Page 13 of Wicked Bonds

She started describing the scene in her head, painting a picture of the first time they’d met on the beach. Balthazar listened, the conversation one he remembered. But it hadn’t been with Leela. He’d spoken to another female, an enigma he’d dreamt of for months.

A woman without a face.

A fantasy he’d merely enjoyed without considering too heavily.

But as Leela recounted more of their conversation, telling him how it had led to them joining Luc to observe his maple shot challenge. “I remember that…” But it hadn’t been quite the same way she described it now. “I took one of those brunettes back to my room for the afternoon.”

Leela shook her head. “No. You didn’t.” She almost sounded sad. However, he heard the conviction in her mind, the one that told her she’d removed these memories for a reason.

To protect him.

To protect us.

To protect Stas.

Balthazar cupped her cheek, his thumb drawing a sensual line across her bottom lip. “You’re wrong, Lee,” he whispered.

“I’m not.”

“You are,” he countered. “You could have trusted me.”

She shook her head, her lips parting on an argument he didn’t want to hear.I barely knew you. We were never meant to meet.It was a mistake.

All those thoughts fought for purchase in her mind, each statement true to an extent.

And yet… “You didn’t even give us a chance, Lee.”

“A chance?” she repeated incredulously. “Don’t insult my intelligence. Neither of us is the relationship type, Balthazar.”

“I meant us, as in the Elders,” he corrected her, his lips curling. “But good to know where your head is at.”

She rolled her eyes. “You already know,mind reader.”

“Mmm, I do,” he agreed, leaning even more into her and ensuring she could feel every inch of his interest pressed up against her. “And you know where mine is, too.”

Blue flames licked a dangerous path around her pupils, overtaking the green in her irises. “I expected you to be angry.”

“I am angry,” he admitted softly. “Very, very angry.”

She’d fucked with his mind. He didn’t take kindly to that.

However, having access to her thoughts helped him understand why she’d done it.

That didn’t mean he was okay with her actions. No, he intended to make her pay for them in a way that gratified them both.

But he still wanted her to admit that she was wrong to erase the memory of their time together.

Then he wanted her to beg for more.

To implore him to make new memories.

To apologize with her pretty lips wrapped around his cock.

He angled her face upward, his mouth hovering a scant inch from hers. “You’re going to crawl for me, Lee,” he vowed, repeating the words he’d said to her before dragging her into this shower. “You’re going to crawl and beg me to fuck you. But I won’t give in. Not until you truly want it. And even then, we’ll see.”

“I won’t crawl for you,” she countered, her voice holding a conviction that escalated the stakes between them. “I don’t crawl for anyone.”

“You will for me,” he promised her.