Page 30 of The Villain's Beast

“You liked being chased,” he said. “You liked being forced.”

“I didn’t.” I gave him a crooked shrug. “Not when it was happening, but now…I’m sad it’s over.”

Fletcher exhaled and shook his head, blinking quickly at the ground before looking up at me. He caught my stare and it was like a tractor beam. Magnetic had been an understatement. Fletcher Sinclair was unavoidable.

“After this, I have to take you deeper into the woods,” he said slowly. “I have to gift you to Gideon North.”

“The Beast,” I murmured.

Fletcher grimaced. “He’s just a man.”

“He has a reputation,” I said.

“And don’t I?” He held his hands out at his sides, mouth still twisted into an angry half-scowl.

“You do,” I agreed.

“And what is it then?” Fletcher took a step toward me, bringing into focus how much taller and broader than me he truly was.

“Fletcher Sinclair, heir to the Thorns legacy, the Sinclair dynasty.”

“What else?”

“You’re ruthless.” The twist in my back when I tried to straighten my spine was reminder enough of that. “You’re a cruel villain.”

Fletcher snorted, rolling his eyes. For the briefest moment, even in the dark of the woods, I saw the pain in his face, the lie of the whole thing, but the wind blew, the trees rustled… and it was gone.

Fletcher Sinclair is the only ally you need.

“I don’t think you’re so bad,” I told him, taking a breath and reaching for him once more. He didn’t shy away from my touch, but he went rigid and still beneath my fingers. His pants were still undone, and I slowly moved my fingers beneath the waistband of his underwear. His cock hadn’t softened yet, throbbing against my palm when I wrapped my fingers around him.

“You don’t know a thing about me…” He trailed off on a gasp as I stroked him from root to tip.

“I know you stopped when you thought I didn’t really want it,” I said.

Fletcher moved quickly, collaring his hand around my throat and slamming my back into a tree. He lifted me onto my toes, and I kept my hand around his cock, kept stroking as hetightened his fingers around my neck. His hand was so large I imagined his fingers almost touched in the back.

“You’re right,” I rasped. “You’re right.”

He came across my fingers with a look of agony on his face and he dropped me back onto my feet without so much as a warning. My next breath hurt my lungs, and my dick pulsed in response, leaking hot precum against my leg.

“I’m taking you to Gideon North,” he said, shoving his flagging erection back into his pants.

“I understand.”

“He has the same…” Fletcher trailed off again.

So much power and so often at a loss for words. He was no better than me, just a lost little boy playing dress up and I didn’t think anyone knew it besides me and him.

“I understand now,” I said again. “I know what you both expect.”

“That’s what the society expects,” he corrected, brushing his hair away from his face, and then doing the same to mine with far more tenderness than he’d given himself. “What I expect is for you to find out all you can about him before he sends you back. I want to know everything you can learn about Gideon North.”

Chapter 21

Gideon

The initiation ritual was something I’d been dreading since I found out about it. The only consolation as I prepared myself to head into the woods was that I was sure whatever Fletcher had to go through was worse. Between the Thorns and the Roses, one society was known for being ruthless and it wasn’t mine.