I knew I had to stay on my guard after what Cut had said: I’m to be treated with kindness and compassion. I could easily fall into the trap of thinking their concern was genuine. But…if Kes was Kite, we had a connection that went past family obligations.

Don’t we?

Regardless, we’d spent a couple of hours sharing things that’d transported me away from Hawksridge Hall and to a place filled with softness. A connection formed, dusting my tummy with tentative bubbles of attraction.

He was nice…despite my healthy suspicion of his motives.

But one thing niggled me.

One thing I hadn’t been able to figure out.

He was completely different from the man who cursed and acted so crude via text messages. His arrogant way of demanding sexual gratification when not face-to-face was a direct contradiction to his kindness in person.

It didn’t make sense—almost as if he had split personas—once again proving my theory that all Hawks were daft.

“What did my father tell you?” Jethro asked.

I blinked, forcing myself to pay attention to the mad man currently circling me like a vulture. “What?”

Jethro balled his hands. “When he kept you back, what did he say?”

I shrugged. “Same thing as you. I learned nothing new.” The way he watched me hinted that he had secrets he didn’t want spilled. Narrowing my eyes, I asked, “Why?”

He shook his head. “No reason.” Clearing his throat, he added, “So, you were told you’re now the obedient family dog, correct? To be treated kindly and receive everything you want.”

My heart squeezed. Anger flowed thick and cloying. “Something like that.” And just like a mistreated pet, I’ll shred the fingers that feed me.

Jethro huffed, returning to the post again. With competent hands, he tugged on the hanging cuffs and kicked something covered by a towel at the foot of the wooden structure.

His eyes locked on mine. “Tell me, Ms. Weaver. Are you sure you’re ready?”

My heart bucked into panic mode. I’d taunted him and said I was, but now faced with willingly handing myself over and letting him do whatever he wanted, it was entirely different.

When I didn’t move, he murmured, “No tears. No screams. Own this just like my ancestors did when it was done to them.”

The Debt Inheritance came back to mind. What had my family done that was so heinous that it called for such horrendous payback?

Swallowing hard, I inched closer to the post. “I need to understand why.”

“Why?”  His forehead furrowed. “Where exactly is the fun in that?”

“Fun?” Oh, my God, he would enjoy this? What did you expect? I supposed I kept seeing the man who was human beneath the icy robot. It led me to false conclusions, which Jethro seemed to love to smash.

“I suppose that is the wrong word.” Jethro stilled, his eyes filling with things I couldn’t decipher. He stood still for a long moment, before visibly shaking off whatever held him hostage. “Come here. Let’s begin.”

My stomach fell into my toes. Making me come on my own made all of this worse. I was the sacrificial lamb willingly walking toward the pyre.

Goosebumps broke out over my body as my feet whispered slowly toward Jethro.

He sucked in a breath.

The air went from humid to sharp with awareness. I hated that he had the power to tingle my skin and twist my belly. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right that I found him so attractive when I ought to be abhorred.

My eyes fell on the cuffs dangling between fake flowers. I didn’t need to ask what he had planned. It was obvious, and I wouldn’t give him the enjoyment of dragging out the suspense and toying with me.

Gritting my jaw, I pressed closer, holding my wrists up to the leather cuffs.

Jethro quirked an eyebrow, his tongue darting out to lick his bottom lip. “What are you doing?”

Gathering as much courage as I had, and hoping to God my vertigo would stay away, I smiled diabeticly sweet. “The cuffs are obviously there for a reason; I’m just saving you the trouble of instructing me.”

Silence fell, rippling around us.

His jaw worked. “Just like smugness, cockiness is not becoming on you, Ms. Weaver.” Leaning forward, his torso turned the already sharp awareness into biting attraction. His scent of woods and leather enveloped me. Against my wishes, my stomach clenched, and I breathed deeply.

His nostrils flared, but he didn’t say another word as his strong, cold fingers latched around my wrist, tugging it higher to wrap the supple cuff around me.

The chemistry between us—or was it just blind hate—crackled and fizzed, sending the hair on the back of my neck bristling.

I couldn’t deny I was drawn to Kes—partly because I thought he was Kite and partly because he had an ease about him, a generosity that made me want to know more—but it was nothing, nothing, compared to the fierce hunger I felt when Jethro touched me.

His lips parted as he buckled the cuff. Refusing to make eye contact, he remained focused as he cinched it tight.

Moving stiffly, he captured my other wrist.

A small gasp fell from my lips as his fingers kissed the paper-thin skin. His eyes held me hostage. The golden brown was now a swirling bronze, raging with the same demanding hunger I knew reflected in mine.

“This sort of reminds me of the forest,” I whispered. “The trees around us—no one else.” My words fell like petals, waiting for Jethro to crush them beneath his glossy shoe.

But…he didn’t.

Tracing one hand from my wrist, along the inside of my arm, and right to my throat, he fisted my ponytail. With intensity that stripped my soul to the very essence of who I was, he pulled my head back slowly, sensually, full of sexual power.

His eyes dropped to my mouth. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, Ms. Weaver.”

I panted, my neck straining against his hold, but I made no move to break the poignant awareness.

“You won that night, but I lied when I said it pissed me off.” His mouth dropped, his tongue licked my bottom lip with the barest of grazes. “I’ve never enjoyed coming in someone’s mouth as much as I did in yours.” He licked me again, quaking my frame. “In fact, I would willingly let you win again, if I received the same ball-shattering release.”

My lips begged to connect with his. This single-minded lust between us was sacred. The only place where we were both equal, and heritage had no authority. I’d made a promise to use sex against him, but now I added to my promise.

I will use him to make me stronger, better—invincible.

I wanted to become a woman whose arsenal included lust and sensuality, regardless of my slight frame and inexperience.

“Kiss me,” I murmured, tugging my hair gently in his hold.

Jethro shook his head, his fingers tightening around my ponytail. Tracing the tip of his tongue once more on my bottom lip, he whispered, “I don’t kiss my enemies.”

My heart became an inferno, sending flames blazing with every beat. “You just fuck them?”

His mouth twitched into a roguish smile. “Only if they beg.”

His body pressed against mine, his thigh going purposely between my legs.

My eyes snapped closed as he rocked against my throbbing clit. “Would you beg, Ms. Weaver? How hot and frustrated do I have to make you before you’ll beg me to drive my cock inside you?”

My brain spasmed at the thought. The answer? Not long. I would beg right now if it meant he would forget about the debt and take me back to his room. I wanted to see where he slept. I wanted to infiltrate the home ground of my opponent and undermine him right at the source.

“You’re all talk. You won’t even kiss me, let alone fuck me.”

Jethro yanked my head back. Pain shot down my spine. “How wrong you are, Ms. Weaver.” Then a vindictive smile replaced the black desire. “Very clever, though, I must admit.”

I blinked, trying to dispel the fog of lust and keep up with him. “Why?”

His thigh slid out from between my legs; his fingers untwined from my hair. “Very clever to make me focus on other things than the true reason of why we’re here.” Stepping back and sucking in a deep breath, he dragged a hand through his hair. “You keep on surprising me, and I keep on despising what you show me.”

I laughed tightly. “Doesn’t look like you despise me.” I cocked my chin at the straining erection in his trousers. “I think you like me, and despite what you’re going to do and who you are, I still find you attractive.”

And believe me, if I had a cure for that insanity, I’d take it without hesitation.

Cruelly, he snatched my free wrist, wrapping the remaining cuff tightly. Quickly securing the buckle, he muttered, “The way you threw yourself into my brother’s arms hints you might have a desire for all Hawks.” His breath was hot in my ear as he spun me to face the post. “You’re just a conniving manipulator.”

I cried out as he disappeared behind the post and hoisted my arms high with the aid of a hidden winch. Another jerk and my wrists burned in the supple leather. My torso smashed against the damp wood as my body weight transferred from my toes to my arms.

“How does that feel?” Jethro asked, coming back around.

My shoulders screamed; my blood throbbed with effort to reach my raised fingertips. I dangled with no chance at escape.

How does it feel?

It fucking hurt! It made my previous thoughts of lust seem ridiculous.

All concepts of seducing him disappeared. I only wanted this over fast, so I could admit defeat and lick my wounds in private.

“I asked you a question,” Jethro growled, his hand stroking my spine.

I flinched at his touch. It was sacrilegious, because even now it still made my core clench with want. “It hurts. Is that what you want to hear?”

Jethro’s torso pressed against my back, squashing my cheek against the damp wood of the post. The crispness of plants and the musky scent of earth overpowered his smell, giving me a welcome reprieve from the man who drove me mad.

“You look rather tempting like this, Ms. Weaver. Perhaps it will be me begging before this is done.”

I couldn’t stop my skin shivering with awareness or my heart seizing with anxiety and desire.

“Don’t touch me,” I hissed.

With a small laugh, he pushed away, ceasing contact.

I twisted my neck, never letting him from my sight. I hated having him so close. I hated that I had no power to stop him. I hated how he stood there, wrapped in silence, watching me like some mystery he had yet to solve.

We didn’t speak, waiting to see who would break first.

Finally, after a minute, he said softly, “I’m going to give you a history lesson, Ms. Weaver. You’ll listen closely and understand why you’re repaying this certain debt.” Pacing, he added, “Every debt will begin this way. The history will be told, then the debt repaid. You’ll be informed of what your ancestors did to mine. You will apologise and repent for their past sins, and only then will the extraction take place.”

Coming close, his body heat burned me. His words were tiny whips lashing my ear. “If you do not repent and permit the debt to be paid, you will be beaten. If you do not accept why a debt has to be paid, the extraction will be taken twice. Do you understand?”

Twice?

Double horror.

Double terror.

Then…I laughed.  Morbid, yes, but the image in my head was comical.

“You mean to tell me, you’ll behead me twice?” I smiled. “Are you necromancers as well as lunatics? Please, inform me on how that will work.”

His hand lashed out, spanking my denim-clad behind.

I groaned, jolting in the binds. I couldn’t unravel the painful smarting from his strike and the throbbing in my nipples and clit.

Shit. Don’t let him see that he’s broken my mind already. If he touched me, felt how drenched I was, I would never live with myself again.

“I’ve had enough of your mouth, Ms. Weaver.”

“Are you sure? Didn’t seem that way in the forest with my lips around you. Did you know that was my first ever blowjob?”

He sucked in a breath. His hand landed in my hair, fisting the thickness and burning my scalp. His lips tickled my ear as he whispered, “You keep taunting me with what happened in the forest. Do you think just because you swallowed that I’m what…grateful? Sentimental? In love?” He shook me. “What, Ms. Weaver? Shall I not remind you it was you who clenched around my tongue so hard you almost fucking bruised me? Every lick and fucking taste I had of your pussy, I drove you wild.” He trailed the tip of his tongue from my ear to my cheek.

I trembled, every part of me tightening.

“We’re on even ground. Orgasm for an orgasm. Don’t think it gives you power, because it doesn’t.”

I breathed hard, trying to find some resemblance of the hatred I’d nursed. But he pressed his body flush against mine, grinding his erection into the small of my back.

He groaned under his breath. “What I wouldn’t give to fuck you. To stop your teasing and use you like you want me to.”

Everything inside me charged, ignited, spindled out of control.

The thought of having him inside me both repulsed and enticed. The mental image of us fighting this unknown battle while our naked bodies fought for domination sent scorching thrills through me.

My breathing turned to pants. “Why haven’t you?”

Damn, the words fell from my lips before I had time to censor them.

Jethro’s hips twitched harder against me. He didn’t reply.

The question hung like a flag fluttering in the lust-thick breeze. I couldn’t take it back, and Jethro wouldn’t answer it.