Page 116 of The Midnight Order
“You know why I can’t feed from you.”
“And fucking? You can cock block everyone else and claim the right for yourself, but you don’t act on it.”
He steps closer. This time, it has me unsteady, and I back into a tree. “Because fucking leads to feeding, and feeding leads to draining, and then you’ll be nothing more than ashes on the wind as you travel to the underworld, little lamb.”
His nickname for me burns my nerves, and an itch takes up residence beneath my skin that only he can scratch.
“I can’t lose control. I can’t be?—"
“The Slayer?” I whisper.
His eyes flare back to black. “Who told you that name?”
I swallow, unwilling to give up my source to him, as I shrug.
He turns and kicks his boot through a pile of leaves, tugging his hair as he mutters.
I feel awful for putting him in this state, but he also needed to know that I wouldn’t be controlled.
Jasper is likely pissed at me, too, now that Lowell told him he can’t leave either.
I’ll have to deal with that later.
Ugh.
“This won’t work. I should’ve known you weren’t the one.”
His ramblings bring me back to the present, and my stomach knots.
There’s a small part of me that wants to return to life as I know it and forget the insane world I’ve tumbled into, but the other part, the larger portion, intends to remain here.
That part urges me forward as I grab his arm and turn him around, culling his murmuring.
“Don’t do that. I fucked up, but don’t make this bigger than it is. I just needed you to see that I won’t be controlled. I didn’t mean to upset you. I didn’t realize?—"
My words cut off as Lowell presses me into the tree behind me, my head not jostling from the way he sped towards me because his hand wrapped around my throat. “I will not be controlled. You are mine; therefore, you will listen.”
Just like earlier, the odd sensation of arousal washes through me like someone’s turned on the tap in a shower. I don’t understand it.
He’s being so rough; I should be afraid.
Yet, I’m not.
I’m left wondering if there’s part of my ancient body that knows him. Loves him already.
But that’s nonsense.
His grin turns calculating as he breathes in the surrounding air, and a light breeze carries my scent to his nose. “Silver, it seems you’re not afraid of me. Even though I’ve lost my temper with you a few times, you’re unworried about how I’ll punish you. That won’t suit.”
“Why?” I manage, clawing at his hand to get the word out as I elongate my neck to breathe.
He tightens his grip until my breathing stops altogether. “Because every creature has to have something to fear, little lamb. Or the hierarchy falls apart. Respect demands fear.”
He finally lets me go, and I fall to my knees at his feet, choking as I gasp for air.
Holding my throat, I look up at him. “And you? What are you afraid of?”
He doesn’t skip a beat. “You.”
