Page 10 of Shai

He could read my fucking mind. That’s exactly what I’d considered doing. He pulled my bottom lip down with the pad of his thumb, the touch almost gentle. A bolt of something ran through me, some alien emotion that made me crave fists and boots. At least then, nothing had been expected from me except to lie there and take it. It had been simple, whereas this— whatever this was—was far from simple.

Shai lifted the water bottle in the air and tipped it slightly, so that it

hovered a good meter away from my lips. “Open your mouth.”

I opened my mouth.

He tipped the bottle farther, gravity doing the rest. I drank it down

greedily, the distance, as well as the speed at which he poured, meaning I struggled to drink fast enough, water overflowing my mouth to wet the pillow. And even as I drank as much as I could get, I glared at him, needing him to know that I’d only acquiesced because I’d had no choice. I needed water to survive and he knew that.

I drank until the bottle was empty, lamenting the half of it that he’d

drunk earlier. What little I’d gotten wasn’t nearly enough to quench my thirst, but at least it went some way to quelling the burning sensation in my throat.

“Have you ever been with a man, Elijah?”

The question stopped me in my tracks, the words spoken as politely as

if it was an everyday inquiry.

Shai

THE WILDCAT’S glare became more pronounced, the open show of aggression making my cock swell accordingly. There was no way he could have known it, but Elijah was providing me with exactly what I craved most in a sexual partner. I liked to take, to plunder, and if the object of my affections either wasn’t willing, or could at least put on a good show of not wanting it, it made it all the sweeter. The answer to whether he’d ever been with a man was already in his eyes, and in the way he’d gone incredibly still beneath me. I still intended to hear the admission from his lips, though, so I waited, the silence stretching between us.

“No!” The word was almost choked out, the panic in Elijah’s eyes feeding the beast inside me even more. Unconscious, he’d done absolutely nothing for me. But conscious and uncooperative, well, that aroused me like nothing else could. I’d be lying if I said I’d given much thought to him during the week, listening to Callaghan’s daily updates with minimal interest once I’d ascertained that he was still alive. After hearing he was awake, it was nothing more than a slight sense of curiosity that had driven me here.

However, his rebellious attitude and the fear in his eyes on seeing Nyoko had certainly gotten my attention. If he was scared of her, I couldn’t wait for him to meet the black mamba. That’s when I’d see true fear from him. I took a moment to study him. With his bruises faded and color in his cheeks replacing the earlier waxy pallor, he looked far better.

Leaning forward, I took hold of his wrists again, not making any

attempt to hide the heat in my gaze as I raked it over his body, devouring every inch of his skin as I imagined putting my own marks on him. Mine would be made with the hard grip of fingertips as I held him still while I fucked him, and my teeth as I pierced his skin, not fists and boots. “You’ll learn to enjoy being with a man.”

Elijah shook his head wildly from side to side, his throat working as

quickly as if he was still drinking the water. “I can be useful to you in other ways.”

I sat back, exaggerating my look of surprise. “You can? And here I was

thinking you were nothing but a petty thief and drug dealer.” His body jerked beneath mine, his eyes going wide. Of course I’d already known all the answers to the questions I’d asked him. My men were skilled in extracting information on anyone I required them to. I’d simply wanted to see if he’d tell the truth. And he had. “I already have plenty of both in my employ. I have no need of more. What else do you have to offer besides your body?”

The blue eyes fastened on me clouded over with resignation, and it was

all I could do to hold back a smirk. The rebellion would be back. I was sure of it. I dragged my thumb over his bottom lip again, testing its softness, the same look appearing on his face as it had earlier—the question of what I would do if he chose to bite. I applied more pressure, baiting him to try it, hoping he had enough spirit that the two of us could find out together what retribution I would bring crashing down on him. Unfortunately, he didn’t bite, wrenching his head away from my touch and turning to stare sightlessly across the room. I waited a few beats, carefully picking my moment. “Of course, there’s the small matter of the test first.”

His head swung back to center. “The test?”

Climbing off him, I went over to the chest of the drawers on the far side

of the room. Opening the bottom drawer, I extracted a pair of jeans and flung them in his direction. He stared at them as they landed on his chest in a way that said he was trying to work out what they were and what they were for. Finally, he roused himself enough to swing his legs over the side of the bed, his toes sinking into the carpet as he struggled to put them on, all the time casting surreptitious looks my way. The jeans weren’t a great fit, the waist too loose and the legs too long, but they would do for the time being.

Rescuing Nyoko from where she’d curled up behind the curtain, I draped her back around my neck, noting with satisfaction the shudder that wracked Elijah’s frame as he tried his best not to look at her. The test was going to prove interesting. It did leave me with somewhat of a quandary, though. Given the odds stacked against him, it would have been better to have my fun with him now. But I wanted to take my time with him. The pleasure would be far more intense if I waited. There was nothing sweeter than delayed gratification. Therefore, I would take the risk.

Elijah had managed to stand. He had one arm braced against the wall as if he wasn’t quite convinced of his ability to remain upright without support. “What test?”

I paused at the door to look back over my shoulder. “Follow me, and you’ll find out.”

He did follow, a little unsteady on his feet, but managing as he made sure to keep a distance between us. “Where are we going?”