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“Christian.” He glanced back at her from the door, and she wondered why she called his name. She didn’t want him to be upset with her. Crossing the room, she stood before him and lifted to her toes, pressing a soft kiss to the underside of his jaw.
He blinked at her in confusion. “Sometimes, I think God sent you to challenge me.”
God didn’t send her here. “I’m here because you took me, Christian. That’s why this is a challenge.”
“Would you have willingly come if I’d asked?”
She considered how she convinced herself to submit to a spanking through her own volition. Would she have done the same if he’d simply reasoned with her about coming here and becoming his mate? Was there a limit to her agreeableness? If he had been honest, could he have convinced her to give up her human life and come live on an Amish farm?
She looked him in the eye and gave him the truth. “No.”
Although he didn’t move, she felt every muscle of his body tighten. Without another word, he turned away from her and left the room.
CHAPTER 18
She was a sorcerous. Somehow, his mate had used her mind and body to turn him completely around. It wasn’t a compulsion. He would have recognized any sense of forced obligation. This was different. This was a longing, coming from his heart.
She gave him something he needed—a sign of submission—and he was prepared to give her anything in return, which was how he came to trudge his way back to Cain Hartzler’s door holding a dish of strawberries.
He’d agreed to take Delilah to visit the Hartzler females so she could express her gratitude. How that evolved into dinner he still didn’t understand. The females used phrases like have to as if they had no choice in the matter.
“You and Christian have to come for dinner!”
“We have to get the guys together!”
“You have to taste Destiny’s cooking!”
He didn’t care about the other female’s kitchen skills, nor did he have an inkling to eat at her table for hours of forced socializing with the youngest Hartzler males.
“Can we go?” Delilah had quietly pulled him aside during their visit to ask his permission.
It made him proud that she deferred to him, but it wasn’t enough for him to agree. “I don’t think so. That’s not something I want to do.”
He only realized how happy the offer made her when the joy in her eyes disappeared. Hardening her jaw, she scowled and asked, “Did I want to do any of this?”
He quickly understood that he had no choice in the matter. Her cooperation implied his. He was obligated to go. But he also truly wanted to make her happy.
“Fine. We can have supper with your friends.”
Christian could tolerate many unfavorable circumstances, but socializing with immortals two and a half centuries his minor wasn’t a sacrifice he was eager to make. His time was valuable and could be put to much better use.
Irritated to have to make such a concession, he almost changed his mind. Then he saw how happy she was to tell her new friends that she could go, and he realized he’d walk through fire for her.
“He said we can go!” she had squealed, her smile once again radiant and in place.
He’d sit through endless annoying dinner parties if it brought her that much joy, he realized, wondering if that was how she’d managed to submit to him earlier that afternoon. He found it difficult to name a torture he wouldn’t endure when her happiness was on the line.
His reluctance to socialize had him twitching, and he was already anxious for the night to end.
They approached the door, and she frowned at him. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is the matter.”
“Then why are you making that face?”
“This is just my face.”
“No, it’s not. You’re grimacing.”
He relaxed his muscles and moved his brows. “Better?”
She frowned. “You should smile more. You have a nice smile.”
His steps slowed and she walked ahead. The corner of his mouth curved. His smiles were for her and her alone.
His mood could have been better if he’d had her several more times, but she still hadn’t fed, and he didn’t want to make her any weaker than she already was.
It was only a matter of time before nature took over and she gave in to her needs. When they were in bed, her struggle with the hunger gnawed at him. Not only did she need to feed, she wanted him to take her vein. She couldn’t fathom how he could resist such an overbearing urge, but life had taught him great self-possession and reinforced his unbreakable will.
It wasn’t easy. While she bathed, he had to visit the stables to feed. She was making him ravenous, but nothing involving his mate was simple.
He hoped his concession to have supper with her friends would encourage more cooperation on her end. Every hour she grew weaker and weaker. He knew her hunger was causing her pain, because he was in her mind witnessing every twinge and ache.
