Ariana didn't sleep.
How could she?
She lay wide awake in Damien's bed, her wrists still bound, her mind a storm of confusion and fury. Her body betrayed her—still humming from his touch, still throbbing with need. She hated him.
But she was starting to fear something worse than hate.
She was starting to want him.
The door opened just before dawn.
Damien stepped in, shirtless this time. His chest was smooth, sculpted like something carved from midnight marble. His dark slacks hung low on his hips. Shadows clung to him like they feared the light.
He looked at her the way a starving wolf looks at prey that's stopped running.
"I told you I'd wait," he said, voice low. "But patience has limits."
Ariana raised her chin. "So now what? You'll force me? Again?"
His eyes darkened. "Again?"
"You forced me to come here. To this bed. You touched me. And now you expect what—gratitude?"
He crossed the room in seconds.
Gripped her throat—not hard enough to choke, just enough to claim.
"Do you think I care what your moral world calls force?" he growled. "I'm not human. I'm a predator. I don't ask. I take what's mine."
Her pulse raced beneath his fingers.
"And yet," she hissed, "you haven't taken me. Why?"
He stared at her.
Then slowly, he released her throat. His hand slid down her chest. Over the thin silk covering her breasts. She sucked in a breath, every nerve awake and screaming.
"Because you make me hesitate," he said, almost like it was a curse. "Because every time I look at you, I don't just want to fuck you—I want to ruin you."
He yanked the chains off her wrists. The cuffs snapped open with a metallic clink.
Ariana blinked in confusion. "What—?"
"You're not my prisoner anymore," he said.
She rubbed her wrists, staring at him. "What game are you playing now?"
"No game," Damien said. "I'm giving you a choice."
Her body tensed. "A choice?"
He stepped back, eyes never leaving hers. "Leave this room. Walk out that door. No one will stop you."
She stared at him, pulse racing. Her heart pounded like a war drum.
But her body… her body betrayed her.
Damien watched her with the stillness of a hunter. Waiting. Testing. Daring her to defy him.
Ariana stood slowly. Her legs trembled. She stepped around the bed, toward the door.
He didn't move.
She placed her hand on the doorknob.
Cold metal beneath her palm.
Freedom. Or something like it.
She turned it.
Pulled the door open—
Then slammed it shut.
She turned back around, breathing hard.
Damien's mouth curved into a dark smile.
"You didn't leave."
She walked toward him, fists clenched.
"I hate you," she said.
"I know."
"You disgust me."
"You crave me."
"I should walk out."
"You didn't."
She stopped just inches from him. Her eyes locked on his mouth. Her body was screaming. Begging. Betraying her every word.
Damien grabbed her waist and shoved her against the stone wall. Hard.
She gasped as his lips crashed onto hers. Possessive. Dominating. Brutal. His tongue forced its way past her lips, claiming her mouth like it already owned every part of her.
She moaned. Fought back. Bit his lip.
He growled into her mouth and shoved his thigh between her legs.
She was already wet. Already aching.
He ground against her, his hand sliding up her thigh, under the thin silk of the nightgown. His fingers hovered right over her heat—so close she whimpered.
"Say it," he demanded.
"Say what?" she gasped.
"Say you want me."
"No."
His fingers moved closer.
"Say it."
"No—"
He slipped one thick finger along her slit—barely touching, barely there.
She choked on a moan.
"Say it."
Her head hit the wall. She was panting, shaking, her nails digging into his back.
"I want you," she whispered. "God help me… I want you."
He groaned low in his throat, shoved his mouth back onto hers, and lifted her against the wall in one powerful motion.
But just before she could wrap her legs around his waist, just before she could fall completely into it—
He stopped.
Pulled back.
Set her down.
And whispered in her ear, "Not yet."
She stared at him, trembling, wild-eyed, breathless.
"Why?" she demanded.
"Because when I finally take you," he said, brushing her hair from her face, "I want you to scream my name so loud the dead rise."
Then he vanished into the shadows, leaving her soaked, furious, and utterly undone.