“Mia,” he said softly, “you can change things around and you will. If you try to leave at the end of the week, I will stop you. Do you understand me?”
She did. She understood him perfectly. But the Mia she was pretending to be wouldn’t.
“What, you’re going to prevent me from getting on the airplane? That’s ridiculous,” she said, even as her stomach twisted with fear.
“Of course,” he said. “All I have to do is make one phone call, and your name will be on a no-fly list at all your human airports.”
She stared at him in shock. Somehow, she hadn’t expected him to go to such lengths to detain her. She figured he might lock her in the apartment or something. But it made perfect sense . . . Why do something as crude as physically restraining her when he could simply exercise his power with the U.S. government?
She felt tears welling up in her eyes, and she held them back with great effort. “I hate you,” she told him, barely able to speak past the constriction in her chest. And she really did in that moment. If she’d had any doubts about helping the Resistance, they dissolved as she stared at his uncompromising expression. He had no right to do this to her, to take over her life like that – and his kind deserved exactly what they got. If Mia could really make a difference in the fight against the Ks, then she had an obligation to do so – even if it meant losing her life in the process.
He got up then and came toward her. “You don’t hate me,” he said in a silky tone. “You may wish you did, but you don’t . . .” He grasped her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. His eyes were nearly yellow at this point. “You’re mine,” he said quietly, “and you’re not going anywhere without me. The sooner you come to terms with it, my darling, the easier it will be for you.”
And so the gloves had come off then. He was not going to hide his true colors any longer.
Mia’s fists clenched with impotent rage.
“I’m not coming to terms with anything,” she hissed at him. “I’m a human being. I have rights. You can’t order me around like this –”
“That’s right, Mia,” he said in that same dangerously smooth tone. “You’re a human being – the creation of my kind. We made you. If it weren’t for the Krinar, your species would not exist at all. Your people came up with all kinds of imaginary deities to worship, to explain how you came to be on this Earth. The things you have done in the name of your so-called gods are simply preposterous. But we are your true creators – we made you in our image. The only reason you have the rights you think you have is because we choose to let you have them. And we’ve been extremely lenient with your species, interfering as little as possible since we came to your planet.” He leaned closer to her. “So if I want to keep one little human girl with me, and I have to order her around because she’s too inexperienced to realize that what we have is very special – well, then, that’s the way it’s going to be.”
Mia could barely think past the fury clouding her brain. Staring up at his beautiful face, she felt a surge of hatred so strong that she would have gladly stabbed him in that moment if she’d had a knife nearby. “Screw you,” she told him bitterly, taking a step back to avoid his touch. “You and your kind should just go back to whatever hell you came from and leave us the fuck alone.”
He smiled sardonically in response, letting her go for the moment. “That’s not going to happen, Mia. We’re here and we’re staying – you might as well get used to it.”
No, they weren’t. Mia would make sure of that.
But he couldn’t know that yet, so she said nothing, just looking up at him in defiance.
“And Mia,” he added gently, “I can be very nice . . . or not – it’s really up to you.”
“Fuck you,” she told him furiously, and watched his eyes flare even brighter.
“Oh, you will – and gladly.” He smiled in anticipation.
Mia wanted to hit him. If he thought she would melt into a puddle at his touch, he had another thing coming. Unless . . .
“Fine,” she said slowly, “but I call the shots tonight.” And she smiled back at him, ignoring the rapid beating of her heart.
His eyes glittered with sudden interest. “Oh really? And why is that?”
“Because that’s the only way I’m having sex with you tonight . . . willingly, I mean.” Her smile took on a taunting edge. “You can always force me, of course – maybe even make me enjoy it. But I will always hate you for it . . . and you will ultimately regret it.”
“Okay,” he said softly, the bulge in his pants growing before her eyes, “let’s pretend you’re calling the shots . . . What would you like to do?”
Mia moistened her suddenly dry lips with the tip of her tongue and watched his eyes follow the motion with a hungry look. “Let’s go into the bedroom,” she said huskily, and walked past him, making the safe assumption that he would follow her there.
Chapter 17
They entered the room.
Mia walked over to the bed and sat down on it, fully dressed. He was about to do the same, but she stopped him with a shake of her head. “Not yet,” she murmured, and watched him pause in response.
“I want you to take off your clothes,” she said quietly, and waited to see what would happen.
To her surprise and growing excitement, he did as she asked, removing his T-shirt with one smoothly controlled motion. She inhaled sharply, the sight of his muscular half-naked body making her inner muscles clench with desire. Watching her with an amused half-smile, he unzipped his jeans and lowered them to the floor, stepping out of them gracefully. H
is erection was now covered only by a pair of briefs, and Mia could feel herself getting even wetter inside.