“Look at you.” He hummed in clear pleasure, his gaze running over me despite the duvet covering my body. “My mate looking all rumpled in my bed, trying to act like she’s not wet between her thighs right now.” He inhaled deeply as if he could smell me, then growled like an animal.
My face felt hot, and I clenched my thighs together even harder.
“I bet you’re wondering who the fuck I am, where the fuck you are, and what the fuck I plan on doing with you.” He curled his hand around one of the beams, his finger moving suggestively up and down on it. “You probably wouldn’t believe anything I said at this moment, so how about we just start with the formalities?” I cocked a dark eyebrow. “I’m Adryan.”
Adryan. His name even turned me on.
He flashed a grin as if he knew what I thought.
“I’m sure you have plenty of questions.”
It was hard to hear him over the rush of my pulse in my ears. I was trying to appear strong, even though I was terrified, anxious… strangely aroused.
“I had some clothes bought for you, and although I don’t officially know your size,” he said in that husky tone and let his gaze roam up and down me despite the fact that he couldn’t see much. “I’ve stared at your body enough that I think I got it correct.”
There was a sexual note in his tone that had my pulse picking up uncomfortably. My fear and need to have him touch me were at war with each other.
“Clean up, get dressed, and meet me downstairs. I’m sure my mate would like a hell of a lot of things explained, wouldn’t she?” He gave me a slow grin followed by a wink.
My heart thundered, my breath becoming shallow at the truth of his words. The dog stayed right beside him, sitting, watching, staring at me in the most unnerving way.
I was afraid and confused and had no idea what in the hell was up from down, left or right. Yet my body kept betraying me, at war with my mind.
“You keep calling me that—mate,” I whispered before I knew the words were spilling forth. He still stood at the end of the bed and just watched me with his calculating gaze. “You keep using that term like it means something.”
His expression was so serious—stone-cold serious—that it caused chills to settle on my arms and legs.
He said nothing for a long while, didn’t move… hell, I didn’t even think he breathed. Then he moved around the bed, letting his hand slide along the smooth, glossy bedpost as he came closer. I was frozen in place as he stopped right beside me, but I couldn’t look at him, couldn’t hold his gaze. It just seemed so intimate for some reason, as if I was tethering myself to him.
Everything in my head urged me to shy away, to run hard and fast, because this man was dangerous. But another part told me that although that was true, he wouldn’t hurt me. I didn’t know how I was so sure of that, but I knew with every part of my being that this man was a dangerous killer, yet I was safest when I was with him.
“Look at me, Kayla,” he said in a low voice, more of an inhuman growl than anything else I’d ever heard. And as if there was this invisible thread between us, I lifted my head so I could lock gazes with him.
He didn’t speak for long seconds, just continued to stare down at me. I couldn’t break eye contact, couldn’t control my thoughts or breathing or even this situation. I was adrift right now, and that scared the shit out of me.
And when he reached out, I tensed involuntarily. If he noticed, he didn’t comment, just gripped my chin with his thumb and forefinger and gently tipped my head back even more. My neck muscles stretched, this ache moving down my body and settling right between my legs.
“My sweet Kayla,” he purred and leaned in, bracing a hand on the mattress beside my body, his other hand still on my face, his thumb stroking over my bottom lip.
He touched me like he knew me. God, he touched me like he knew every single part of me and it was his.
“My mate.” His voice was low and deep and washed over me in the most obscene way. I felt his body heat seep into me and had to bite back a moan. “It means everything.”
14
Kayla
I didn’t know why I wasn’t looking for an escape route, why I cleaned up, dressed, and did exactly what Adryan wanted me to do, like the obedient little servant he was probably used to.
But I did want answers. I was so confused about… everything.