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“I don’t want this future.” Frustrated tears filled her eyes. How could she make him understand? How could she tell him she felt smothered here? “I want to call Meg and go to the Faery plane.”
He moved faster than her eye could track. She’d noticed since he’d started taking her blood that he seemed stronger, faster than he was before. “You are not going anywhere. Kaja, I am on the edge. Don’t do this. I can’t promise you that I won’t do something I’ll regret. Back down now, consort.”
She knew what she should do. It was there in his stance and his voice. She was “pushing his buttons,” as they said on this plane. She’d been studying. Vampires were ridiculously possessive of their consorts, and they could be very domineering. It was one of the things she’d missed over the last few weeks. Even their sex had been bland.
“No. You don’t own me.”
His fangs seemed larger than ever before. “I thought to let them finish our playroom before we used it, but you made that choice, love. If you’re leaving then I should at least get what I can now.”
He picked her up, cradling her to his chest.
“Dante, put me down.”
He didn’t bother to reply, simply carried her down the hall to the second bedroom. All the last week, deliveries had come and workers had been walking in and out of the room. She’d been told not to look in the room. It was supposed to be a surprise. Now her heart raced as she realized she was going into the room he said was for play. Sex. That was what he meant by play. He meant sex, and Kaja got the feeling it wouldn’t be easy, lazy sex. It would be rough.
He was right. If she was going to leave, she wanted a last time with him. She would never forget him, and she could hold the memory in her heart.
He kicked open the door. It flew back and slammed into the wall.
She struggled to see. The room was utterly transformed from a nice bedroom into something dark and exotic. Dante didn’t bother to explain the strange cross on the wall or why there were so many hooks in the ceiling. He simply walked to the center of the room and set her on a plush ottoman. It was circular and large.
Before she could move, he had her hands in his. He dragged them behind her back, and cold metal snapped around her wrists. She tugged, but her hands were locked together.
“Clothes, off. Command 125.” With his words, her clothes receded around her body, shrinking to a neat pile at her knees. Dante smiled, but it was a harsh thing without an ounce of humor. “I programmed your clothes, love. I could have had you naked at any time.”
Her eyes slid from his. “Well, you did not want to.”
He tugged her head up. “Is that what this is about, Kaj? Baby, I’m trying to figure this out. You think I don’t want you?”
It was so much more than that, but it was something she could answer. “I think you like sex, but I’m just a body.”
He groaned and hauled her body against his. “So untrue. Gods, if you could sneak a peek into my brain during the day you would know it’s always Kaja—all the time. I have to concentrate to not think of you. You invade my thoughts all day. I sit in meetings and all I can think of is you riding my cock. It plays hell with me. I can’t properly explain why talking about marketing gives me a hard-on.”
She didn’t understand him at all. “But you are never with me.”
His eyes had softened now that he had her naked. “It’s work. You don’t get it. This is the way my world runs. You’ll settle in.”
She wouldn’t, but she wasn’t sure how to make him see it. How could she make him understand that her heart hurt every time he walked out the door? “I won’t. No one will accept me.”
His hands cupped her shoulders. “I accept you. You have to understand. I can’t let you go. I won’t let you go.”
She felt deliciously vulnerable. She was naked, her nipples puckering in the chilly air. She couldn’t move her hands. The way they were chained behind her back thrust her chest out. Dante couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her breasts. It was so odd. She was naked, and he was clothed. He looked like a perfectly powerful vampire, proper even in his business suit, though his erection was tenting those expensive pants of his. She would still call Meg, but she wanted this time with him.
He ran his fingertips over her nipples. “I have responsibilities, Kaja. Can’t you see that? I have to provide for you. I have to not be a fuckup.”
It was important to him. He took his work seriously, and she understood he needed to have a place in this society. Appearances were very important on this plane. She was going to ruin his. She was never going to be the lady consort he needed, but for tonight she could be his comfort, and he could be hers.
She lowered her head. He sighed, and Kaja could feel him open to her. His relief at the fact that she was submitting practically poured across her skin. He didn’t want to fight—not her. There was a fight building in her Dante, but she didn’t sense that it was a fight with her. He’d been deeply surprised at her anger.
Oh, it was getting so easy to read him when they were truly intimate. When they were together and open, she didn’t want to run. When she could feel his soul brush hers, nothing could keep her away. But the times when he held it back from her, those times caused an aching chasm to open inside.
He pulled away, his hand running through his hair. “Sorry. I was pushing myself at you, wasn’t I?”
She bit back a sob. “I didn’t mind.”
“I don’t understand this connection thing. I wasn’t raised to expect it the way Beck and Ci were.”
Mates on her plane, true mates, could speak without talking. She would never have that because Dante feared the binding. She would always be alone. It wouldn’t work if he never wanted it. None of this would work. She should have remembered that. When he found a place for himself inside her brain, she was in his. It couldn’t be nice to be her. She wouldn’t force that on him. “I will behave. I will go and have my supper and cause no trouble.”
