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He hesitated. "I have the power to force you to do certain things."
I stared at him, not sure I'd heard him right. Not wanting to believe I'd heard him right. "What?"
His gaze was uncompromising. "We shared blood. That gives me the power to enforce certain actions on you."
"Another thing you forgot to mention when the blood sharing happened." My voice was flat, calm, totally belying the anger that burned deep.
"You were mad with moon fever at the time. Do you really think you would have refused my blood even if I'd taken the time to explain the consequences?"
"No, but you could have warned me afterward." Forewarned is forearmed. Though in this case, I very much suspected being forearmed wouldn't matter a damn.
"Have I yet tried to curtail any of your actions?"
I gave a harsh laugh. "No. Doesn't mean you won't in the future though."
"I won't."
"And would I even know if you did?" He didn't answer and I shook my head. "You know what you've done, don't you? With that one little threat, you've put yourself into an entirely different category in my eyes."
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you've just leapt into the basket that contains the men who are using me for their own ends."
"Dammit, Riley, you know - "
"What I know," I cut in harshly, "is that of the three men I'm currently dancing with, Kade is the only one who has shown me any sort of companionship and caring outside the realms of sex. Do you want to know what he did for me today? He took me to a mare's place, ran me a bath, washed my hair, then he tucked me into bed, and left me alone. He looked after me, pampered me, because he damn well knew I needed it. What have you done, except reluctantly accept the sex and blood you desperately needed? Oh, and make demands, or raid my mind?"
He raised an eyebrow. "So what is it you're telling me? That I need to pamper you, romance you, to win your heart?"
"It would certainly be a damn better place to start than calling me a whore, or using threats." I blew out a breath. "Like the song says, 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun.'"
The somewhat disdainful look he gave me suggested he wasn't a fan of old-time pop music - or maybe he'd simply cruised through that era with earmuffs on, and had no idea what I was on about. I added, "Look, I offered the agreement, and I'll stick to it if you're going to get nasty about it. But just don't go expecting anything more serious than a good time. I won't play us one on one, Quinn. I can't afford to."
"All I'm expecting is the chance."
"Then you have it. But I'm warning you now - you try and force me into anything and that will be the end of us. I'll find a way around that order of yours, and I'll walk away. I will not be abused like that. I'm a wolf, not a whore."
"It is not abuse - "
"Then what else do you call forcing someone to do something against their will?"
"In this case, common sense."
"Force is force, regardless of the reason. Don't ever try it on me, Quinn. Not ever."
He didn't answer, and I just got the hell out of the room. ocker was filled with teenagers half my age, all of them bopping to music that was painful to my cars. I could see why the Rocker's traditional weekend crowd had fled - the crap they were playing now was nothing like the good old-fashioned rock and roll this club had built its reputation on. But then, I guess they had to do something to attract the next generation of wolves through the door.
Misha sat on a stool at the far end of the chrome and red lacquer bar. He wore dark jeans and a black T-shirt, and both accentuated the whiteness of his lean body. As I stood there staring at him, the urge to turn and run hit me. I didn't want to do this. I really didn't.
Not because of the sex. As I'd said to Quinn more than once, sex was part of a werewolf's nature, and we didn't hold it in the same reverent regard. Even though I didn't particularly want to mate with Misha, I would, and I'd more than likely enjoy it.
No, what disgusted me was the fact that I'd been left no choice in the matter.
If I was a guardian and this was just a part of my job, it would have been okay. If I'd walked in here knowing I'd been offered this assignment and had willingly chosen to do it, I would have had no problems. But I didn't have the choice, no matter what Quinn said. Misha seemed to be the only one who knew what was going on, and to get that information and get my life on track, I had to do this. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to. Two very different things.
And it hit me then that part of me had already accepted the reality that one day I would become a guardian. That one day, I'd be doing this out of choice rather than need.
I closed my eyes, sickened not so much by the thought, but the tremor of excitement that ran through me. I didn't want to become a killer. Didn't want to become my brother. But the part of me that had always rejoiced in the danger of being with Talon was dancing at the thought of becoming a guardian and facing danger on a regular basis.
