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And in the end, it was exactly what she’d done.
But still she had to resist, even if she’d failed to keep her animal needs at bay. She couldn’t so much as speak the words: even verbalizing them was something that felt too much like defeat.
Giving in, surrendering… to the man shethoughtshe didn’t want.
Just because you fucked him, it doesn’t mean you wanted him. It was a need. Nothing more.
Another lie. Another rationalization.
What was worse, though, was the nascentattractionto him. How was it possible that in that surreal situation, a woman like her—trained, tough, resilient, mentally strong—had succumbed so shockingly swiftly to her body’s basest needs?
Did it matter that he was handsome, darkly alluring in a way that she’d never encountered before? Would it have been better? Would it have offered her an “out” somehow if he’d been hideous?
Beautiful men aren’t particularly rare, Stace. So why can’t you resist this one?
It wasn’t that simple though. It was the picture being slowly sketched together in her mind, of a man who wasn’t at all the image of what she’d always assumed the wolves were. Increasingly, she was left with the reluctant conclusion that he was not some evil, rapacious piece-of-shit monster. The jury might still be out on what he actually was… but it was already clear what she’d thought he was constituted little more than a clumsy caricature.
He’d barely even touched her before what had happened the previous night. And rather than take advantage of her, she’d practically jumpedhim.
How in God’s name had that happened?
It had left her beginning to question all of her assumptions, her biases, and even her prejudices.
She finally shut off the water, the twin brass handles gleaming brightly, the droplets of water clinging to the metal reflecting the brilliant warmth of the overhead incandescent light, like a hundred tiny candles.
Sighing, she wrapped one of the big, black towels about her waist, using another to make an attempt at drying her long hair.
Almost everything shethoughtshe knew about herself, her job, and the wolves, seemed to be turning out just… wrong. Dmitri had said it himself, and though she’d hated him for it, the words rang more and more true.
What if it really was a part of this process? That this—whatever her situation actually was—truly meant saying goodbye to her old life, and even her conception of herself?
Maybe you could start with being a tiny bit less stubborn. It’s not exactly been working for you.
She clenched her jaw at the thought with such fervency that she feared she might break a tooth.
“Relax, Stace,” she whispered, using a corner of her towel to wipe the condensation from the mirror.
If you’re going to have any hope of getting out of here, you’re gonna need to be a helluva lot smarter.
She had to be at least willing to play along at cooperation, even if she didn’t feel it in her heart. Perhaps, if she were very lucky, what she learned might help her understand what was happening to her.
And what she was becoming.
What was clear was that the wolves were far more clever than she’d given them credit for. Setting up an opportunity for her to escape, simply to see what she might do with it said one thing above all else.
They were in control—at least for the time being. She could either accept that and work within those parameters while she had to. Or she could continue reflexively “testing the fences”—and probably getting her ass beaten raw for her efforts.
As long as it gets your pussy beaten up too…
“Oh, shut up,” she hissed, wrapping her hair in the second towel and stalking out into the blessedly cool air of the bedroom. Thankfully, the door was still closed.
There was no way of knowing where Dmitri was, or when he might return, but at that moment, a little time alone was more than welcome. At least maybe then, she might be able to figure out—
There was a knock at the door, and before she could even say a word, it opened.
Dmitri strode in, his brow furrowed deeply, a new—and unsettling—light in his eyes.
“What was the point of knocking when you were just going to barge in anyway?”
