Page 38 of Entwined

“You have.”

He steps toward me again, but this time, when I shift back, the backs of my legs hit the seat cushions of the sofa, and I drop backward, my hand shifting down again. It’s plunging awfully close to Axel’s waistband, so I snatch it back.

But now there’s nothing between him, where he’s standing over me, and me.

He drops one hand on either side of my thighs, his head lowering slowly toward mine. “You, Liz, are mine, and I won’t relinquish you. I won’t free you, and I won’t allow anyone to kill you. Not my brother. Not other humans. And not my father.” His eyes study mine intently. “Are we clear?”

“You’re saying you would fight your own father for me?”

His lip curls. “How do you think my father became the leader of the blessed?”

I blink.

“He killed his own father to assume control.”

“You don’t know that,” I say. “You weren’t even alive.”

“I hear things,” he says. “And if I have to, I’ll do the same.”

It’s hot. I’m not going to lie.

I spent the better part of my life in a training gym, punching things and people. The fight for dominance is real, and in a fight or flight moment, there’s nothing more attractive than watching someone destroy his opponent.

It’s definitely part of why I always liked Gideon, if I’m being totally honest. And now I’m staring at an apex predator who’s telling me he would kill the greatest predator ever to live.

For me.

It doesn’t hurt that his hair is falling over his perfectly shaped brow just so, his eyes are shining like champagne in the moonlight, and his body is radiating the kind of heat that I should not crave.

It’s the kind of heat that might boil a normal person.

But I want to rip his shirt off over his head and run my hands down every inch of his body. I want him to have a reason to kill someone for me.

I want to belong to him.

Which is so very messed up. I like the very person who poses the greatest threat to humanity. He just admitted that it’s worse than I thought. I should be going for my swords.

But instead, I ask, “Would killing your dad make you a traitor? Or a patriot?” I can’t help the corners of my lip turning up.

“All mourn the king. All hail the king.” His lips purse.

I need to stop staring at them. It’s not helping me.

“Would you kill someone for me, Liz?”

“I have,” I say. “Several scaly someones, in fact.”

“But would you kill a human for me?” He arches one perfect brow.

The devil tempts us in the worst ways. Ways that make it hard to turn him down. I never really understood that before, not fully, not until this very moment. Because the devil in front of me is. . .complex.

I don’t know what to say, so I lean forward and act on another, less confusing instinct.

And I kiss him.

I just kissed Gideon. He was the man I thought I wanted to be with. He was the man I’ve liked for a very long time. In fact, when we kissed earlier, it was hot. My body still reacted.

I wanted him.