Page 12 of Mortal Shift
Then he yanked my hair, dragging me closer to him, so that our faces were only fractions of an inch apart. “And if you don’t want to play nice, neither will I.”
I snatched at his hand, trying to get my hair loose, but all I got for my trouble was a sharp tug that sent a lance of pain through my scalp. I bit back a gasp of pain, because like hell was I going to show any weakness to this asshole.
“Get off on pulling girls’ hair, do you?” I hissed at him. “Maybe you should try picking a fight with someone your own size.”
And, more importantly, someone who wasn’t me.
“Oh, we’re not fighting,” he said. “You’d know if we were.”
“So what is this, then—your twisted version of foreplay?”
“This is me showing you who’s in charge.”
My heart thudded in my chest, my knees weakening as some part of me tried to acknowledge that, some instinct driving me to yield to him. But I wasn’t interested in submitting. Not to Cole.
“Youmightbe stronger than me,” I told him, “but you’re never going to be in charge. I’m not afraid of you.”
He bent his head to my throat and skimmed his nose across the flesh there, nostrils flaring. “That’s not what your scent is telling me.”
I swallowed hard. If he could smell my fear, could he also smell the… other emotions he was causing in me?
The dirty laugh he exhaled across my skin told me he could, and heat rushed to my face, burning up with embarrassment, which only seemed to amuse him more.
“Fear and arousal...” He inhaled again. “And desperation.”
“I’m not desperate,” I objected, flicking a glance toward the door, wishing someone,anyone,hell, even Zane, would bust in on this before I died of embarrassment, or worse, gave in to the desperate desire to see what his lips tasted like.
Cole drew his face back far enough to sneer at me. “Don’t waste your breath lying to me. I’m an alphablood, and you’re a pitiful excuse of a human, and you will yield.”
“If I’m so pathetic,” I countered, “what does that make you? After all, the pitiful human is supposed to be your mate, your perfect match.”
“For now,” he sneered, and then, releasing my hair, shoved me away.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded, battling the urge to rub my aching scalp.
“That this is a mistake, and I intend to fix it. And when I do, your time here is going to be over.”
And from the way he said it, I got the distinct impression he didnotmean I’d be going back to my apartment out in the real world. Fuck.
Chapter Five
Sitting around waiting for Cole to come up with some idea to make me disappear seemed like a really bad plan to me. And it also seemed to me like there was only one person who could get me out of here and back to the real world—intact. So, despite Zane’s warnings, an hour later I warned Cole to stay the hell away from my stuff and headed out. I made it through the large, wolf-engraved doors at the end of the corridor before I realized I had no idea where I’d find our allegedly dangerous headmistress, or whatever title she went by.
The first couple of people I passed—students—were deep in conversation with each other, and didn’t so much as spare me a glance as they moved past. So did the next ones. By the time half a dozen more had looked straight through me, I was starting to wonder if I was invisible. But no. There was something deliberate about the way I was being ignored, and it was beginning to annoy me.
“Hey,” I snapped, making a grab at a guy’s sleeve as he made to push past me. He spun round, faster than my eyes could track, and slammed me into the wall, one hand wrapped around my throat. I gasped, eyes bulging as he started to squeeze.
“How dare you touch me?” he demanded, sneering at me as I struggled uselessly against his grip. “Do you know who I am?”
“I don’t know whoanyoneis,” I wheezed, putting as much vitriol into my eyes as I could—which, granted, wasn’t much given my waning oxygen supply.
“What a surprise. Seems like you need a lesson.”
Someone nearby snickered, and I twisted my head to the side. Yup, we’d attracted a crowd of a dozen students, and… was that… Zane? I tried to make eye contact with him, but he glanced in my direction with total disinterest, then went back to reading from the sheet in his hands. What the hell? He was just going to let this asshole pin me against the wall and donothingabout it?
I grabbed at said asshole’s hands, trying to pry them loose, and another snicker rose from the crowd.
“Stop struggling,” he said, his voice low and alluring, and suddenly struggling seemed utterly pointless. He was stronger than me, anyway, and why would I want to struggle?
