Page 31 of Under the Moonlight

“If you disrespect me again, I will turn you over the couch and beat you until you scream with pain.”

Greer scoffed, knowing she was poking the bull and didn’t give a shit. “I’ve seen Hostel Part One and Two. There is nothing you could do that I haven’t seen or imagined.”

She had no idea why she was baiting him except she hated being helpless and it pissed her off that he thought he could control her.

“You like horror movies, hmmm. Monster movies?”

Greer glared at him. “Actually, I don’t, but Jill… you remember her? The one you bit? She does. She has a comparison for every situation. Like if she were here right now, she might say something like, “You may be tied up and being held hostage by a psychopath, but it could be worse. You could be in a cage at the bottom of the ocean, you’re running out of air and surrounded by sharks.”

He seemed amused by this. “And you think that would be worse?”

“At this point? Yeah.”

Pax released her chin and squatted next to her. “Don’t you know what I did to your friend? Your boyfriend?”

“I read about it.”

“Yes, but what I did to them? They don’t report the atrocities I inflicted on them in the local paper.”

Greer resisted the urge to close her eyes. She didn’t want to hear the details, but she wasn’t going to beg this man for anything. “All I know is that Jill and Dereck got away, which means that they got help. So, you can do whatever you want to me. You’ll be dead soon anyway.”

He traced his finger across her cheek like before. “I thought you said Xa

nder wouldn’t care enough to save you.”

“Maybe not, but wanting you dead? That’s at the top of his wish list.”

Pax stood up with a dark chuckle. “Yes, if I could go back, I never would have taken the job.”

“Job?”

He’d stood in front of the window once more, looking out. “I was paid to break in and kill the Thorson family before their mating ceremony. It was supposed to look like a robbery gone wrong. Simple. Only we were missing one key family member.”

“Xander,” Greer whispered.

“Ding ding.” He faced her again, leaning against the window sill. “And when I tried to get his mother to tell me where he was, she was very stubborn. I did horrible things to her but she just wouldn’t break. I regretted having to kill her because a woman like that?” The smile that spread across his face was nothing short of sinister. “She would have been fun to spend more time with.”

“As it was, my employer wasn’t concerned with the youngest Thorson, and that loose end has been the bane of my existence for five years.”

Greer tried to roll to a more comfortable position, but none of it worked. “Why are you keeping me alive? You could just kill me and Xander would still come.”

He tapped a long finger to his lips, a gleeful light in his dark eyes. “Because before I rip out his heart, I want him to watch me make you my mate.”

Greer stilled. “No.”

“Oh, yes.”

She jerked against her bonds in panic. “You can’t make someone your mate.”

“Not in the strictest sense. But I can bite you while I fuck you. Make you just like me while poor Xander can’t do anything but wait for death. Seeing his woman give herself to me? It will be worse than what I did to his family.”

Bile rose up the back of her throat. “Give myself to you? Ha. Fat chance!”

“Trust me, before long, you’ll be begging to be mine.”

Greer pulled her hands apart, trying to get her wrists loose. “You’re a thundering lunatic. Your pet wolf might have Stockholm Syndrome, but I see you for what you really are. You’re a rapist and a murderer. Even if you bite me, I’ll never be yours.”

He shrugged. “Then I won’t bother. I’ll just have to settle for him watching you die.”

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