Page 68 of Pride
He lifted his head, The Beast still not sated, and caught her gaze. “You’re prepared to kill my family, if things go sideways. Admit it.”
She stilled. And his heart dropped. She didn’t need to say anything, that reaction was it.
“Yes,” she admitted. “If you and your family turn to the darkness. If you reach the point of no return and become the destruction of the world… Yes. It is my job to assassinate you all. Probably while you sleep.”
“We’re far superior to you.”
“I already beat you in a fight, Parker.”
“That was before my power manifested.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” She shrugged, despair echoing in her eyes. “I don’t know what else to tell you, but I’m the last line of defense. Someone has to be, even if it’s the cost of my immortal soul.”
Anguish hit him. “Alice. I’m going to spend my life proving that you’re not going to Hell and Heaven is here with me. Do you understand?”
Maybe it was his animal so close to the surface, but the words shot out of him from a place of instinct. Silence filled the small space between them, expanding like an ocean. Then she smiled, and a sparkle entered her whiskey eyes.
“So… you said earlier there was an animal part of you. Which kind?” she asked, tracing a pattern on the floor with her toe.
“Which kind of…” He shook his head, flustered. “I don’t know. Too many of them. Multiple feline species, some kind of wolf, a frog… Why does it matter?”
She flicked his robe out of the way and palmed his bare chest. Instantly, his body reacted. It was more than the sin equalizing. It was the rightness. The magnetism. The primal need gathering force like a thunder storm. A coy glance from beneath her lashes.
“I guess, if it’s the cuddly animal that purrs, then I’m down with that.”
Cuddly animal?
She rubbed him again, stoking to life instincts he couldn’t control. The need to mate with her was more than uniting with the woman who balanced him. Her next words were husky and heavy with desire. “Who am I kidding? I’ll take the other animal too. The one that wants to devour me until there’s nothing left.”
Shock splashed through him. “You want that? The Beast?”
“Is that what you call it?” Now she was the one to purr.
“Alice.” He captured her wrist before it trailed down his stomach. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
She captured his gaze. “Oh, yes I do. I want all of you, just as you want all of me. Every last drop.”
His heart stuttered. With a sultry glance cast over her shoulder, she walked to his bedroom, her hips swaying in a way that went straight to his dick, despite her limp. More so because of that. Her resilience. Her strength. Her sexiness. And when he heard the telltale rasp of rope being pulled off a hook, he knew this was the moment he’d dreamed about as a child staring up at the blue sky. This was how he found freedom.
25
Alice trembledas she sat on Parker’s bed with the rope in her hands. He prowled into the room, the glow of his beast still present in his eyes. The skin was taut across his body, pulled to tension with his restraint. She’d never seen anyone more magnificent that him. Tall, proud, king of a man. Everything about him screamed virility from his thick bearded square jaw to the breadth of his shoulders, to the… her gaze traveled south, the appendage that had her mouth watering. Her breath quickened, and her pulse raced.
Mine, she thought.All mine.
He took the rope from her and replaced it on the hook. Then he inspected each coil, each color and thickness and softness, until he landed on a red silky length that reminded her of the bra he’d destroyed. Returning to her, he placed it on the bed.
“I can hear your pulse race, Alice,” he said. “You don’t have to do this.”
She lifted her chin. “I want to.”
“But something is bothering you. This doesn’t work if you’re not honest with me. I need to know you will tell me when you’re uncomfortable, and I need to know what feels good so I can do more.”
Her brow arched. “What youneedis to practice those knots so your hand’s coordination will improve.”
“Is that why you’re doing this?” He flicked the bundle of rope.
Her lashes lowered. “Like I said, I want all of it. I’m just—”
