Page 153 of Bonds of Starfall

He smirked, but didn’t reply.

"Would you have," she continued, "force me if I hadn’t wanted it? In this alternate reality—which really isn’t so far off because you did take me—how can I be so sure you wouldn’t have hurt this younger version of me?"

It was almost like a game, now, between them. He seemed to love to play just as much as she did. She swore, she felt the Argent sweep through her bloodstream.

"Because I think I would’ve seen, from a young age, how innocent you are." Rhyden stared at her, unmoving from his spot. He passed a hand over his lower face, and that drew her attention to his lips. She remembered how they’d felt against her own, and the space between her thighs tingled.

"You would have been so much sweeter, with me keeping you safe your whole life. I hope that I would have realized how innocent you truly are in what you did in your past." Finally, he moved. Drawing closer, he stopped just by her side, a heat that burned against her. The tension between them was undeniable,impenetrable. "I never would have taken anything from you or touched you in a way you didn’t want. But I would, when you wanted it." His fingers drifted over the tips of her hair, where it fell over her shoulder. "You did when you were under me in Lunar City." He traced a finger over the side of her neck. "When my fangs were inside you and your blood filled my mouth."

Somehow, they had drawn even closer while he had spoken so sinfully to her. Rhyden leaned over her, and she was bent back against the counter, the edge digging into her spine.

"What about now?" Rin’s voice quivered.

"What?" His tone dropped to a low murmur.

This was it. Her whole plan hinged on this moment; though, it was distant, barely a thought in her mind when faced with his strength, his scent. She lifted a hand and pressed it on his lower stomach, feeling the thin cotton of his shirt under her palms, and the heat of his chiseled muscles. "What would you do now?"

Rhyden smirked down at her, and Rin found herself wondering if he’d break—or she would be broken by him.

"Now? Now I want to touch you. Your eyes are practically begging me for it."

"Is that so?"

"Don’t fucking lie to me again, wife." Rhyden’s eyes were burning red. "You can lie to me about a lot of things, but never about desire. I know you." He leaned down, rings on his fingers sending a cool shock of electricity to her flesh as he touched her, brushing her hair away from the side of her neck. His lips pressed against her earrings. She lamented the fact that everything she wore was white gold—just like his rings. Like a part of her had known what silver would do… "Intimately."

"If you know me so well," Rin said, a husky note in her voice, "then why aren’t you doing anything about it?"

Her words seemed to be all the permission he needed—she scoffed inwardly at that. As if he needed or wanted her permission.

No. Rhyden Valkar was beholden to no laws, to no man. He was a force unto himself.

And Rin was the thing he had set his sights on. For better or for worse.

Rhyden gripped the side of her neck, thumb pressing deeply into her pulse point under her jaw. He forced her head up to his, and the stretch was almost uncomfortable. Then, just like the last time—the first time they’d kiss—his lips ravaged hers.

It was rapacious, the way he claimed her, as if he wanted to punish her, enact his revenge upon her mouth. Wet and messy, the vampire kissed her. The counter dug into her spine, and she yelped into his mouth; he swallowed the sound down.

In a haze of lust, Rin nearly forgot her whole plan.

Rhyden’s lips traveled down to kiss her jaw, nip at her ear. His teeth tugged on a small hoop in her ear, and she felt the pull tingle through her scalp and shoot to the tips of her toes. And Rin remembered… just as his fangs brushed the side of her neck.

"The bed," she gasped, pulling away from him, her hands on his chest. God, he was hot and hard under her palms. Saliva glimmered on his lips.

"What was that?" Rhyden drawled. His voice was so deep she felt it hook around that tingly spot between her thighs, making her legs tighten where she stood, as if to stave off the sparks of anticipatory pleasure at what was promised in his eyes.

Of course, he was going to make her repeat it.

It was an effort to keep her eyes on his—and not drift to the dark shadows of the headboard, where the rope lay stashed.

She swallowed.

"Take me. I know you want this, want me." Rin reached up and placed her palm on his face, beseeching with her eyes, brows winged, as she implored, "Why deny yourself?"

He groaned lowly. "I could never deny myself anything when it came to you. And I sure as hell couldn’t deny you—never. Not then, and not now."

Before she could blink, his hands were on her hips, and he hoisted her up until her legs were hooked around his waist. She locked her hands around his nape, fingers threading through the smooth, short hair there. Her lower half shifted against him.

The hands on her waist tightened, stilling her. "Not so fast, wife." Rhyden started to walk backward, and when his legs hit the bed, he sat with the grace of a predator, Rin on his lap, her legs splayed over his strong thighs. "Don’t get any fucking ideas. I’m in control. Not you. If I fuck you, it’ll never be like it was between us. Never again." She gasped sharply as his fingers twisted in the back of her hair, and he tilted her head back so far she nearly toppled off his lap. "That’s the only way this can happen. Say you understand—say it."