WHAT THE FUCK was she up to?

She knew I hated secrets.

She knew surprises fucked me off and made me rage. Surprises in my world were never good. And she’d given me enough to last a lifetime. First, by forcing me to accept my darkness, and then, by being stolen from my protection.

I’d done things.

I’d killed people.

I’d hurt both her and myself.

All because of secrets and surprises.

My hands balled as I banged on the bathroom door. “Ouvre la porte, Tess. Maintenant!” Open the door. Now!

My breathing came hard and harsh as the shower splashed, echoing off tiled surfaces behind locked obstructions.

I attacked the door again. “Answer me, esclave. Tell me what you’re planning. Otherwise—”

“Eh, sir?”

“What?” I roared, spinning to face the unwanted guest. Visitors were not permitted in this part of the house. Not even to clean. The apparatus and toys Tess and I used were for our eyes only.

People knew what I needed. Our staff and friends understood how fucked up I was. Yet knowing and seeing were entirely different things.

I shuddered as the beast inside me scratched and clawed. Tess had forced me to leave her alone. She’d barricaded herself so I couldn’t lash out and torture a confession from her.

Fuck.

My cock twitched at the thought of hurting her.

The disgusting sickness never let me go. I’d already done so much to her. I’d branded her. I’d bit her. I’d whipped and bled and fucked her.

Yet now, she’d forsaken me, and the monster howled at the goddamn moon for answers to her secrets.

Franco stepped hesitantly into my quarters. “Tess said the car is ready.” He rubbed the back of his neck. The guy was slightly taller than I was, yet he knew what I was capable of. He’d seen me tear a rapist’s heart from his chest all because my esclave told me to.

“What car? Pourquoi?” Why? I pointed at the door, punching it again for good measure. “Know what? I’d rather hear it from her.” I hoped she understood my anger at her stupid games. The moment I had access to her, she’d regret ever keeping things from me.

Franco glanced at the locked bathroom, a slight smile on his face. “Fuck, she does know you well.”

My nostrils flared as my heart raced to a diabolic rhythm. “What does she know?”

“That you wouldn’t take this news calmly.”

I fought my temper. “Being kept in the dark won’t exactly make me calm.”

Things had been going so well. I had her. My work. My charities. Yes, I was frustrated, and I wanted things that hadn’t come true. And fuck yes, I’d found myself curbing my true nature more and more because the longer Tess was my wife, the more I fought the need to keep her safe—even from myself. But none of that mattered because I had her. I’d earned her. Hadn’t I?

Our marriage was good.

Our sex life was excellent.

But things were…missing.

No, not missing.

Changing.

“Fuck!” I roared, kicking the door, wishing I had an axe to chop it to smithereens. My attention slipped from Franco and his fucking cryptic comments to the ceaseless shower washing my naked woman only a few metres away.

Goddamn door and the extra locks and precautions I’d installed. Ever since Tess was drugged and stolen in my office bathroom, I’d had a love-hate relationship with them. Love because a shower had been the first time I’d taken her. And hate because a bath had been the last thing I’d seen before a rampage that’d ended in countless lives slaughtered and yet more blood smeared across my condemned soul.

“Eh, sir. Phone call for you.”

“Quoi?!” What?!

Franco stomped forward in his work boots and shoved his cell-phone into my paw. “It’s Frederick. Tess told me if you refused to listen to me, you’d listen to him.”

I groaned, swiping my free hand through my hair.

I’d let it grow a little. Mainly because Tess had a fucking adorable way of holding onto it if I didn’t restrain her, using the strands as handle bars as I bit her pussy and forced her high.

She’d called me a tyrant. A beast.

She was right.

But she loved it. Just like I loved giving it to her.

My eyes narrowed as Franco motioned for me to hold the phone to my ear.

Grudgingly, I did.

The second the cool device rested against my skin, my business partner and annoying best friend commanded, “Leave your poor wife alone, Q.”

“Shut up. You don’t know what the hell is going on, and it’s none of your goddamn busi—”

“Wrong. It is my business. I’ve been helping Tess arrange this for weeks.”

“What!?” My voice bounced off the soft furnishings. Franco had the decency to point at the exit and retreat. The minute he was gone, I paced the carpet feeling more and more as if I’d lost control and had no power over the feral monster inside.

The monster that very much wanted Tess’s blood even while desperately needing her love.

“It’s your birthday in two days, Q. You never celebrate. Tess wanted to give you something special. Take you away from work and life.” He paused before continuing with a sharp bark. “You’re going to give in. You’re not going to force her to change her plans. Got it?”

“I never wanted any of this.”

“I know you didn’t. That’s why she’s done it for you. She loves you, you stupid son of a bitch. Let her show you and play along as if you appreciate her efforts rather than want to kill her for them.”

I sulked, glowering at the sex harness tucked in the rafters above. The last time I’d used that, Tess had slept for twelve hours straight, recovering from our escapades. “If I agree, tell me what she has planned. Tell me. Otherwise, I won’t do it.”

What if she’d arranged some crazy sex game designed to give me whatever she thought I needed? What if she pushed me too far and I lost all control and snapped?

I fucking loved her. But I’d never unlocked the cage inside completely, because I didn’t trust my true nature. But there was also a part of me that was very much human. And Tess was what kept me human while almost destroying me at the same time.

I granted her pain because she wanted it as much as I did. But just by being alive and in my bed she caused me more pain than I’d ever endured.

“No, that’s where trust comes in.” Frederick chuckled. “Trust her. Trust us. Get into the car, follow the GPS, be nice to her, smile and pretend you’re having a great ole time. And then meet us at the rendezvous tonight and enjoy yourself for once.”

“Enjoy myself? How can I enjoy myself if I don’t know what’s coming?”

“You know your wife. That’s enough.” Frederick laughed. “Go get in the car, Q. Don’t make me come over there and hog-tie you.”

“You wouldn’t fucking dare.”

“Watch me.” He hung up.

Baring my teeth, I tossed the phone across the room. It bounced against the wallpaper and landed safely in the thick white rug by the fireplace.

Silence fell.

Silence in the bathroom, too.

I stormed toward the door, laying my forehead on the cool wood. Inhaling hard, I forced my temper to a simmer. “Je suis désolé.” I’m sorry. “You can come out, esclave. I’ve calmed down.”

A scratching sounded on the side of the door, but the knob didn’t turn. The sweetest voice—the voice I would never grow tired of—murmured, “Pack and head to the car, Q. I’ll be down soon. You’ll like this surprise. Trust me.”

Trust her.

For years, I’d done just that.

I’d worked beside her, slept next to her, and been inside her more times than I could count in more positions than were legal.

If this was all she asked of me, then fine.

I could trust her.

And I would fucking obey her.