Page 43 of Coal Hearts

Curiosity bloomed despite my tension.

Was she slim and strong because she worked out?

Why did she buy as many rocks as her ex said she did?

Was she truly in love with her adoptive brother?

A shard of jealousy struck me. My fingers bit harder into her flesh.

“You’re hurting me.” She shifted away.

I let her go, shaking out my hand and hating the fire in my fingers.

Victor smiled as bloodthirsty as a shark, missing nothing as I let Ily tell me no.

Wrong move, Ri.

No means yes in this world.

No is a gold-gilded invitation.

I swallowed hard as Victor reclined in his chair. “You definitely remind me of my younger self, Ward. There’s an angel on your shoulder telling you that touching a woman against her will is wrong. That the urges in your body are twisted and ought to be ignored for as long as you physically can. You probably think you can indulge in a quick fuck, no harm done, and then return to your previous life as if nothing ever happened. Am I wrong?”

I froze.

Shit.

Careful.

Tread very, very carefully.

Choosing my words with deliberation, I said coldly, “You’re not wrong, but you’re also not right. I asked to join your club, after all. I want to be who I truly am, but I can’t help it if I’ve been conditioned to play nice.”

“That conditioning will fade, you’ll see.”

I shrugged. “But what if that conditioning is the only thing keeping us human? If we all gave in to what we truly wanted, the world would be run by thieves and sinners.”

“Or the mess of society would be forced to conform to the natural order of things.”

“Natural order?” My forehead furrowed.

“Tell me, Henri, what happens in a forest that has no predators?”

Roland leaned back and scratched his jaw, no doubt used to this spiel and enjoying the entertainment.

I glanced at Ily. She never took her eyes off me.

Two men wanted me to admit all the darkness inside me, while a small, breakable girl wanted me to prove that whatever she’d felt when she first saw me was the truth. That she’d been right to let me affect her. That she wasn’t broken because she was wet for me. That she wasn’t stupid for agreeing to sell herself to me for one delectable night.

I wished I could lie and convince her that I was the good guy.

But even if we weren’t on a plane about to take off—if I hadn’t agreed to traffic her into a world where she would never be found, or condemn her to a future full of pain and damnation—I wouldn’t be able to pretend.

Tearing my attention from her strained, beautiful face, I answered Victor’s question. “If there are no predators, the ecosystem fails. Prey animals breed too fast. They swarm the area. Devour all the resources. Without a threat to keep them running and an enemy to eat them, their sheer numbers destroy everything.”

Victor slapped his thigh and pointed at me. “Exactly!” City lights twinkled past outside the oval windows, revealing we were in a small queue of larger aircraft waiting to gallop down the runway. “Couldn’t have said it better myself. The food chain needs predators and prey. If there are too many of each, the other cannot survive. Balance. It’s all about balance.” He grinned at Ily. “I’m merely providing balance to the rampant breeding by a species that has no natural enemies.”

“You are one twisted man,” Ily muttered. Her eyes narrowed with bravery even as the airplane’s engines switched from a purr to a fuselage-shaking thunder. She gripped the armrests as we lurched forward, plummeting down the tarmac, racing away from gravity’s hold.