Page 107 of The Spider Queen
He threw back his head and laughed. “I don’t need help. I feel fantastic. Powerful.” He dropped the weapon and stalked toward me. Resentment, disastrous intent and bloodlust—I felt it all coming off him.
I scrambled from the bed, knowing there was no way to make it to the door. Hunter stood between me and my escape.
“Poppy,” he purred. “I am everything you want, everything you need. I will destroy Thane. I will make youmine.”
I mentally heard Thane growl.
A challenge.
Hush,I told Thane.
To Hunter, I said, “This isn’t you.”
“This is me,” he insisted, still stalking toward me. “In my most basic element.”
My back hit the wall. I hadn’t even realized it until I was cornered.
Hunter pressed his body to mine as his hands rested on the wall, caging me in.
Another man had done the same to me not so long ago. I didn’t like it then, and I didn’t like it now.
Fury burned within me, and I opened my lips to tell Hunter to back away—but instead of words, a long, silky thread shot out of my mouth. Silken tendrils twirled together, wrapping around Hunter, binding his arms to his sides. The ends of the strands stretched up to the ceiling and then plastered themselves to the corners, lifting an encased Hunter off the ground.
“What the fuck?” he yelled, trying to move his arms, struggling but not succeeding.
He was cocooned, immobile, and powerless.
“How the hell did you do that?” he demanded, blue eyes blazing.
“I—I have no idea.” I reached out and touched the murky white threads. They had hardened; maybe from the moment they touched him.
“Get me down from here!”
“No. Not until you calm down. Not until you become Hunter again.”
“You don’t wantthatversion of me,” he taunted. “You want strong, arrogant—a man that doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”
“This alpha bullshit is really getting on my nerves,” I snapped. “If I wanted that kind of behavior, I’d want Thane. And I don’t want Thane. I wantyou. The you I know.”
The fire in his eyes dimmed just a little, so I kept talking.
“I want a man,” I stated, “who will hold me at night, who looks at me like I’m the reason the Earth turns, who loves me forme.Come back to me, Hunter. I want you and only you.”
Hunter’s body slackened, like the force of his anger had been holding up his spine. As he relaxed, the opal-colored cocoon turned to dust and Hunter dropped to the floor, landing with a solid thump.
“Ow,” Hunter said, finally sounding like his normal self.
I squatted down beside him and ran my hands up and down his body.
“What are you doing?” he demanded when my fingertips trailed across his biceps.
I grinned. “Checking for broken bones.” I stood and held out my hand to him. “I think you’ll live.”
Grasping my hand, he pulled himself up. “For another day, at least.” He looked behind him at the body.
“Who is he?” I asked, inching closer, fascinated. I wondered if I was in shock. Wasn’t I supposed to be appalled? Repulsed? Something?
“Sorry. I didn’t get a name before I killed him with his own knife.” Hunter’s face was grim. “We need to clean this shit up and then we have to get out of here.”
