Page 170 of Untamed

“I didn’t think you’d fuckinghold me there,” he hisses. “You rocked your hips because you wanted me to come inside you. You knew exactly what you were doing.”

My eyes sting, but I don’t cry. “So did you, Ares, but you did it anyway. You could have easily pulled out if you wanted, or stopped yourself from coming, you are the king of control after all, aren’t you?”

He grabs his shirt off the floor, pulling it over his head like armour.

“I’ll take you to get the morning-after pill,” he says flatly, without looking at me.

I stiffen. “Wow. Straight to cleanup then?”

“It’s not a clean-up, Jordyn,” he snaps, voice razor-sharp. “It’s damage control.” Whoa. Those words hit hard, so hard I visibly wince.

“Damage,” I repeat, numbly. “Is that what I am now?”

His nostrils flare. His eyes finally meet mine. “That’s not what I meant.”

“No?” I rise from the bed, the sheet still clutched to my chest. “Because it sure as hell sounds like you think I set some kind of trap. Like I planned this. Like I was trying to get pregnant.”

“You didn’t think,” he bites. “You acted on impulse, like you always do.”

“And you didn’t?” I shoot back. “You were right there with me, Ares. Youwantedit. You needed it. Don’t stand there and make this one-sided.”

I wrap the sheet tighter around myself, heart still thudding from the heat we shared… and the sudden shift now turning it to ice.

“You don’t need to panic,” I say quietly, my voice steadier than I feel. “The last thing I want right now is to get pregnant. I was going to take the morning-after pill.”

That gets his attention. He stills, buttoning up his jeans, dark eyes locking to mine. Then he walks toward me, slow, deliberate, until he’s standing right in front of me.

“If that’s how you want to fuck,bambina…” His voice is low, dangerous, the kind of dark velvet that slides over skin like silk just before it burns. “If you want me to go bare,” he growls, “and fill your tight cunt with my cum, then you need to go on the pill.”

My breath stutters, but I don’t look away. His hand lifts, brushing my cheek, not tender, but grounding. “Because I don’t want a kid,” he finishes, eyes on mine. “Not now. Not ever. Not in this world.”

There’s no softness in his tone. But it’s not cruel either. It’s justhonest.

And beneath all of it, that same aching truth lingers. He still wants me.

Desperately.But on his terms, onhiscontrol. And maybe that’s the part that scares me the most.

“Make an excuse to go out tomorrow. I’ll meet you in town and we can go to doctor and get you on the pill.” He watches me for a beat longer, as if checking to see if I’ll argue, if I’ll push back. I don’t.

I just nod once, slowly. “Okay.”

He exhales, a breath more relief than victory. Like he wasn’t sure which way I’d break. His hand lingers at my cheek for a second too long before it drops.

And then he turns toward the door, grabbing his watch from the dresser, slipping it on with practiced ease. He’s already switching gears, sliding back into the man the world sees, calm, lethal, untouchable.

But I know better now. I saw the panic behind his eyes. The part of him that wanted to run. The part thatdidn’t. Just before he walks to the window, he pauses.

“I’ll text you the time.” And then he’s gone. No kiss, not even a hug, just the deafening silence he leaves behind.

The morning sun is unbearably bright. It pours through the manor kitchen’s glass doors, oblivious to the heaviness inside me. I perch at the long marble island, barely aware of Biancahumming softly at the stove. A plate of eggs lies untouched before me, the fork dangling limply between my fingers.

My phone vibrates once.

I glance at it.

Ares:

11:30. I’ll meet you in town. Don’t be late.

---