“I don’t have to ask permission to enter a house in the Grove,” I pointed out.
“You don’t?”
So, she wasn’t completely omniscient. Interesting. Kimberly gave off killer-queen vibes to me. She seemed like the kind of person who knew everything any vampire in the world had ever done. Apparently, she didn’t.
“I don’t.”
“Then...then...”
“Then I’m allowed to be here,” I pointed out. “You, however, are not.”
“Why not?” She whispered. “I don’t think anyone lives here.”
“You belong to me now.”
“Why? Because that lady caught me?”
“That lady has a name.”
“What is it?”
“Helena.”
“Helena caught me. What does that have to do with you? Why can’t I just leave?” She whispered. She stared at me with those big, wide eyes, and I suddenly wondered what the hell I’d gotten myself into. She didn’t seem happy. She seemed horrified, and I suddenly caught a whiff of her true scent: fear.
She was scared of me, or perhaps of the entire situation we’d found ourselves in.
Good.
She should be scared.
Her entire life was about to change, and she had no say in the matter at all.
“Because you’re mine,” I told her.
“I belong to no man,” she said proudly, jutting out that perfect little chin of hers.
“Very brave, love,” I said. “But it doesn’t change facts.”
“What facts?”
“I want you. I’m taking you. That’s the way this is going to work.”
“I don’t want that.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But I don’t really care what you want.”
She stared at me, and then, all of a sudden, she seemed to realize that her legs were up, and I could see her panties. She put her legs down quickly and clasped her hands together in her lap.
“Just let me go,” she whispered. “I won’t tell anyone where to find you.”
“And what? You’ll just stop hunting me?”
“Yes.”
“Kimberly, I’m trying very hard not to laugh at you right now. Everyone you’ve ever met knows you’re after me. You’d proudly display my head on a stick if you had the chance. No, that’s not how this ends. Now come here. Be a good girl and come to me.”
She fought with the decision. She wrestled with the choice, and I could see her fighting it. There was fire in her eyes. She’d never backed down from a fight. Ever. That was one of the things that I liked so much about Kimberly. She was wild and she was so damn strong.