Page 37 of Touched By Darkness

She backs away, colliding with a desk, as I near.

I like her uncomfortable and uncertain.

No, that’s not right… I like her scared. The slight hitch in her breath when I shove a desk out of the way instead of walking around it in my pursuit of getting to her.

“What is my uncle planning?” My voice is a low, threatening rumble.

Her wide eyes flit to Alaric and Ronan behind me. If she thinks they’ll come to her rescue, she’s wrong. If anything, they’ll feed on her corpse once I’m done with her.

“There’s nowhere left to run,” I whisper darkly as I corner her against a desk near the window.

Her wide, anxious eyes peer up at me, and her breath stutters when I trace my finger over her fluttering pulse point.

“What is my uncle planning?”

“Wh-what?”

“Don’t play shy now, sweetheart. We both know he’s planning something, and you’re helping him. Let me guess”—I grip her by the side of the neck—”he wants you to seduce me. Make me territorial, so I’ll break the treaty.”

Her brows pull down low, as if she’s confused. I’ll give it to my uncle; she’s a good actress. “You think I’m helping Amenadiel?”

I like the sound of her feminine voice. It’s stronger now and less breathy than before. She was scared and now she’s taken aback.

“Is that it? You think he’s using me to manipulate you?”

Her pulse thunders beneath my fingertips, and my eyes snag on her slender neck before I meet her fiery, chocolate-brown eyes. “It won’t work.”

She flinches again, and that’s how I know I’ve got her sussed out. My uncle thought he was so clever. The old man thought he could get to me through pussy. Surely, he must know how many girls throw themselves at me every day. His power-hungry mind has gotten over his head if he thinks this pussy will be different from all the rest.

“You’re just a girl,” I whisper slowly. “You’re nothing special.”

A muscle tics in her cheek before she looks away, her eyes pooling with tears.

At first, I think they’re sad tears, but I realize they’re tears of anger when she meets my gaze again.

Fury sparkles in her brown depths as she shoves me back a step. “And you think you’re special? You’re no one, Daemon.” Then her smile takes on a cruel edge, and she steps closer. “You’re nothing more than a spoiled little rich boy who thinks he’s all that because of his powerful daddy. Newsflash, you’re a brat, and your uncle is twice the man you are. If anything, he’s smarter. I don’t want anything to do with you, and nothing can convince me to try to seduceyou.Don’t flatter yourself.”

She tries to sidestep me, but I seize her arm and shove her back. “I’m not fucking done with you.”

Now she snorts and folds her arms over her chest. Her eyes peer past me, as if I’m not worthy of her attention, and it pisses me the fuck off. The urge to shake her makes my fingertips tingle, but I fist my hands and count to ten. “You will not leave until I tell you that you can leave. Is that understood?”

Alaric and Ronan shift behind me, hungry for blood and chaos. They, too, can sense the tension crackling in the air.

The girl is still not looking at me, so I pinch her chin between my thumb and finger and force her eyes to mine. “Is that understood?”

“Fuck you!” she snarls, baring her sharp teeth with a snarl.

In all my years, no one has ever dared to bare their incisors at me. It’s fucking intriguing. My reflex is to grab her face and dig my fingers into her cheeks. And the satisfaction I feel when her eyes widen has my cock hardening in my jeans. It certainly likes her defiance. It’s refreshing, if not a little annoying. “I’m gonna turn your invitation down, little whore. I don’t fuckbrats,”I say, repeating her word choice from earlier.

This time when she snarls, I smirk.

Behind me, Alaric and Ronan chuckle.

This girl has fire in her eyes, attitude at her fingertips, and defiance on her lips.

“Fuck off,” she growls, fighting me, or trying to. It takes me no effort at all to subdue her pathetic attempts at freeing herself.

I like the feel of her in my arms—her fragility, like a petal I could crush beneath my boots. It’s tempting too, to break her for the sake of it. Just to cement to her that she stands no chance against me.

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