“Natalya?”
Sins.
She didn’t turn as she heard Evie move through the apartment. Only when she sensed Evie reaching out for her did she speak.
“Don’t touch me.”
Evie stopped. Natalya imagined the hurt on her face at the harsh tone but didn’t dare turn. Her eyes would be terrifying.
“Where are you going?” Evie asked.
“Below.” It hurt to speak. It hurt tobreathe. She wanted to go back to bed. To lie down. Or to turn around and fuck Evie until her screams turned into moans. That urge was the most demanding, the most frightening. It was one she wouldn’t indulge.
Natalya stepped forward and had to stop when pain raked through her. In this state, she wouldn’t even make it to the elevator.
“You can barely stand,” Evie said. “Please look at me.”
Natalya snarled. She needed Evie to go. Toleave. It wasn’t safe to be this close to a starved fiend. And if she refused to go herself, Natalya would have to make her.
She’d promised she wouldn’t try to scare Evie again. But she needed to. And she couldn’t help it with how spent she was. Hopefully, her starved state would mean Evie couldn’t resist her.
Clutching the edge of the dining table, Natalya turned her scarlet eyes onto Evie.
She looked messy and disheveled. There was sleep in her eyes, and the top she wore was on inside out. She’d started wearing short-sleeved clothing more often lately.
She looked beautiful. And concerned. Exhausted. Like she hadn’t slept properly in days.
Seeing Natalya, she stiffened. Fear and worry rose in her into a mix of tragic emotions. But she didn’t move. She stayed, and the feelings lessened, the fear quicker than the worry.
Then Natalya’s eyes found the purple pendant around her neck, and it was like she’d gone deaf.
Where had she found that? Who had given it to her? Natalya wassureit wasn’t her. The last thing she remembered before passing out was clutching the damn box, so Evie wouldn’t see it.
It dawned on her that the muted noises she could hear came from Evie speaking.
“Why are you wearing that necklace?” Natalya asked sharply.
She didn’t look at Evie’s eyes. She kept staring at the purple-tinted pendant that symbolized Evie washers. That Evie wanted to be hers.
Evie touched the pendant as though she’d just remembered it was there.
“I found it. On the floor. After you fell asleep.”
“Why are youwearingit?” Natalya didn’t know what she was feeling. Possessiveness and elation, but mostly she felt a deep anger at whoever made Evie believe this was the right courseof action. That to help, she had to be under the will of another again.
This couldn’t be what she wanted. She couldn’t have done it willingly. Someone must have convinced her.
“I talked to Lily,” Evie said.
So Lily was the one Natalya needed to torture. Perfect.
“She explained the contracts a bit. That what we’re doing is basically already…that, so I figured—”
“Youfigured?” Natalya’s voice was tight. It made the words sound hateful. “Being Claimed by me is not something youfigure, Evie. It’s submission.Sexualsubmission. Do you understand that?”
Evie crossed her arms, jutting out her chin. “I’m already doing that, aren’t I?”
Natalya sneered, remembering how frail she’d been when Evie found her in the bathroom. She hadn’t been the controlled, powerful Mistress that Evie had been drawn to. She wasn’t that now.
