Page 8 of Bonded Chaos

The movement drew my attention to her breasts, which were now pushed up and on display for my perusal. If I hadn’t already been certain that she did not know the effect she had on me, I’d say my little mate was a temptress.

“Because,” I drawled. “As my mate, your life belongs to me now.”

Her eyes widened in shock, and she inhaled sharply as she staggered away from me. When her thighs collided with the edge of my desk, I pushed forward, caging her in with my arms on either side of her petite body.

“No,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “I cannot be your mate.”

She stumbled over the word as though she’d never heard it before.

I ran my nose along her throat and inhaled a deep breath. Satisfaction washed over me when I felt her body tremble beneath mine.

“Oh, but you are,” I purred. “The moment I saw you in that marketplace, I sensed the pull. You beckoned me to you like a godsdamned siren.”

Her breathing stalled, and I pressed my body further into hers.

“No,” she repeated. “You’re Unseelie.”

I barked out a laugh, and she jumped in surprise.

“How very observant of you. Now, why don’t you tell me your name, Temptress?”

She paled at the moniker but quickly schooled her features.

“I owe you nothing,” she said with renewed bitterness. “My name, least of all.”

“You can tell me your name of your own free will, or,” — I quirked a brow in challenge — “I’ll summon a truth-teller right now and force it from you.”

Her eyes snapped to mine, and the fear I saw there had all my blood pooling below my waistband.

She seemed to weigh her options for a moment. Then she realized I’d have her name, regardless.

“Cadence,” she hissed. “Cadence Tiernan.”

“Cadence,” I repeated.

The word rolled off my tongue effortlessly, as though I had known it all my life.

Hearing her name from my mouth seemed to stoke Cadence’s ire, and she pushed against my chest, forcing me to retreat a step. She darted behind my desk as if it would protect her from me.

Her fight had returned, and that only made me more determined to break her.

“Even if I were your… mate.” Cadence winced as she forced the word between her lips.

“Even if I were, which I don’t believe for a second, it doesn’t excuse taking me from my home and turning my life upside down.”

I merely shrugged and folded my arms across my chest.

Her eyes narrowed with her barely contained fury as she growled, “I want to go home. I have responsibilities and people who depend on me.”

“No.”

“You can’t just keep me as your prisoner!” she shouted as she threw her hands into the air.

“I am the Prince of the Unseelie,” I said with a smirk. “I think you’ll find I can.”

“I know exactly who you are,” Cadence snarled, and I had to wonder which of my misdeeds had offended her to this extent.

Not that it mattered. I would keep her all the same.

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