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Rubbing my forehead, I pace a small circle around the table in the grand entrance. “If only I could speak to him before Thur
sday.” As a last-ditch effort, I tense my arms at my sides and look straight up at the chandelier hanging overhead.
“Hayden!” I shout. “I need to speak to you now! Please come out!”
Penny looks at me in horror. Her eyes seem to bug, and she grips her neck. “What have you done?” she hisses.
My heart beats faster at her reaction, but I have to be brave. I have to believe he’ll keep his agreement with my sister. If not… Koa is too far away to save me.
Penny screams when a loud knock sounds on the door. “It’s him!”
She runs up the stairs, but I spin around, pressing my back to the stairwell as I face the front door. Slowly it starts to move, and a lump tightens in my throat.
The door falls open, and there he stands. His pale hair is swept back in his usual style, and his tall slender body is elegantly clad in a black designer suit.
“You wanted to see me?” In the past, I’d thought Hayden was sexy. Nothing about him has changed — only now I’m actually afraid of him.
“Hayden?” I quickly clear the nerves from my throat. I have to be brave. I have to be strong. Koa would want me to be strong.
“Yes, my love. I’m here at your bidding. It’s one of the many privileges you’ll have before long.”
“You’ll be at my bidding?” My brow lines at the thought.
“Only because I want to be.” His voice is soft as he crosses the threshold, gliding with a smooth stride to where I’m standing, holding the railing for support.
“Now,” he smiles down at me, twisting a dark lock of hair around his long, elegant finger. “What would you like to say to me, my little lynx?”
My voice is small as I say the words. “I want you to let me go, Hayden.”
The corner of his mouth quirks up in a shadow of a smile, and his pale blue eyes actually look sad a moment. One blink and the emotion is gone.
“I’m sorry, little cat. You belong to me.”
“But I don’t want to belong to you!” Desperation makes my voice stronger.
Hayden’s brows rise, and he seems disappointed. “So I’ve heard,” he sighs. “I had hoped you would come to me willingly. I never could seem to change your mind…”
“You’re not one of us.”
“Our bodies still work quite well together. You’ll see.”
“I’m not a virgin!”
He straightens and pulls his chin back. “Your generation is so blunt.” Shaking his head, he looks down at his nails. “Virginity is a minor detail I’m willing to overlook. I’ve overlooked it before. You female shape shifters are all so eager to spread your thighs.”
“It’s part of our nature. You’ll never understand me. We’ll be miserable together.” I’m grasping at anything that might sway his decision.
“You’ll have a bit of an adjustment period, but you’ll see. Your aunt Cora was quite happy with the arrangement.” The heels of his expensive shoes are a staccato click on the wood as he walks slowly to the round table in the center of the foyer. “You’re very much like her, you know. I’m eager to see if your body responds to mine the way hers did.”
“She wasn’t mated. You became her mate. I’m with mine—”
He spins to face me. “You’re with ME!” A cold light burns in his pale eyes. “Besides, I don’t believe in mates.”
“Then you’ll let me go?”
He starts to chuckle. “So tenacious, little Mercy. Of course, I won’t let you go. The deal is made. It’s why I allow these people to exist on my lands. It’s why I keep my servants from stealing your babies in the night when they’re feeling naughty. Stealing your women is quite another matter…”
A muffled whimper screeches from above, from wherever Penny is hiding, and I remember her fear of shadows at night.
