Drake tugged her up by her arm, and led her out of the penthouse. They descended to the lobby and exited the hotel. Tourists cast admiring stares their direction. Some even took pictures. No doubt she a Drake looked like a couple straight off the cover of Rich and Famous.
If they only knew.
“Here you are, sir.” The valet jumped out of a silver and black sports car, holding the door open for Ella as he handed the keys to Drake.
Drake couldn’t drive a Lamborghini or a Bugatti like normal obscenely rich men. No, he had a Trevita. Ella would usually assume Drake was overcompensating for inadequacies in other areas, but unfortunately, she’d already felt just how big Drake’s ego was, when he pressed against her.
“You will have to get used to the attention.” Drake waved at the gawkers standing on the curb as he pulled away from the Palazzo.
Ella didn’t care about them, she was stuck on Drake’s comment. Growing accustomed to overly interested tourists or paparazzi implied she’d be with Drake for an extended amount of time.
I can’t live like this.
“Why? Why are you doing this?” Ella worked to keep the wavering tremble out of her voice.
“You, Miss Roulant are an exceptional creature.” His hand drifted to her knee, but thankfully he removed it again to shift gears. “I have dated many woman, but none of them have been quite what I’m looking for. I was prepared to settle for one of my own kind, except the females only carry Shifter traits, they don’t express them. They might as well be run of the mill humans,” he said in disgust. “Plus, the women of my clan are over-eager sycophants. As the alpha, I need a mate who is more my equal. Our progeny will be a force to be reckoned with.”
Ella was speechless. She assumed Drake wanted to sleep with her and use her skill, but she hadn’t imagined this. The idea that they were compatible hadn’t even occurred to her. Ella couldn’t determine what the hell Drake and his men were. Now he was talking about breeding some kind of super race.
The worst-case scenario Ella feared, was that Drake would use her, tire of her, then dispose of her body. But this assured that the nightmare would live on, in the form of god knows what. She couldn’t let this happen.
“And your idea of wooing me is abduction, forcing me to watch a murder, and shocking the hell out of me?”
“Mind your tone Ella,” Drake snarled, baring his fangs.
“I’m sorry. You stated you wanted someone who was your equal. It seems though, you would prefer someone who is seen but not heard. A beautiful yet mindless puppet,” Ella replied feeling bolder than she ought to.
Thankfully Drake chuckled rather than pick up his phone to reprimand her.
“You have much to learn, Miss Roulant. I was referring to our genetic stock and the challenge you will undoubtedly present when it comes to bed-sport. There is no parity in my clan. I am alpha and my word is law. Gender equality is an illusion created by you Outsiders.” Drake’s hand returned to Ella’s knee. His grip was tight, illustrating just how much stronger he was than her. “So, to answer your question; yes, I want you to sit there and look pretty. And the only time I want to hear that lovely mouth of yours, is when its screaming my name, as I split your little cunt in two.”
Ella couldn’t believe what she was hearing, though she expected nothing less from the disgusting man. The car started vibrating, and shimmied on the road.
“Ella, you ruin my Trevita and we’re going to have a problem,” Drake snarled as he reached for his phone. Ella took a deep breath and put a lid on her curse. “Better.” Drake dropped his phone, and Ella sighed.
You have to do better about losing your temper. The sadistic bastard would love nothing more than to light you up.
“We are getting close to our destination, so listen carefully. The men we are meeting with are also Shifters.”
There’s more of them, she thought in distress.
“We get together every now and then, and pretend to play a nice game of cards. I want you to do what you attempted to do in my casino, but I want you to guarantee that both I and Coso lose. Make it subtle in the beginning, but toward the end, I want it obvious that the house is cheating us.”
So here it is. This was how he wanted to abuse her curse. But why does Drake want to lose? He obviously didn’t need money. What’s his angle? What do rich people want? Respect. Power. The only thing Ella could figure is he was setting up the other shifters.
The only problem was, she didn’t know how to play most of the casino games and wouldn’t be able to affect the cards, since she couldn’t predict their denominations.