“Are there other options?” I asked.
“What?”
“Are there other options besides the brand and being paraded through camp?”
He was leaning back in his chair while he appeared to be thinking about it. I had hopeful eyes until he smiled darkly. Then the hope in my eyes dimmed.
“You can come sit on my lap and kiss me like you mean it.”
My first kiss had been stolen from me by a Latent and my second would be taken by a stuck-up prince?
Nervousness settled in my stomach. “No thank you.”
“You have three seconds to choose. A kiss or a brand? If it’s the kiss, make it a good one.”
My thoughts raced through my mind. What made a kiss a good one, anyway? A kiss wasn’t a permanent thing. And it seemed the logical decision to make.
“One.”
My heart fluttered. The kiss I had with the Latent was far from bad. Would it be the same with a prince?”
“Two.”
I was over to him before he could say three. I leaned down hesitantly, brushed my lips against his, and tried to pull away. I jumped out of my skin when he grabbed both of my thighs and lifted me, so I was straddling him. My dress was pulled tight, and I was worried it was going to rip, but my thoughts were cut off when he grabbed the back of my neck and pressed his lips against mine.
They were smooth and soft. Heat traveled through my body at every slow kiss and lick he made until I slowly melted against him. His hand slid from my nape to my backside, pulling me tightly against him when he knew I wasn’t going to pull away.
His tongue slid into my mouth and brought a hazy wave of pleasure with it. I grabbed a fistful of his hair and slid my tongue in between his lips. With the heat of his hands on my ass, he rocked me against him, and I moaned while my tongue met his again.
“If you wanted to fuck an Untouchable, you should have told me. There were quite a few that wanted the honor before I slit their throats.”
I froze.
That voice. It had my heart pound in fear, but also had my blood flowing hot in excitement.
I saw the prince’s lips tip up, and it took me awhile before I realized I had been set up. He’d known Weston was in the camp. And for some reason wanted him to see this. I knew this because the prince’s hands got a lot more firm on my ass. I sighed. I was tired of being a pawn to men.
“He made me do it,” I said.
Weston laughed coldly. “It sure looks like it.”
I noticed I still had a fistful of the prince’s hair, and I quickly dropped it. Guilt ate at me. And I had no reason to feel that way. Relief had filled me at hearing Weston’s voice and knowing for sure he wasn’t dead. And he was my damn captor. I was so misguided.
A combination of feelings that I shouldn’t have had had me doing something I shouldn’t have.
I was just trying to prove a point. Show them both I could do what I wanted. Show myself I didn’t have to feel guilty for kissing someone. I grabbed the prince’s hair again and pressed my lips against his. I felt the warmth of his lips for only a second before there was a blur of motion and I was held against Weston’s body.
My back was to his front, and I watched the prince laugh. “Your woman claims she is not yours.”
“It’s a game we play. Keeps it interesting,” Weston said, and his deep voice rumbled against my back. It was really hard to protest anything with him pressed against me. I didn’t fight the hold; it would be pointless with his tight grip around my waist. And men’s games were exhausting.
There was some tense silence before things got serious fast.
“You walk right into my camp, what makes you think I won’t kill you?” the prince said with venom.
“Don’t forget I let you live, Maxim. Yet here you are, building an army, for what?”
Maxim’s shoulders tensed. “My plans were none of your business a long time ago!”