“Obey me.” Reaching between her legs, I yanked the lycra from her thighs and tossed it to the side.

She glowered but answered my previous question, even though I’d stripped her. “No, I’m not hurt.” Her pussy remained hidden, thanks to her kneeling position, but it didn’t stop my mouth from watering with excruciating need. “I’m thirsty and tired but not hurt.”

“What happened?”

“Why do you care?” Planting her hands over the V of her thighs, she hissed, “What are you going to do to me?”

I swallowed a wash of fury. Her well-being was my concern, and she’d thrown that in my face. She’d stolen a kayak, most likely capsized in the storm, then exposed herself to the elements. I was fully within my right to be pissed. “Your lesson will come soon enough.”

“Will I still be breathing after it?” Her eyes blazed with rebellion but also regret.

“Depends how teachable you are. How sorry you are.”

“I’m not sorry that I ran. I’m sorry that I failed.”

“And that is why I’ll ensure you’ll learn your lesson exceedingly well.” I had my methods to curb unruly goddesses. I had a room back on my island where all troublemakers went. Most only lasted a night. Eleanor…she’d be subjected to a week.

A week of imprisonment and intense education on required behaviour.

I would personally see to her demotion from a woman who defied me to a possession who accepted her place.

Tears sprang to her grey eyes but she didn’t stop me when I reached under the mass of her hair to undo the bow at her nape then brush aside the seaweed weaved in her strands to undo the one in the centre of her spine.

Her true lesson would have to wait until we returned home, but here…alone…I couldn’t keep my goddamn hands off her. No Calvin to stop me. No goddesses to watch. Just pure and utter freedom to bruise what was mine.

To break what is mine.

Her head bowed as the black triangles fell away, revealing her breasts. The skin that’d been protected by the bikini still glowed white, etched with unsightly pink. “You deliberately hurt yourself. How am I supposed to achieve top dollar with your skin so burned?”

She gritted her teeth and didn’t reply.

Dragging my finger around her nipple, I kept my voice low and provocative, tormenting both of us with the vein of wildfire crackling beneath the surface. “You surprised me.”

Her chin tipped up, fight all over her face. “Surprised you? How?”

Pinching her nipple, I murmured, “You got farther than anyone else. You made it to Serigala, which no one has before. I’ll give credit where it’s due.”

“How far?” Her throat rippled as she swallowed hard. “How much farther until I would’ve been free?”

I squeezed her breast, then swooped to my full height, shadowing her. My hand still tingled from cupping her. “You would never have made it.”

“I might have if the storm hadn’t—”

“There are always inconveniences. Just like you’ve inconvenienced me.”

Her teeth bared. “How have I inconvenienced you? Did I ask for you to rip me from my life and hook me up to some machine for bastards to fuck me?”

I shuddered. What I wouldn’t do to be that bastard right now. “Your skin is burned. Your system is depleted. I’m surprised you’re not fainting at my feet like last time.”

“That will never happen again.” Her hands balled. “I’d never fainted before in my life.”

“What a compliment.” I forced a savage smile. “I make you weak.”

“You starved me.”

“I’ll starve you again for running.”

Her head bowed, her hands clenching with insubordination. She wanted to argue. She still had courage to wage battle with me, but self-preservation was equally as strong. She battled herself, just as much as me.

I respected that. I admired her passion and her poise. I wanted both sides of her—the fiery parts that couldn’t help clashing with me and the other that shielded herself in ice.

“At least you’re alive.” I ignored the residual ache around my heart. Thinking she’d died had scarred me with truth. I did feel something for her. Something I refused to accept. Something I wished would die. And that vulnerability only amplified my need to be cruel. To keep her far away from the parts of me that could one day belong to her.

“Will I stay that way?” she murmured, keeping her gaze on the grass.

My hands balled by my thighs as I weighed my answer. I’d always been merciless, but I’d never been unjustly heartless. I would punish her, but I wouldn’t kill her. Not for this. “Of course.”

Her gaze caught mine. “You don’t sound happy about it.”

“I’m not happy that you’ve proven to be a bad investment.”

Her chin snapped upward, her temper gnashing against mine. “Bad investment? I told you I wouldn’t bow to you. I warned you I would curse you every day that you kept me.”

My control snapped. I snatched her jaw, digging my fingers into her cheeks. “Oh, you cursed me all right. You’ve cursed yourself too. Do you honestly think you can keep playing this game with me? Fucking teasing me, making me want something I can’t have, and then running away instead of facing what you caused?”

She fought to get free. “What? You’re blaming this on me?”

“I’m blaming all of this on you.” I squeezed hard, then backed up, dragging a hand through my hair. “I wish I’d never requested you.”

She sat up on her knees, still bowing but taking back her power one piece at a time. “Let me go then. I’ve offered before, and I’ll offer again. I’ll pay. I’ll give you any figure you want. Let me buy my freedom, and you’ll never—”

“Never what? Fuck you? Hurt you?” I stepped into her until my shoe nudged her knee, threatening to crowbar her legs apart. “Never fall for you?”

She sucked in a breath, her voice turning into a squeak. “Fall for me?”

I froze.

Shit!

The smart thing would be to send her away. The only way to stay sane was to get rid of her. So why did the thought of never seeing her again do such monstrous things to me? Why had I flown thousands of miles with my goddamn heart bleeding out? Why did I stand here, trying to belittle and demean when I’d always been above such treatment?

I kept my girls in line without raising my voice. Without revealing my temper.

But her?

Jinx.

Goddamn Eleanor…she’d changed me, and I did not like who I’d become.

Her tongue licked her lips, her thoughts racing wildly in grey eyes. “Do you…eh…” She swallowed hard, goosebumps scattering all over her. She shifted as if afraid to ask, terrified to hear my answer. “Do you…feel it too?”

That question.

Shit, that question.

It hung between us, dangling on a fishing rod, waiting for me to take the bait and reel us together.

In five words, she’d hinted that she felt something for me. That I wasn’t alone in this madness. That she hated the hostile takeover of her heart just as much as I did. Perhaps we were allies in that, not enemies. If she felt a tenth of what I did, then it must kill her. Destroy her to want the man who’d paid money for her soul. Who looked upon her as everything he owned—disposable and finite.