Page 81 of The Forsaken Vampire

“You can’t manipulate me.”

“I’m not manipulating you—”

“Nothing in here will kill you.”

“But what I need to survive isn’t here. So, therefore, I will die.”

“Like meds? Are you ill?”

“Something like that.”

“Then tell me what you need, and I’ll get it for you.”

He rubbed his palms together and gave a quiet sigh. “I can’t do that.”

“Because you’re lying—”

“Because I can’t tell you what I need to survive.”

“There’s no scenario in which I let you walk out of there, Aurelias. So, either tell me what you need or die.” I got to my feet, ready to leave this pointless conversation.

He didn’t say a word, but he expressed his anger with the tightness of his clenched jaw. “I’m sorry that I hurt you, but how many times do I have to say that it wasn’t personal? Because it really wasn’t—”

“And that’s exactly the problem.”

“I didn’t want to do this—”

“But you did.”

“You’re one petty woman, aren’t you?”

“If I were a man, would you call me petty? If some woman seduced you—”

“I didn’t seduce you, sweetheart. You seducedme.”

I came closer to the bars, arms crossed over my chest, refusing to grow weak for those dark eyes.

“All I had to do was drug you and take you. But then you wanted me, and I wasn’t going to say no to that.”

“You came on to me—”

“Because I knew you wanted me.”

“How?” I snapped.

He bowed his head and cracked his knuckles. “I just did.”

“You just did…”

He lifted his head and looked at me again. “And then I fucked you, and all I wanted to do was fuck you again, and it turned into this addiction…”

“But then you kidnapped me.”

“Again, I didn’twantto do it.”

“But you did. You took me to the Teeth so I would be killed, and the only reason you got me out of there was because I unexpectedly became more useful to you than they were. I’m alive right now because you need a ship.”

He stared at me, his jawline tight as he clenched his teeth again.