Page 78 of Owned

Rowan turned to face me, her shoulders square, her chin lifted. Determination blazed in her eyes and something else I didn’t recognize.

“You saw fucking Charlotte,” I ground out.

“Yes, I did,” she said without missing a beat. “Someone had to do something and talking to her directly was the best way to do it.”

I strode over to her, reaching out and taking her upper arms in an iron grip. The feel of her warm skin calmed me a little. “What the fuck were you thinking? I said I would handle it.”

She didn’t look away, facing my anger head on. “You were taking too long. Anyway, it’s been handled so now you don’t have to.”

I should have been relieved and I knew it, but it wasn’t relief that I felt, only a hot, possessive rage that had nowhere to go.

This is what you’ve been afraid would happen if you gave it any air. That monster in you.

I shoved the voice away, too angry to listen to it.

“She could have taken you away from me.” I held her tighter. “She could have taken you and the baby.”

Rowan searched my face, then unexpectedly her expression softened. “Yes, she could, but she didn’t, Atlas.” Her voice was cool and reassuring. “I’m here. I’m okay and so is the baby.”

But I didn’t want to be reassured or soothed like an over-dramatic teenager. What I wanted was to take Rowan and hide her away from everything and everyone, to keep her safe with me, and the baby too.

“Atlas,” she said softly. “Atlas, let go. You’re hurting me.”

Shock like ice water spilled down my spine. Fuck, was I that out of control? “We’ll discuss this later.” I forced myself to release her and step back. “Right now, we have other things to think about.”

“Perhaps this isn’t the right time?—”

“It’s happening,” I interrupted before I could stop myself. “You decided it was happening Rowan. You can’t pull out now.”

She stared at me for a long moment. “What would you do if I did?”

“Go fucking insane.” The words came out of me without thought and the worst part of it was they were true. Right now, the monster inside me was frantic, needing to claim her in the most primitive way possible, and I couldn’t fight it.

If she refused me I didn’t know what I would do.

Her expression gave nothing away, her gaze unreadable.

Pull yourself the fuck together.

Yeah, I had to. For her sake and my own.

I took a silent breath. “I need you,” I said bluntly. “I need you to give this to me. Of your own free will. I need you to choose me, Rowan. Because the two of us together, that wasn’t a choice either of us would have made if not for Charlotte Hamilton. And I need you to show me that I am your choice. Over anyone else.”

Her gaze was opaque, her hair a glossy fall of black, and it wasn’t until then that I realized the truth of what I’d just said. That I wanted her to choose me and not because of a contract, but because she wanted me. I hadn’t given her much reason to make that choice, but still.

So much for owning her. She owns you.

“Okay,” she said after what felt like forever. “Okay, Atlas.”

This time it was relief that I felt and it came with it a choking, complicated mix of desire, satisfaction and primitive triumph. I was on the point of reaching out to grab her when abruptly the lights flickered then began to dim.

Looked like our cue.

Rowan’s gaze was steady as it met mine, and when I held out my hand to her, she took it. Her fingers were cool, but not icy, and she let me lead her to the dais and help her up onto it. A couch had been put in the middle and I positioned us in front of it, with her standing in front of me, facing the audience.

She trembled a little as people began to file into the room, but she didn’t say a word and her chin was raised. And beneath the hot rush of my desire, came a surge of gratitude to her for giving me this, as well as an iron resolve to make this as good for her as it would be for me.

People were now sitting in the gathered chairs, whispering as they settled in and at the back I saw Ten with Zara pulled into his lap.

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