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A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You defied me.”

“Wrong.” I set his plate down on the table with a satisfying clatter. “You never told me I couldn’t leave. And even if you did…” I flashed him a slow, wicked smile. “I wouldn’t have listened anyway.”

His expression darkened, his gaze fixed on me like a wolf sizing up prey.

I didn’t stop there, though, of course. I picked up his plate, strolled toward the bed, grabbed his hand and placed his fork in it, then set the plate on his lap.

“Eat up, big guy,” I said sweetly. “You’re gonna need your strength if you wanna keep up with me.”

Before he could snarl at me, I turned on my heel and sauntered back to the fire, smirking as I heard him let out a low, murderous growl.

God, pissing him off was fun. It reminded me of old times.

Silas grumbled under his breath as he took his first bite, chewing slowly, his gaze flicking up at me every few seconds like he was debating whether to scold me or devour me whole.

Probably both.

I could practically feel the storm brewing inside him, but he hadn’t started admonishing me yet, so I considered that a win.

Seating myself at the table, I picked up my own fork and started eating, smirking at him as I chewed. “You’re welcome, by the way,” I sassed.

He set his fork down a little too hard. “You weren’t supposed to leave the cabin.”

I huffed, rolling my eyes. “And yet, I did. And look: no bullet wounds, no broken bones, and I even brought you breakfast. That’s calledmultitasking.”

His eyes darkened. “What you deserve is to be put over my knee.”

A fiery jolt of heat shot through me at that, but I refused to let him see it. Instead, I scoffed and put a hand on my hip. What the hell was I doing? Did Iwanta spanking? Even as those thoughts flashed through my mind, I couldn’t help myself as I opened my mouth and pushed him a bit further.

“Are you really going to be a dick right now? I mean, I did make you breakfast.” I pouted at him.

Silas just stared at me for a long,longmoment.

Then, slowly, he leaned back, his massive frame stretching, muscles flexing, a lazy sort of amusement flickering in his eyes.

“You did make me a delicious breakfast…” he said thoughtfully, picking his fork back up.

He took another bite, chewing slowly, deliberately, before leveling me with a look that made my stomach tighten.

“Let me just enjoy this,” he said, his voice dark with nefarious promise, “and then I’ll decide how to deal with you.”

I swallowed hard. Shit.

Heat blossomed low in my belly, and I hated the way my thighs pressed together instinctively and my pulse quickened at the sheer certainty in his tone. He knew what he was doing to me.

Bastard.

I refused to be the first to crack.

So instead, I tossed my hair over my shoulder and huffed. “Yeah, yeah. Eat your damn food, Alpha, and try not to choke on all that self-righteousness.”

Silas just smirked, cocky and too confident.

Dangerous.

It was the look of a man who knew exactly how to make good on his threats, who relished the idea of putting me in my place. Maybe that should have made me nervous. Maybe I should have backed down.

But backing down wasn’t really my thing.