Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
“Pffttt!”
I froze, eyes rounding on him. Was he... laughing?
Unable to hold back anymore, Ronin let loose—guffawing until he fell over across my legs. “I can’t t-take it anymore,” he wheezed, clutching his stomach. “You were really going to do it! Haha! After all that bitching and moaning about me drugging you, you were actually going to drug yourself!”
Vial still touching my lips, I stared at him—not comprehending what was going on for a second.
“I’m almost impressed with you,” he said, chuckling as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “You know how much your defiance turns me on, so you’ve been this obedient little yes-woman all day because you thought it would turn me off.
“Yeah, I knew what you were doing,” Ronin told my slack jaw and blown brows. “I only played along, acting like I was pissed off because I wanted to see how far you’d take it, and apparently it’s this far.” He pointed at the vial. “Oh, baby girl, you seriously miscalculated on this one...”
A horrible, rancid feeling burned in my gut as he and his smirk came closer.
“...because as much as you tempt me when you buck and bite and snarl”—he pressed a light kiss to my lips—“I love you even more when you’re broken.
“So stay just like this,” Ronin whispered, drowning me in his gaze. “Afraid.”
In that instant, something inside me snapped. “You monster!” Winding back my fist, I swung.
“Stop.”
An icy cold sensation spread from my tattoo and down my arm, stopping it dead in its tracks only millimeters from Ronin’s smirking mouth.
“You’re welcome,” he breezed, dropping kisses on my knuckles. “We both know that would’ve hurt you way more than it would’ve hurt me.”
“What is wrong with you!” I shrieked. “I really believed that you were going to leave me in their sweaty clutches! You don’t care at all that you terrified me last night?”
He cocked his head. “Should I?”
I rocked back, struck speechless. Lips trembling, wetness rolled down my cheeks.
“Ahh, tears. Here they come again. Why do you make this so personal, pet?” Ronin caught a tear on his fingertip and painted it on my lips. “I don’t want to see you hurt or angry. I just want to see you be mine. Because everything I want is mine,” he stated. “Not everything that’s mine comes to me easily, but just because there are obstacles in the way doesn’t change the outcome.”
His eyes sharpened. “And just because the obstacle is you doesn’t make a difference. You belong to me now. And you can be as fiery, or violent, or loud, or simpering as you want as long as you are all of those things, and the most important thing—obedient.”
I sniffed, clutching my fist to my chest. Even though he made light of me for crying, I couldn’t stop. “That’s all you care about? The little puppy can bark and scratch and chew your shoes all it wants as long as it heels when you tell it to heel, and rolls over when you want it to roll over.”
Ronin leaned back, reclining on the bedpost in his sinfully loose, silk robe that was doing nothing to hide the pearled weapon half-cocked between his legs. I was before him crying... and he was turned on.
“Hmm. I don’t know what a puppy is,” Ronin replied, “but it seems like you’ve got the right idea.”
“Bullshit.”
A slightly raised brow was the only sign of his displeasure. “Excuse me?”
“It’s bullshit!” I screamed. “If you really wanted another sycophant worm to crawl on its belly behind you, all you had to do was show me your true face, Ronin! Just being in the room with it made me want to forgive you for every horrible thing you’ve done. Hera knows what a mess the full blast would’ve made of me.
“We both know that you could’ve had my obedience without making Kazuya and his friends attack me. Without tricking me into the sub bond. Without fucking lust potions. And without that horrible, disgusting choice you forced on me last night.” I was an ugly crier. Splotchy cheeks, crumpled brow, snotty nose, and twisted grimace. I looked as bad as one could look right then, and still the most hideous person in the room to me... was sitting right in front of me.
“You never had to do any of this,” I croaked. “But you did because hurting me was the point. Breaking me was the point!”
In a blink, the vial was flying across the room. It smashed over the mantel and sprayed its contents on the fire.
Whoosh!
The fire roared to life, shooting burning tendrils free of its confines and aiming for any and everything.
Ronin whirled around as the armchair caught fire, and I swung.
“Well, you won.”
Slapping him soundly across the face, I ripped a grunt out of him as pain exploded in my face.