I was ready to face the darkness, no matter how hungry it was.
I was laying on the bed, a little drowsy, when Evan came in. I twisted up, covering myself with the thin sheet. It wasn't like I was undressed, but he marched in without knocking, a plate of food in hand.
The door slammed shut. I jumped when I heard the bolt slamming automatically behind him, the same thing I'd heard whenever I came into this room.
“Eat,” he said, frowning when he saw the sour look on my face. He pushed a sandwich stacked with veggies and last night's leftover ham toward me. It sat in a sea of chips. I was upset, but I was pretty hungry too.
“What's with the locks? Why do they snap shut every time someone comes in here?” I pointed past him.
His face darkened as he turned, following my finger. “For your safety. This area is very isolated. We're not that far from Beacon Grove, and you know how lonely it can be. I know about the fucking traps the cult lays in the woods. Not just your people I'm worried about either. There are others, even some guys around here who used to belong to a cartel.”
Cartel. I didn't recognize the word and shrugged.
“I'm surprised you know about the traps...the congregation likes to think it's a big secret.” I picked up the sandwich and took a big bite. My, it was good, and I was hungrier than I realized. “The traps aren't really for our protection. The real dangers were on the inside all along. They always are, right?”
He gave me a blank look, as if he was holding something back. Again, the secrecy, the heavy, heavy pain I could feel hanging in the air like lead.
Okay, I'd eat my food, but I wasn't messing around anymore. I was ready to test him if brought me closer to the bitter truth.
I have to know who you really are, Evan. Even if the possibility you're a monster scares me so bad I want to shut down and pretend you're not.
He stepped forward, reached down, and grabbed my wrists. I shook lightly in his arms. It only made him tighten his grip.
“We don't need to talk about this shit. It's upsetting. Calm down and eat your sandwich.” Fire blazed in his eyes, surrounding me, burning me to ashes before he loosened his grip and pulled away.
Jesus. Why does his touch make me shake like this? Why do I want to feel it again when it makes me sick and sad and scared?
There was a deeper feeling I didn't want to acknowledge. The same thing I'd felt a couple times before when I watched him flexing his strength, seething with rage. It started like a fire in my blood, curling through my veins and unfolding at my core, building thick sugary heat where it had no business being.
My lust didn't lie. The truth hit, and it hit hard.
This man was a dangerous temptation in muscle and harsh, shining eyes. Doubly deadly for a girl who didn't have a clue what was happening. Not yet.
No! I couldn't let him get away with this! I wasn't his property. I had to pry his true nature out, even if it snuffed out my lust like phantom candle flame...
“I'm not your slave.” I tried to say it boldly, but it came out in a faint, shaky whisper. “Look, I appreciate everything you've done for me, but I deserve some courtesy and respect. What's really going on here, Evan? Why are you keeping me here? Tell me!”
For a moment, his eyes flashed lightning. Then he stepped closer again, knocking my plate behind me, hauling me up by the wrists until we were just inches apart.
“I'd tell you, but you won't be able to handle it. Not right now. I've got a lot of fucking work to do with you, babe. It's gonna take a goddamned miracle to drive the weakness out of you, to get you ready for what's coming at us like a screaming freight train hauling ass.”
My heartbeat picked up. Holy crap, he really wasn't lying anymore. His eyes said it just as much as his words, promising a deadly avalanche. It was all there, I just didn't know what.
“Let me go!” I yelped. “Please.”
“Respect? Courtesy? That's what you want?” A nasty laugh twisted his lips. “Fuck, I'm the guy who doesn't get shit around here. I'd send it all your way if it wasn't in such short fucking supply. Look, Cassie, I already flattened one bitch who's almost my own blood for tearing into you, into me. Don't think for one second I won't do it again. I don't owe you shit until I have your obedience.”
His powerful hands were growing tighter and tighter, fleshly claws winding around my wrists. When he started to pull me closer to his devilish face, I lost it.
I jerked down and bit him, hard as I could. I caught him right in the flap between the thumb and the palm, driving my teeth deep.
Evan roared. He jerked, and sent my whole world spinning as I flew off him.
I tumbled onto the bed, crashing over my food. What was left of dinner scattered to the floor, and the plate hit the hard wood with a resounding crash.