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I frown, crossing my arms across my chest. The movement causes the strap to shift, and it tightens around my windpipe. “I’m assuming this gives you some sick pleasure.”
He cocks his head. “Actually, no.” He turns abruptly, pulling open a drawer from one of the bedside tables and palming out a long leather strap. He attaches it by a hook on my collar, and my face heats with mortification when I realize what it is. A goddamn leash. He fucking leashed me.
“This. This gives me pleasure.” His lips tip with a cruel smirk as he tugs on the leash, causing my body to lurch forward.
“You fucking asswipe,” I snarl, reaching to the back of the collar to try to remove it. To my dismay, where there should be a buckle holding it in place, there’s some type of advanced locking mechanism.
“The only person who will be taking that off is me,” Kain coos, stepping over to the door and holding his wrist to the handle. There’s a tiny click as the mechanism unlocks, and he opens the door with ease.
What the fuck? The key is in his skin?
“Come on. Or do you not want to go outside now that your chances of escape are gone?”
The blood drains from my face as Kain raises a brow at me. “Oh. You thought I didn’t know that’s what you were trying to do. That hurts, Lillith.”
I watch the expression on his face. Was that supposed to be… a joke? I can’t tell. He certainly doesn’t seem hurt.
I sigh as a gentle tug on my neck drags me from my thoughts. “I’m coming, I’m coming.” I don’t get a chance to look around the rest of the house because Kain keeps a hand over my eyes as he leads me to the—I assume—exit. Why, I have no clue. It’s not like I can get out without his fancy wrist-chip thingy.
There’s a loud screeching sound, then a smack of pine and eucalyptus as Kain leads me outside. I breathe in deeply, just now realizing how much I missed the fresh air.
“You can open your eyes, Lillith.”
My eyes fly open, and a small gasp falls from my lips as I take in our surroundings. A circular clearing extends fifty feet from the front of the cabin’s porch, but the dense row of trees past that makes it impossible to see farther.
I glance down at the porch we’re standing on, surprise pricking my mind as I take in the rose bushes lining the structure. Dozens—no, hundreds—of pink and white blooms scatter the bushes, each one standing out like a delicate, luminous broach against the plant’s deep green leaves.
“What’s with all the flowers?” I ask, pivoting my gaze toward the brutal man at my side. The idea of him tending to a bunch of rose bushes… doesn’t seem right.
He just shrugs, his gaze never wavering from my face. “It gives me something to do. And I’ve always loved flowers…”
My throat bobs as I look out at the clearing again, Kain’s gaze heating the skin on the side of my face. Just like he promised, there’s a glass structure at the edge of the clearing, the thick layer of condensation making it impossible to see inside the greenhouse. Just like everything else here, it holds an air of mystery.
“You weren’t lying about the greenhouse,” I whisper, following Kain down the steps. It’s not like I have a choice.
“Why would I lie?”
“I don’t know… because you’re a sociopath?”
He pauses. “I’m not a sociopath.”
That makes me pause. “You’re not?”
He looks back at me, an emotion I can’t place swirling in his dark eyes. “No. I’m a psychopath.”
“And I’m guessing there’s a difference…” Though I try to stop it, a heavy dose of condescension slips into my tone.
“Sociopaths are made. I was born this way.”
“Ah.” Cryptic, much? “I’m guessing you don’t like to talk about it.”
“No.”
Ookay. “Well, thanks for clearing that up.”
“There’s also a debate on the amount of… impulse control between the two,” he says, his voice tight as he stomps in the direction of the greenhouse. This is the first time he hasn’t looked at me while he’s speaking, and I realize that he really doesn’t like talking about it.
Well, I don’t like being kidnapped and collared. Bully for him.
