Nadir successfully drags him out of the room, and Arav turns to face us. “If you will excuse us, Your Highness?”
“Excused.”
Arav firmly shuts the doors behind him, and the sound of Vaughn’s belligerent protests eventually fades.
Lykan tips my chin, and my heart skips a beat as our gazes meet.
“Thank you.”
Oh, this gravely humble side of Lykan is enthralling and terrifying at the same time.
“I didn’t expect you to agree so easily.”
“It’s part of my wifely duties—”
“Ah.”
Oh no.
I pull away the moment I hear him make such a sound. “Um, Lykan?”
“Mm?”
I think...
“Please don’t...”
I said the wrong thing again.
“There’s nothing to be nervous about,” croons the big bad wolf, I mean, sheikh. “I just want to show my appreciation—”
“Consider it shown,” I say quickly.
Lykan looks at me somberly. “That would be neither proper nor fair. You see, it’s just occurred to me that I have yet to make a similar vow about my husbandly duties.”
Uh huh.
The moment I hear his last two words...
I’m outta here.
But all I manage is a step before the sheikh catches me.
“I think I am supposed to cherish you as a wife, yes?”
He’s only whispering in my ear, and he already has me weak and trembling.
“Because you are the weaker vessel, fragile and delicate like glass—”
I can’t see where he’s going with this, but I’m already sure it’s going to kill me.
“And so in order to make sure you do not break...”
He moves so, so fast, I have no time to react. The next thing I know, he already has me blindfolded with his handkerchief, my hands tied behind my back with his necktie—
Ah!
Did he just rip my—