Page 74

I didn’t ask. Refused giving her the upper hand.

But damn it, she intrigued me. Taunted me.

The pull to her will be the end of me.

I slam the dishwasher door shut. That uncontrolled anger spikes inside me again. Has me clenching my fist.

Fucking her. Breeding her. Of course these are the reasons I’m doing this.

A huff of a laugh bursts past my lips. Sounds as harsh as a cough.

With Topher’s mom, the process was easy.

She chased me around on campus. The med student had five years on me, but she was persistent. By then, I had already been initiated into my father’s organization.

I was repulsed and disgusted by the next step I was forced to take. I despised the idea of forcefully breeding a woman.

Except I couldn’t kill my father just yet.

I couldn’t kidnap Faye, either. When I took her out on a date to tell her I had no other choice, she smiled. She begged me to do it. Was adamant that it would be okay as long as we kept it between us.

She gave me her consent.

Relief didn’t wash over me at that. I was already responsible for the disappearances of Oliver’s and my sacrifices. No one had reported them missing, as I suspected.

Putting a child in Faye and saving her would’ve been more complicated.

Eventually, I had it figured out.

The solution was a simple one.

Until it wasn’t.

Ophelia isn’t her. Nothing like her or anyone I’ve ever met.

She’s different.Iam different around her.

Her dark eyes. Her beating heart. Her personality that keeps changing and drawing me in.

Maddening.

The other mug on the granite counter taunts me. Her mug.

I had a plan for today. I’d come down here after my workout, make her coffee. Let her drink water from my mouth. Feed her.

Hear her tell me, of her own volition, that she doesn’t hate me.

And I haven’t given up on the idea of hearing her beg.

Goddamn rain. I can’t think straight like this. Can’t focus with the drops on my window that look so much like her tears.

My dick thickens, pushing against my jeans.

Concentrate.

She was about to say something else last night. I crave it. I need it.

I’m about to burst out of my skin.