Page 105 of Hellbound

“How do you know that? There’s no way she told you.”

She also couldn’t imagine Tori volunteering the fact that she’d dropped out of college.

“Does it matter? I’m paying for her mother’s transplant.”

Marian’s frustration vanished, replaced by stunned silence.

“My contact informed me this morning that she’s been matched with a donor.”

What? How? When? Did the answers even matter if the outcome was the right one? She couldn’t distinguish her surprise from the strange warmth unfurling in her stomach.

“Does Tori know?” Marian asked in a breathy whisper.

“I was planning to tell her last night until I saw what she did to my liquor cabinet,” Vale muttered. “So now I will tell her when I feel like it, and you will keep this information to yourself until then.”

Stunned silence met righteous indignation. “Are you serious?”

Vale tipped his chin up. “What concern is it of yours? As you said, she’s not your friend.”

Marian bared her teeth as frustration boiled over.

“You can’t just sit on that kind of life-changing information until it’s useful for you, you goddamn prick.”

With uncanny alacrity, Vale shoved Marian’s tie through the final loop, pulled the knot tight, and yanked her into his chest with the tailored leash he’d fastened around her neck. Marian yelped as velvety shadows encircled her wrists and bound them behind her back, robbing her of a means to fight while a familiar metal collar manifested under her shirt.

His other hand curled under her jaw and forced her to look up at him as her heart flailed against her ribs. Vale bowed his head, overwhelming her senses with the scent of woodsmoke and something other. “You are so fucking rude.”

Marian snarled back, indifferent to the smoldering hunger in his gaze and the rare sound of profanity on that silver tongue of his.

She rose up on her toes and leaned close enough to feel his heated breath on her lips.

“And you’re really, really bossy. You want an obedient little puppet who’ll bow to your whims and thank you for the pleasure of being held against their will? Well, make me.”

“Make me” appeared to be the exact wrong thing to say. It made his eyes blaze with a want so devious her toes curled. Mind-addling heat rushed through her body, overpowering her instinct to flee.

The hand under her jaw rose higher to cup her face almost tenderly. He leaned in, his lips grazing the shell of her ear as he growled.

“Trust me, I’d love nothing more than to string you up and make a good girl out of you once and for all.”

It wasn’t the voice of a creature repulsed by her mortal existence at all. Marian’s snarl vanished. The desire she’d convinced herself she’d imagined returned in full force. Hers. His. All of it, inexplicable.

And yet here she was, being dragged under this current again, the pull more powerful than ever when it had no rational right to be. She should despise him for what he’d done to her, to their entire world. And most of her did.

The rest of her was flushed, flustered, and lost in her runaway imagination. The dream of Vale teasing her, pleasuring her was suddenly all she could think of. He was so close, and yet not close enough. His scent so potent, she could taste it. She envisioned him kissing her again. Slowly, this time. Decadent. She’d savor every glorious second. All breath and heat and divine surrender.

And for a terrifying, exhilarating moment, Marian found she wasn’t at all opposed to the idea of that fantasy becoming reality. She pressed her thighs together as shame killed her desire.

You’re so fucking unwell.

Vale’s eyes dropped to her lips, and for a moment that felt like a lifetime, she thought he might have read her mind.

But as he searched her flushed face, he slowly pulled away and released her tie.

Marian backed into the edge of the bed, unable to string two words together as Vale looked away, all the fire in his expression doused. Marian couldn’t decipher what she saw in its place.

Delicate shadows sloughed off his shoulders, twisting into tight coils before dissipating. He pushed a hand through his short jet hair, his expression suddenly stern.

“A car will arrive in forty-five minutes to take you and Miss Lawson to the Getty Center. There are shoes for you downstairs. Do something about your hair,” was all he said before he stormed out the door.