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This is the most therapeutic thing he could have possibly done for me.

“Some people really don’t know how to ask for a favor,” Daniel says, slinging himself into the chair Volkov just vacated.

“Did he call this an invasion, or did you?”

“I might have taken poetic license,” Daniel grins. “But he did want to take Beatrix. I heard it all when I was waiting for my session. He was on the phone. I speak Russian of course, so I understood it all. He’s been planning this for a while, I think. Sounded desperate.”

Strength is a horrible burden to have to bear, to have to posture with aggression when what one really wants is sanctuary. I realize that the man who came to me in the guise of a helper really needs help himself.

“One Siberian wolf has been so entertaining,” he adds. “I’m sure adding eight more, nine including Volkov, will be fun for the whole pack. Sounds like they’re all older ladies and younger men. And a couple of loose cannons and Volkov.”

“We’ll take them as they come,” I say, getting up. “I need to go free my mate.”

CHAPTER24

Beatrix

The dungeon walls are comforting. They shouldn’t be. Everything I ever thought I knew about myself. Everything I ever thought about life. You’re not supposed to crave the prison. You’re not supposed to feel secure tucked up below ground.

Or maybe I am. Maybe it’s the denning instinct. I don’t have any decisions to make down here. I don’t have to worry about killing someone that I shouldn’t. I don’t have to worry about being good or bad, because down here the only thing that matters is what Armand wants—and what he wants is what I want.

I am comfortable. For the first time in my life there is no pressure, no fear, just the very real and very comforting reality of being kept. Other people’s worst nightmares are my dreams. And my nightmares? Few could stand them.

I hear him coming down the stairs. Is it day? Is it night? I don’t know. I don’t care. I mark time by his presence, or lack thereof.

He looks at me with those deep slate eyes that only flash silver now and then when they catch torchlight.

“Is it just me, or are you more at peace here than you’ve ever been?”

He brushes the hair away from my face as he asks the question.

“I like it down here,” I say. “I haven’t been in trouble since you put me down here. I haven’t had a problem. All I’ve had is the hottest fucking sex I could imagine.”

His expression is a little morose as he hears that. “Well, as much as I’d like to keep you captive forever. I don’t know how long I can keep you down here.”

“I thought you said I could stay down here forever.”

“That’s when I thought you were relentlessly and remorselessly hunting down anything with a pulse and a role in authority. But now I know better. You didn’t kill those detectives.”

He says it almost like an accusation.

“I never said I did. I actually think I said I didn’t. You didn’t believe me. It’s okay.”

“It is not okay. I should have believed you.” He shakes his head at me. “I really thrashed you, Trixie. I fucked your ass hard… I punished you, and you just took it.”

“Maybe I liked it?”

He lifts a brow at me. “You liked it?”

“Is that a bad thing?”

Armand kisses me passionately, deeply. “It’s not a bad thing,” he says when he breaks the kiss, my head dizzy with desire. “Mon dieu, you are an intense little thing. I feel like I am only beginning to scratch your surface. Maybe it will always feel that way with us. But at the very least, I owe you an apology. I never meant to punish you for a crime you did not commit.”

“Bad boy,” I smirk, unworried. I can tell he feels guilty, but the truth is, I felt like I did deserve the treatment on some level, and I certainly enjoyed it on another.

He chuckles, and shakes his head at me. “Sometimes I get so caught up in the things I feel I need to fix about you, or that need to be controlled or unearthed… I forget to notice all the incredible traits you have. You are powerful, you do what is right even if it will cause you harm, you take blame, sometimes even when you’re not to blame, and you make the best of what little life gives you.” He looks at me with a fierce passion. “I will not allow myself to be one of the many monsters who makes you act like one. I will not deny you what you deserve, blame you for what you are, or give you anything less than my full trust.”

I listen to him, feeling my inner self welling with what feel like tears, but they’re not from sadness. He’s suddenly seeing me. I don’t know how, or why. Something must have happened up above ground.

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