“Excuse me?” He was crazy. Psychotic didn’t even come close to the insanity this Breed possessed. “I think you know damned good and well I did have sex with Tanner. ”
White, sharp incisors flashed at the side of his mouth as he smiled—a wide, amused smile as his green eyes became brilliant with it.
“You had sex,” he agreed. “But you didn’t mate. He’s decided I get to take care of that one. ”
“Oh, has he?” She was shaking with fury, with fear. “Are you going to rape me to do it?”
“Do I have to?” The smile was gone. His expression hardened with purpose as he stepped closer. “Are you going to force me into doing it, Scheme, or are you going to make it easy for both of us?”
She shook her head slowly. “I won’t let you rape me. ”
“I guess that means you’re going to make it easy for me, then,” he said, the curve of his lips feral now. “Be a good girl then and take your clothes off. We’ll just go ahead and get it over with. ”
“No. ” She shook her head, feeling the pounding fear and fury filling her head. “I won’t make anything easy for either of you. ”
“Mates can’t deny one another,” he said, confusing her further as he stepped closer to her. “I promise, honey, once it starts, you won’t want to deny me. ”
His smile was sarcastic now, his body corded and tight as he stalked her.
“You’re crazy,” she accused, fighting to breathe as she stared around the room desperately. There had to be a way out of this. She couldn’t bear it if he touched her, she knew she couldn’t.
“Just close your eyes and pretend I’m Tanner. ” His voice gentled. “It won’t be that hard. ”
Her heart was beating so fiercely against her breast that she was certain it would burst through. It tightened her throat, made breathing hard, made thought almost impossible.
“I won’t hurt you, Scheme. ” He advanced further, moving closer.
She wasn’t going to get out of this, Scheme realized. He was waiting on her to move, to run. He was prepared for it. She wouldn’t make it a single step.
“Don’t do this,” she whispered when he was but a step away. “Please. ”
; “Why?” His voice held a crooning purr, a dangerous, subtle savagery.
“I don’t want you. ” Her voice was thick with the tears she refused to shed. “If you’re going to kill me, just do it and get it over with. Don’t do this. ”
“I’ll ask you again. Why? Why shouldn’t I take what Tanner gave me? He wants your protection, nothing else. The only way to protect you against Breed Law is if one of us mates you. ”
“What are you talking about?” she cried out angrily. “I’ve spent a damned week in that bed with him. What kind of demented rules do you bastards have for sex anyway?”
His head lifted, his nostrils flaring as his gaze became calculating. “I’m sorry,” he whispered a second before he was on her.
His fingers curled around her arms as his lips moved over hers, his tongue sliding against the seam as she lost the last of her sanity.
Wild. Desperate. She screamed out in rage, kicking, trying to bite, feeling her flesh crawl at his touch as she fought to escape him. She couldn’t bear it. Not after being with Tanner, feeling things she had never thought she would feel with a man, being warm, whole in his arms, even if he was destined to be her executioner.
She couldn’t stand for this man to touch her now. It didn’t matter who he was or what he was to Tanner, he wasn’t Tanner. And it wasn’t his touch she was dying for, bile rising in her throat as pain welled in her soul.
In all the years she had deceived her father, he had never had her raped. And Tanner had walked away and left her alone with a man determined to do just that.
“Tanner!” She was screaming his name as Cabal held her easily, his lips at her ear, touching her, whispering something. Something meant to be soothing, though the words made no sense.
She screamed Tanner’s name again, struggling, fighting to be free from the impossibly hard grip of Cabal’s hands on her arms, the breadth of his chest which kept her pinned to the wall, the force of his powerful legs pinning hers in place.
Panic raced through her system as she shrank from his touch, her sensitive flesh prickling with distaste as he held her to him.
“I don’t want you,” she cried out furiously, bucking against him, fighting his hold. “I don’t want this. ”