orders. I didn’t tell them to kill her though, nor let them hurt her. I ordered my kin to “capture” her if she tries to escape.

Still, she fights.

Still, she glares at me like she is waiting for the chance to slit my throat.

I exhale, dropping my hand, turning away before I let this thing between us fester into something I do not recognize.

She is mine.

But why does it feel like I am the one being pulled under?

I step away, my voice sharp as I give my final command for the night.

"Get some sleep, Eryss."

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