Chapter 8 #2
Her eyes went wide as a desperate thought took hold. “It’s not too late,” she blurted out. “I can find a solution. I can fix this.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Fix this how?” In my heart, I knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it from her own mouth.
She shot to her feet and took a desperate step toward the door. “I can reason with him. He’s a businessman. I can make him a deal. Offer him the formula, sign over the patents. If I give him everything he wants, he’ll have no reason to hurt Theo.”
A cold rage, sharp and absolute, settled in my gut.
She would go to him. After hearing the proof of his treachery, her solution was to walk directly into the serpent’s den and offer her own throat.
She had no concept of the danger she was in, no understanding of what he would do to her once he had her.
Even with all her brilliance, she was unbearably naive. Or perhaps, so frightened her intellect didn’t matter any longer.
I moved, blocking her path in a single, silent motion. She came up short, her chest nearly brushing against mine. She tried to sidestep me, but I shifted, a wall of flesh and will she could not pass. The scent of her panic was sharp and thin, like the air just before a lightning strike.
I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t have to. “No. I will not allow it.”
Her desperation finally boiled over into fury. “You have no right to stop me! This is about Theo, not you! It’s the only way to fix what I’ve done!”
“Everything that concerns you, concerns me,” I growled. “You are mine. And I won’t stand by while you attempt to deliver yourself to my enemy.”
“This isn’t a solution, it’s a prison!” she screamed. If there had been any plants in this room, I had no doubt they’d have tried to eviscerate me.
But this was House Hades territory, and she just had to accept it.
“The Blackwood estate is a fortress. One you refuse to appreciate.” I took a step, then another, forcing her back until she was flush against the unyielding wall.
“You think you are negotiating for a patent. You’re wrong, Cora.
He’s negotiating for the source. He wants you.
“Your cage kept you alive. It kept you mine. Now I am offering to extend that cage around everything you care about. You should be thanking me.”
If I’d actually expected that to happen, I’d have been disappointed.
Her eyes blazed with fury, the same defiant anger she’d tried to weaponize against her own heat. “You arrogant…”
She swung at me, just like she had so many times, in the suite. She couldn’t match my speed, couldn’t compare to the power I wielded. I could have easily caught her again. Instead, I let the blow land, turning my head with the impact.
The sound of the slap cracked through the room, sharp and absolute. In the ringing silence that followed, I could hear the frantic, rabbit-quick beat of her heart. A sharp sting bloomed on my cheek, a surprising heat that had nothing to do with physical power.
I turned back slowly, my eyes locking on hers. She stood her ground, her hand still raised slightly between us, trembling from the impact.
This fire was the very thing that made her valuable. It was what Stormwright wanted to break, and what I would own.
“You have spirit,” I told her. “But that was a mistake.” If I hadn’t played along, she’d have shattered her own bones.
Maybe Cora was beginning to realize that, because she lowered her hand. “The mistake was ever letting him see my research. I will not make another by letting you stop me from fixing it. But…”
“But?” I prodded. For the first time since this disastrous conversation had started, I sensed promise.
“I will never thank you for this cage,” she began, her gaze flashing as the brilliant mind behind the terror found its footing.
“But I am not a fool. I know I can’t save him alone.
” She took a breath, steeling herself. “If you protect him... If you truly keep Theo safe... then I will cooperate. I will stay here. I won’t fight you. Not again.”
There it was. An offer of submission, wrapped in the language of a bargain to make it palatable. A slow, grim smile touched my lips. She was finally beginning to understand the reality of her situation.
“Your cooperation means you accept my protection, for yourself and for your friend,” I clarified, my words low and absolute. “You will not interfere with the measures House Hades takes to ensure his safety. You will trust that I am handling it. Do you agree?”
Cora gave a single, jerky nod. “Yes.”
I leaned in until my lips were almost touching her ear, the heat of my breath a physical presence on her skin.
“It also means the defiance ends. The arguments, the physical resistance... It’s over.
You will be mine, in action as well as in fact.
” I pulled back, my eyes boring into hers.
“Is that the cooperation you are offering me?”
She held my gaze, refusing to flinch as she processed the true nature of my counteroffer. “Yes. That is the deal.”
“Excellent.”
As afternoon light slanted golden through study windows, illuminating dust motes and family portraits that bore witness to our fragile alliance, I recognized the truth of what had shifted between us.
Cora Ellis hadn’t stopped running from what we were building. She hadn’t accepted the claiming or forgiven me for taking her choices. But she’d found a reason to fight beside me instead of against me.
It wasn’t complete. It wasn’t perfect. But the claiming had truly begun, and every moment she spent here would bind her closer to me whether she acknowledged it or not.
She was mine. She just didn’t fully understand that yet.