Page 76 of Griffin Undone
“No, I’m not. You’ve seen me. I can’t come anywhere near the precision I would need to take those…shifters out. Not without taking everyone else with them.” I ignored his narrowing eyes and hurried on. “I can’t even get the hell out of the stupid front door, Arik. How am I going to fight ancient beings with lifetimes of experience and a complete lack of conscience?”
“You’ll just have to work harder.”
“Exactly how am I supposed to do that?You, the almighty griffin, don’t even know what you’re doing with me. How canIfigure it out, Sherlock?”
When he started toward me, I couldn’t help scrambling back, sending my seat rolling backward until it crashed into the wall. Arik followed, his relentless hands dragged me up as if I were a leaf instead of a woman, and he shoved me toward the door. “Maybe we’ll just have to give you some incentive.”
Anxiety crawled across my skin as he marched me down the hall and into my room. When he forced me onto the bed, I couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped my throat.
“Give me some credit,” Arik growled, his distaste clear. So he didn’t have sex on the brain—good to know. I scrambled to press myself against the headboard and tried to breathe.
Until he reached into the bedside drawer and drew out a pair of heavy steel handcuffs.
I gasped. How had those gotten there? Backing away frantically, I choked out, “Kinky, much?”
Arik smirked. “Sometimes.” He grabbed my ankle—why did that make such a convenient handle for him?—and dragged me back. Ignoring my struggles, he snapped one cuff onto my wrist and forced my hand close to the headboard. “But not right now, baby.” The other wrist met with the same fate as the first, and then Arik stepped away from the bed. “Let’s see you get out of those.”
He was halfway to the door by the time my anger and anxiety could connect with my mouth. “Who do you think you are, asshole?” Fear fell away as I jerked on the cuffs. They dug into my wrists, drawing a hiss of pain.
Arik watched it all with a smug smirk that only heightened my need for violence. “I’m the asshole with the key.”
The door slid softly shut behind him, leaving me alone with the realization that, strong or not, I could rely on no one and nothing but myself and my power to get me out of the mess Arik had made of my life.
ChapterThirty-Three
Arik
Ipaused outside Kat’s door hours later and listened for any movement inside. The cursing had stopped after about two hours—I’d never been called so many creative names before—but now I heard nothing. Not even crying.
I didn’t want that to be a relief. I didn’t want to care at all, but the truth was, her tears got to me whether I wanted them to or not. Last night had been a major fuckup. And I’d handled it about as well as a wrecking ball upside the head. But at least now she hated me. That was far better than having her love me—for both of us.
Damn it, Kat, what were you thinking?
Except as much as I wanted to blame her words for fucking everything up, I knew exactly where the fault lay. I’d allowed my rage and pain from the events in the alley to take control, to tempt me into easing myself inside Kat’s willing body. And then I’d allowed my panic to loosen my tongue, setting an even bigger disaster in motion. All that was left now was picking up the pieces.
Though I had to admit, if only to myself, that the thing with the handcuffs had been truly inspired.
Kat had forgotten what I’d told her about the shadowing, but I hadn’t. If there was ever a time to get her to push beyond whatever boundaries held her back and discover the true depths of her power, it was now. Her anger at being held prisoner should be incentive enough, but if it wasn’t, well, I had more than one trick up my sleeve.
I opened the door and stepped inside.Let the games begin.
Kat jerked upright, her mouth twisting at the metallic clang of the handcuffs dragging along the headboard.
Ignoring the look of death she shot me, I walked calmly to the bedside table and set down the tray I carried. When I turned, I stared, knowing it would unnerve her. Not because I needed to—definitely not.
Kat’s cheeks were flushed with exertion, her hair tangled as if I’d run my fingers through it during a good fucking. Was her voice after-sex hoarse too? All that cursing earlier…
Kat eyed my braced legs and crossed arms and a smile intended to provoke, and shook her head. “Forget it. Whatever you want, forget it.”
Her voice was definitely hoarse, and her bearing screamed defiance, even all these hours later, assuring me I would not win this fight. Too bad I intended to do just that.
I ignored her words in favor of eyeing her wrists, red and swollen from pulling against the unforgiving metal. They’d be fine if she’d stop yanking on the cuffs, but that was Kat. Stubborn to the end. “Nothin’, huh?”
The red creeping up her smooth neck made me want to trace its path with my tongue.Oh yeah, this is going to be fun.
“At least your eyes work,” she snarled, “even if your brain doesn’t.”
“At least you didn’t tear your hands off, even if it looks like you tried pretty hard.”
