Page 11 of Claimed By the Sinful Dragon
“A spoiled little brat who’s going to need teaching the hard way.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No, little wolf.” He shook his head slowly, and bared his teeth in something not tame enough to call a smile. “It’s a promise.”
Chapter 8
Kaylee
He unlocked thedoor and gestured me inside, then paused to lock it behind us. If ever there was an exercise in futility…
“Why even bother locking the door? We both know I can climb out of the window.” I narrowed my eyes. “Unless you’re planning on locking that, too.”
“No need,” he grunted, pocketing the key. “It’s alarmed.”
He started down the hallway and I gaped at his back for a moment then hurried after him.
“Alarmed?” More technology? I probably shouldn’t be surprised by now, but…
“That’s what I said.”
“I didn’t hear an alarm.”
“You wouldn’t.” He took a left at the end of the ridiculously long corridor and led us into a lavishly furnished lounge. Plush chairs that looked antique were carefully positioned, and large oil paintings that I suspected were originals hung from the paneled walls, with recessed lighting casting a gentle glow over them. A single chandelier hung from the ceiling, draped in a couple of dust webs that didn’t detract from its obvious beauty—and value—in the slightest. It was almost enough to distract me. But not quite.
“Why alarm it and not bother to lock it?” Not that I wanted to give him any ideas, but it seemed like he wasn’t short in that department, anyway.
“You talk a lot.”
“Get used to it,” I retorted. “Should have abducted yourself some other girl.”
He exhaled heavily and sank into one of the chairs.
“Drinks cabinet is over there,” he said, gesturing with one hand to an expensive-looking mahogany stand set against one of the paneled walls. “Fetch me a whisky. Neat.”
“What did your last slave die of?”
His head snapped to me and his eyes glittered dangerously. “Carry on like that, and you’ll find out.”
I looked around at the grime building on the wood paneled walls. “Well, it wasn’t cleaning, that’s for sure.”
“Gods, woman, can you not follow a simple order?”
I beamed at him. “Nope. Sorry. You’d better just send me back.”
He made a sound that was too dark to be called a laugh, but I could see the amusement in his eyes. “Do you really think, little wolf, that there’s a place for you there any longer?”
“Don’t call me that,” I said. I wrapped my arms around myself, caught myself in the act, and dropped them back to my sides, then thrust my hands quickly into my pockets.
His brow knitted in interest. “Ah, a sore point, no doubt, for one who cannot shift. She does not speak to you, your wolf?”
I shook my head, my eyes resolutely avoiding him as I whispered my darkest secret. “I don’t think she even exists.”
His chair creaked as he leaned back in it. “Alright, little-not-wolf. The window isn’t locked because I don’t care if you wantto climb out and go running round the grounds, so long as your work gets done.”
“You…don’t?” My confusion wrote itself on my face and I didn’t bother to try to hide it. “Then what was all that stuff out by the tree about?”
“While you were looking out of your window, plotting your escape, did you happen to look over the wall?”
