Seducing Destiny(19)

                “You don’t get it,” I whispered. “I was created; every detail of my entire life was planned. Right down to me having your child; how should I feel? Knowing that meeting you was even in her plans. She set me and you on a crash course, and this is where it was supposed to lead us.”



                             “And it’s not where you want to be,” he said guardedly.

                “No,” I whispered but thought about it for a moment. “I want to be with you. I want to be in Faery, but I want it to be our choice. I want us to decide our destiny, not Danu or Bilé. I need you, Ryder. It may sound stupid to you, but I need to feel needed and loved. I’m having your children and I don’t even know where I stand in your world. The only thing I know is that I stand where I was created to stand which is by your side and for me, that’s not good enough. I need you to want me there because you actually want it to be so, not because it was meant to be. I need it to be your choice, and not the one you make because you feel what they wanted you to.”

                “You stand with me,” he said as he pulled me against him and kissed the top of my head. “I wasn’t raised to love anything. Not even my people. I can’t promise you love, but I can promise that I will stand beside you forever, and I can promise you that it is by my choice and no one else’s.”

                I closed my eyes and pulled away from his body. “It’s not enough.”

                “That’s too bad, because you’re coming back with me,” he said before he slipped a necklace over my head. It was the same necklace, or one just like the one he’d placed on me as he laid me across his Lamborghini on that day not so long ago when I’d first met him.

                “Ryder…” I warned, remembering what I’d said after the last time I had gotten free of one of his necklaces.

                “You did say that if I ever put another trinket around your neck that it better be because it carries my mark,” he said softly. “This is me publically marking you as mine.”

                “And if I asked you to allow me to go to the Blood Kingdom?” I asked, because I’d thought of what I needed to tell Madisyn; she deserved to know what had happened.

                “I forbid it, for now. You’re pregnant and the Mages are aiming for you, not me. They were let inside my home to get to you. You’re my weakness, and I need you to be safe so I can focus on eliminating the threat against us. I need to know that the children we created together are safe.”

                “Can we stay here for a little while?” I asked and watched as his jaw ticked, as if he thought I might be planning my grand escape. “I’ve been patient, and have remained locked in the castle for over a month, Ryder. I just want to stand here, with you.”

                “With me?” he asked carefully.

                “Is that so crazy?”

                “I could strip you bare, and take you in the water,” he replied hoarsely. His eyes shone with lust as they raked over my body hungrily.

                “You could…but you’d have to let your guard down to do it,” I said, already knowing he’d never drop his guard, not when we were exposed and in the open. I didn’t blame him, not with our children’s lives on the line.

                He held his hand out and the moment I placed my hand in it, he sifted us home. Zahruk, Asrian, and Dristan entered the small space as seconds ticked by, and I knew without having to ask that they too had been out searching for me.

                “You’re an asshole,” I whispered and pulled away.