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My nostrils flared, and I glowered. “You know why.”

“I don’t. Not really.” His voice was calm, like he was trying to tame a lion.

I shook my head. “Fine, do you want me to say that I’m insecure because you’ve fucked the entire cheerleading team but won’t fuck me?” My voice broke.

He sighed softly and nodded. “Let her go. She does not need to be here for this.”

I balled my free fist, gritting my teeth.

“Please, Xeniya.”

I swallowed hard. “Fine.”

I clicked my gun’s safety on and set it on a built-in shelf in the hut, which had clearly been used to gut fish and other animals.

Then I knelt, untied Polina and let her go.

“Reach for that gun, and I will stop you by breaking your neck,” Severin warned, noticing where Polina's eyes had settled.

Polina whimpered and scrambled to her feet, stumbling past Severin and out the doorway into the forest.

She’d probably make it back to the lodge.

Probably.

Eh, if she didn’t, that wasn’t really my problem.

She’d tried to seduce my man.

I crossed my arms and glared at Severin, still leaning against the doorway like a Greek-god statue.

“Xeniya, I didn’t touch her.”

“I don’t care. She looked at you.”

He smiled, his eyes darkening. “My ice queen is melting.”

“I am not made of ice, and I have never been made of ice.” I am made of poorly patched-together papier-mâché masquerading as a stone fortress, and you want to chisel every piece away.

I didn’t say any of the last bit because he couldn’t know how weak my defenses actually were, how weak they had always been. If he knew, I would crumble.

“No,” he said. “You’re not.” He paused and studied me for a long beat, as if measuring something. “Xeniya, I fucked all of those girls to get your attention. All of them. You never looked at me before I became a playboy, and all I have ever wanted was your attention. Now that I have it, I don’t need to touch anyone else.”

“I… what?” I whispered. What? That couldn’t be true. “That was a stupid way to get my attention.”

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “But it worked.”

“I—” My brows drew together. “You⁠—”

Well, I was fucking speechless, and I had no idea what to say.

Severin prowled toward me like a predator closing in on its prey. When he reached me, he clutched my throat, pushed me against the wall, and devoured my lips, kissing me more fiercely than ever before.

My legs wrapped around his hips as his fingers slid up my thighs and beneath my skirt, digging into my flesh to hold me up.

I moaned into his mouth as the kiss deepened, then bit him. Two tigers battling for dominance and surrender.

I would lose, but I could still enjoy the battle while it lasted.