Unwinding my adamere bracelet, I started snapping the length in irritated tugs, stepping closer to him. "You know what, Crowther—No!"
"No?"
"This is what is going to happen." I shoved a finger into his hard chest. "I don't want to marry you. You don't want to marry me. As soon as I reach twenty, you'll shred up that stupid contract and let me go."
He straightened to his full height, and his anger matched mine. "Still thinking you can order me about it? Still behaving like the spoiled Wychthorn princess. Snapping her fingers, thinking, I'll dance to your beck and call and do whatever you order."
"Let me live by myself." As soon as it slipped from my tongue, the idea gripped me hard. He could… He could let me go… I could live wherever I wanted. New York or a seaside village. I could live, really live. Talk to people, travel… Not even my father could drag me back to the estate. I'd disappear and hide from the Horned Gods. No one would find me.
"I see that devious little mind at work. Don't bother with that line of thought. You're mine. You'll always be mine and I sure as fuck won't be letting you go!"
I loosened a string of curses that had his eyebrows rising.
Then I whirled away.
“Where the hells are you going?!”
"Wherever I like," I ground out while spinning back and advancing on him with a hand braced on my hip. "What can you do?"
Because I was slowly becoming aware that though my birthday was coming up soon, there was also time between now and then. The contract binding us together granted Graysen some power over me from the age of nineteen—he could spend one day a month with me, as well as join me on a House matter or a House celebration, like my sister's engagement this weekend. But he didn't actually own me. Yet.
I could walk away right this moment and he couldn't do a godsdamned thing about it.
"I'm not twenty yet," I gritted out. "You don't get to tell me what to do just yet. Maybe I'll get shit-faced and vomit all over your expensive suit." My gaze cast about the room beyond the smoky doors, at the Pellans. There wasn't a single male in that room I had any desire or interest in, but Graysen didn't know that. "Maybe I'll go tabletop dancing. Maybe I'll screw every single Pellan here."
Graysen's hand ensnared my arm, his fingers tightening their grip. He got right into my face and growled. "Nobody steals that from me."
A cruel smile lit my lips—Ah, so there was something about me Graysen desired.
I gave him my best smirk, tugging myself free, and took a step back. "Who says it hasn't already been given?"
He barked a laugh. "Gods, Wychthorn, don't bother trying to fool me." He stalked closer, backing me up into the wall, his arms boxing me in. Shamefully, that hyper-awareness of him sparked again. It crackled and fizzed through the air, scorching my skin, and heat flared through my chest.
He bowed his head and his roughened jaw abraded my cheek as he breathed into my ear. "You're still a virgin. I can scent it on you. It tastes of newly ripened peach begging to be plucked."
I sucked in a sharp breath, furious with him, but more furious with myself as my cheeks heated, confirming he was right.
"I'll never give you that," I hissed.
No way was my first sexual partner going to be a menace like Graysen Crowther!
I ducked beneath his arms, getting only two paces before my fiery rage had me whirling back around. "Piss off, Crowther. Why don't you find someone else to fuck with, or better yet—fuck!" My hand slashed through the air, the adamere beads clinking as the bracelet arced with the motion. "I'm done with you. From now on, I do as I please. Do who I please!"
Silly, silly girl, taunting him like that. Because 'who I please' obviously translated to Danne Pellan.
But instead of heading through those smoky doors into the gathering of Pellans, I stormed toward my quarters.
Sage kept up with my furious pace as I ran along hallways, through vast open rooms and smaller ones, all beautifully appointed but utterly unused by my family. I resided in the eastern wing, alone.
Heavy footfall resounded down the long hallway stretching behind me.
I glared over my shoulder, knowing exactly who the hells was following.
Godsdammit, why can’t he let me be?
Graysen's expression was thunderous. "Where are you going?! I'm not done with you yet!"
It occurred to me then, for the first time, that my father's guards didn't shadow me. They never had when Graysen was in my presence. It was only Sage who had my back. The wraith-wolf's ghostly body shimmered in and out of existence as he gave a soft snarl.
Dashing into my quarters, I spun around and tried shutting the door, but Graysen shoved his foot in, blocking my escape.
Sage danced by my side, growling and barking loudly. One word from me and he'd tear through Graysen. But I was so keyed up, burning with rage at Corné, at my father, at Graysen's absurd demands, I wanted to handle him by myself. There was a part of me still grounded enough to remember not to unleash that dark creature inside me. But I still had strength.
To my fury, Graysen advanced, and I fled through the living quarters into my bedroom, slamming the door in his face only to have it kicked in. The door jolted against the wall, vibrating and swinging back open.
His tall, broad form filled the doorway. His anger swamped the room. This was the first time he'd ever been in here, but his entire focus was solely on me. "Danne Pellan is a sick fuck, just like all his brothers!"
Ridiculous. Danne was nice and kind and funny. The opposite of Graysen. "You're the sick fucker!" I roared back. "What's your problem with him?!" I didn't give him time to answer. “Is it because he's interested in me?!” Because, gods forbid, someone actually likes me. “You sure don't, so why the hells do you care?!”
I hopped on one foot, unbuckling the shoe from the other, sliding it off to hurl it across the room. It hit the headboard of my bed and fell with a soft thud onto the carpet. The second shoe followed swiftly. "Get out!"
He didn't.
Instead, he stalked closer.
Power coiled around my bones, fortifying my strength.
He stepped right into my space. "I don't give a fuck about you. But that guy—"
"Get the hells out of my bedroom and out of my godsdamned life, Crowther!"
He stood his ground, feet braced apart, looking like he could tear me into smithereens.
I'd warned him. I surged forward, slamming my hands against his chest, and shoved hard, so hard the immovable Graysen Crowther stumbled back—actually stumbled.
Surprise flared in his black eyes. Then he snarled, rushing forward, slamming into me, shoving me onto the bed.
I bounced up and down, rolling over—
And he pounced—
But I was ready for him.
We tangled on the mattress, jostling and struggling, my nails raking and fists pummeling. Sage barked and howled, his powerful muscles rippling as he bounded around my bed, waiting for my order to attack.
Both Graysen and I unleashed our rage against one another. Raging that we were stuck with one another and couldn't get out of this ridiculous boon the Horned Gods had granted. To be fair to Graysen, he didn't actually hit me. I, however, held nothing back.
I tumbled onto my back. He lunged forward, looming over me. I drove a foot into his chest, knocking him off, only to have him grab my feet and drag me across the mattress.
"I didn't realize your strength." He was panting from exertion, which gave me some pleasure. "Where does it come from? Your father's bloodline or your mother's?".
I answered him by swiveling around and slamming an elbow into his belly.
He was strong and skilled while I was a twisting, howling hellion, lashing out.
He huffed a dark chuckle as he wrestled me into submission.
Both of us breathed hard and glared harder. Our stormy eyes clashed as if Nine Hells had broken free. And in some ways, it had. I'd torn the sleeve of his shirt and blood oozed down his cheeks where I'd raked my fingernails. And he'd ripped a few buttons from the front of my dress, the material gaping wide.
He'd pinned me beneath him, locking both my hands by my head at the wrist. I huffed, wanting to scratch his eyes out.
Golden flecks, like constellations, glittered around his pupils—
Why hadn't I noticed that about his eyes before?
The mood in the room shifted.
There was something about him. Me. Us. That neither of us understood. But it was there, thrumming between us. The air grew heavier, warmer, rippled and shimmered. Our combined fury heated into something else. Something new. Something that we'd both been dancing around since we'd first laid eyes on one another as children, and had only intensified the older we got.
He rolled us over so I was on top, my thighs straddling his hips. He fixed my hands to my side, keeping them there beneath his own.
"Let me go." But it came out breathlessly, almost like an invitation.
His breath came in excited, ragged pants. "I knew you'd be like this." He flashed a delighted grin. "It'll be war whenever we finally fuck." His palms were spread wide over my hands and his long fingers cupped my ass. And now I realized what was beneath me—a hard length, impossibly large between my legs, pressing against my sex.
No one had ever, and I mean, ever, gotten this close to me.