Page 69 of When Ashes Fall

I looked pointedly at the closed pantry door. “The rat⁠—”

“His name is Gizzi, and he’s my friend. Please stop calling him that.”

The alpha part of me and the beast both snarled at her tone and words. “I don’t take commands.”

“I didn’t give you a command; I asked you to please stop disrespecting my friend.”

We glared at each other before Briar stood and stalked over to the window. She peered out, but there was nothing to see beyond the curtain of rain.

“The rodent,” I said pointedly. “Never leaves your side.”

She spun toward me. “Well, look at you using those super honed shifter senses to state the obvious.” She gave a long, slow clap while she continued talking. “Bravo, Knox, bravo.”

I launched from my chair and stalked toward her. She didn’t move or try to run; there was nowhere for her to go, but her eyes darted around the room.

When my hand crashed into the wall beside her head, she jumped a little but didn’t cower. “I am the alpha of this kingdom, and you will treat me with respect.”

Her head tipped back as she scowled at me while I towered over her. Determined to make her back down, I crowded closer.

While I’d anticipated her backing away from me, she didn’t. Her breasts brushed my chest with every breath she took, but she didn’t retreat.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Knox

“My respect has to be earned; it’s not freely given because you’re bigger and stronger than me,” she declared, though her voice trembled.

“You have no idea what you’re fucking with right now.”

“I have every idea what I’m fucking with,” she retorted. “I’m not afraid of you. What more can you do to me? I’ve already lost everything… everything, including the man I loved. I have no one and nowhere to go.

“Your kingdom is in ruins, but you still have a place to call your own, a pack, the sprites, and a home. I don’t care what you do to me because I have nothing for you to take.”

I didn’t remind her that I could take the rat, as her words had knocked some of my growing fury out of me. Even the beast retreated a little.

Her shoulders heaved with every breath she took, and my gaze fell to the ripe swell of her breasts against her sweater. I longed to slice that sweater open, push her to her knees, and thrust my cock between her tits while she tongued the head of it.

The image was so consuming that I rested my hand on her shoulder before realizing what I was about to do. She was lost and wounded, and I was on the verge of forcing myself on her.

I was many things… including a monster… but I wasn’t that. The casters had completely changed me, but they would never turn me into one of them.

Jerking my hand away, I retreated a few steps. I had to get away from her if I was to regain control of myself.

When I felt stable enough to talk again, I stared out one of the windows as I ran my hand over the stubble on my head. “I think you underestimate how much the sprites enjoy having you here.”

I should also tell her that my pack liked her too, but I couldn’t. Words were too difficult as I remained rattled by the impulse.

“That still doesn’t make Wildwood my home,” she said. “You’ve made it very clear I’m a way for you to get back at my mother, a pawn, and something for you to use.”

Taking a deep breath, I felt steady enough to look at her again. “You can’t be a pawn if you’re no good to me against your mother, and you can’t break the curse.”

“So I’m just a prisoner.”

“You just said you have nowhere else to go.”

“I don’t, but I also don’t have complete freedom here.”

“And you never will. Wildwood is too dangerous for you to be outside the castle walls alone. You will always have someone to protect you; I’ve instructed my pack to allow you outside the walls if you request it, but one of them will go with you. That will never change.”