“You cannot keep me here under lock and key,” Lilliane sniffed, crossed her arms, and raised her chin. Usually, this got her what she wanted from her older sisters. Atlas didn’t look impressed at all. In fact, he met her gaze head-on and growled, “Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No,” she repeated with more volume now. “And don’t you sayyesagain, or I’ll scream.”
He smiled wide, showing off a row of perfect white teeth. If it hadn’t been so predatory, it would have almost been sexy how he grinned at her. “Scream all you want, trouble. No one can hear you way out here.”
“My sisters will come for me,” she harrumphed.
“No. They won’t. They didn’t stop me from leaving with you for a reason. They’re both busy with their new mates, and they have a life of their own now. You’ve done your best to ruin their happiness lately, not to mention all the vamps and headaches you’ve caused around here lately, so I don’t think your sisters will be too keen on helping you. Again.”
“You can’t,” she argued. Atlas had a point, but she couldn’t admit that to him. It would give him too much power and too much satisfaction. Lillianewasthe baby of the family, and she did rely on her sisters a lot. They were more like parents, given that they’d all been taken from their mothers and their dad wasn’t exactly a hands-on kind of parent. She was spoiled, and she knew it.
That was exactly why she had done everything in her power to protect her sisters from the vampire council’s nefarious plans. Better she sacrifice herself than let her sisters suffer. It was Lilliane’s turn to sacrifice.
Atlas had ruined her plan, and she hated him for it. Who did he even think he was, anyway? So he was hot in that grumpy way, but Lilliane didn’t care. Not much. Nope. “You can’t keep me prisoner,” she growled, taking a page out of his book.
“Yes,” Atlas snapped, taking a step closer to her. She had to crane her head back to look into his eyes.
“No.”
“Yes, and don’t you saynoagain,” he said. It wasn’t lost on her that he was repeating her words. Her fury continued to simmer.
“I really hate you,” she snapped.
“Right back at you.” He stared her down, daring her to continue this childish and insane fight.
Lilliane sighed and shook her head. If Atlas wouldn’t be swayed by law and reason, she needed to level with him. As much as she could. She didn’t have to tell himeverything, but she could divulge just enough to get him to understand. “I don’t think you get what I was trying to do. I had to save my sisters.”’
“By agreeing to marry a vampire you didn’t know?” His snort was cut with a dry laugh.
“You wouldn’t understand,” she insisted, annoyed he wasn’t even giving her a chance.
“You keep saying that, but you haven’t even tried to explain it.”
“I don’t think you’re smart enough to get it,” she bit out only to bait him. Maybe if she was annoying and mean enough, Atlas would let her go. “That’s why I haven’t tried. What kind of man are you? Locking me in here like you have a right to do so.”
“Oh, but I do have the right. I have every right.”
She crossed her arms and threw her head back with a laugh. “Yeah? How?”
Atlas opened his mouth only to snap it shut. “None of your business.”
“Of course, it’s my business. You think it’s totally okay to hold me prisoner, and you claim that my family won’t even come to rescue me. Stands to reason you must know something I don’t.”
Atlas closed the very little distance between them. He gripped her chin between his thumb and index fingers. The second his fingers touched her, Lilliane gasped. His skin was hot and callused, and though he glared down at her, his touch wasn’t hard.
It was … oddly gentle.
Confusing, infuriating man.
The brown of his eyes turned from hatred to something else in a flash. “Lilliane,” he growled, sending a thrill up her spine, “listen to me very carefully. There is no safer place than this cabin. This is for your own good and the good of my pack. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
Lilliane wanted to rage at him.
She wanted to beat her fists against his chest and make a run for the door.
