Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Suddenly, a weight crashes into my back, and I stumble forward. I almost fall, but Raven slides to the ground, and I’m able to recover. Just as I do, she’s jumping on me again, beating on my head. She screams, the sound ear-splitting as she rips at my ears.
“Fuck!” Adrenaline and pain fill me. “Goddamn!”
I whirl, ducking my head and driving myself into her body.
Raven screams, staring up at me with absolute hatred, her eyes tight with fury. Fighting me. Always fucking fighting me.
She doesn’t fight Gage!
I steady my feet, then take a breath. Be cool, Axel.
I swallow and say, “It’s too cold here. Stay with me.”
“Get out!” Raven screams.
Okay, fuck me. When I turned off her heat, I thought things would go smoother than this. I can get every girl I want, but not Raven?
I’m basically Gage. At least, in looks. The fucker is way nicer than I am. I am, in fact, a horrible human being, which should be impossible since we’re identical.
“Raven.” I gentle my voice. “I’m not going to hurt you.” Then, I duck down, tossing the woman over my shoulder.
“Axel!” Raven screeches, the sound startled. I turn, marching out of the kitchen, both her thighs clasped under my arm. Fuck, she’s light.
I’ll have to feed her more.
“Put me down!” Raven fights, attempting to kick her legs, and raining light hits down on my back.
Okay. I’ll have to teach her to fight, too. Once I’m sure she won’t fight me.
I duck through her door
“Axel!” Her cry switches from anger to fear.
“Not safe for you to stay here. Too cold.”
They’re band-aid words. Gage words. What I want to say is, ‘Shut the fuck up. You’re mine, and I’m going to make you love it.’
“What are you doing? Put me down!”
I hit what I hope is the unlock button on her keys. The car beeps, and the lights flash.
Damn it. I hit the other one, hearing the locks slide up.
This will be the tricky part. Flinging the door open, I throw Raven off my shoulder into the driver’s seat. She tries to bolt, but I drop my arm across her chest and wedge my knee against her thighs, pinning her to the center console.
“Easy, wild thing.”
Raven does not take it easy. She snaps her head forward, nearly colliding with mine.
I don’t jerk back in time, and pain lances across my skull.
Groaning, I pull her right hand toward the steering wheel while fishing a pair of cuffs out of my back pocket.
As soon as she realizes what I’m doing, she screeches.
“Axel, no! What are you doing?”
“Hold still, little bird.” I struggle to keep her wrist close enough to snap the cuff around her without hurting her. I’ll hurt her later. When she asks for it.
Raven’s not strong, but god, she’s panicked. Finally, when she’s reaching her other hand back to hit me, I hold her still long enough to fasten it without grabbing her delicate skin. Then, I clasp the cuff to the wheel.
“What the fuck?” Raven yanks back, and I step out of the car, softly shutting the door. Inside the car, she screams, the car muffling the sound. A mixture of feelings runs through me: excitement, adrenaline, and a hint of annoyance. That fucking hurt.
Raven screams again, and a thrill runs through me. She’s so fucking feisty.
I get in on the passenger side.
“Axel.” Raven flexes her hand, leaning as I turn the wheel. She has a pretty hand. So small and delicate.
“Yes?”
“Let me go. Right now.”
“Nah,” I reach across her to put the keys in the ignition. “You’re gonna drive us to my place.”
There’s a stunned silence where I can almost hear Raven’s brain trying to process what I just said. And processing is not what I want her to do right now. Obeying is.
Snapping the knife out of my pocket, I revel in the snick it makes as the blade opens.
There’s a moment where I can almost taste the fear that rolls off Raven, and it goes straight to my head, filling me with adrenaline.
I’d only hurt Raven to keep her safe. And safe, in this instance, means obedience.
I need the fear to overwhelm her free will because she may just use that free will to run us both off the road.
Although, a fireball wreck caused by the hottest, angriest woman around wouldn’t be such a bad way to go.
Adrenaline pumps into me so hard I feel like I’m floating. I trace the knife down her thigh. Nowhere vital. I don’t want her to feel like I’m going to kill her. Crashing would hurt more.
Raven lets out a breath that snaps me back down to earth.
“Drive,” I warn in a low breath.
And, miracle of miracles, the firebird listens to me. Slowly, she starts driving, reversing from the spot and making our way out to the street.
I’m floating again. We’re driving together. Our first time. It’s so thrilling. She’s being gentle too. I assume that’s to keep the knife out of her kneecap where it’s currently resting, but I like to think it’s ‘cause deep down, she wants to do what I asked.
I give her directions to my place, and all the while, my hand shakes with energy. The more she’s silent but can’t get away, the higher I get.
She can’t run. She’s mine.
I feel like I’m flying above the car, and I’ve never been more excited.
“Faster,” I say. I want to get her home where she can be comfortable and won’t hurt herself trying to get away. Then, she can fight me all she wants, but she’ll be safe while she does it.
It doesn’t take long to get home. I live in a small house downtown. It’s a modest two-story, three-bedroom house, but it’s all I need. I can tell we’re back by the rumbling of the car over the gravel driveway.
“Home sweet home,” I say right as Raven violently throws the car into park.
I’m slammed into the dashboard, pain shocking through my system. I can’t resist a bubble of glee as I move around to her side of the car, uncuff her, and grab her around the middle to throw her over my shoulder.
“Put me down!” Her voice is higher and more panicked now. “Police, help!”
“Begging just turns me on, brat.”
Her response is an attempt to claw my eyes out, which almost makes me fall while trying to unlock the door.
“Fuck,” I cuss, catching myself before I can land on Raven and crush her.
“Fuck you! I fucking hate you!” She’s ripping at clumps of my hair now. I feel it snapping as I scramble to get the door unlocked. I’m alive. I’m so fucking alive. I almost want to keep this moment frozen in time.
But I get the door unlocked, and then I dart up the stairs, my woman bouncing at my back. Once there, I move to the back room that I’ve prepared for her. It’s simple, with a queen-size bed, a dresser, and a bathroom attached.
Kicking the door shut behind me, I put Raven down on the bed. She bounces up, and immediately, I back away, holding up my hands. “Easy.”
Raven launches at me, screaming and kicking and clawing.
I shove her back just enough that she catches herself on the bed. Although she’s smart not to trust me. I’m not a good man.
Raven screams, immediately backing up and looking around the room, her eyes wide. She darts to the bathroom, and I hear her wrestling with the window.
I’m buzzing. I did it. I fucking did it.
I want to rush through the rest of the steps. I think back to what Gage always did with his animals. They’d fight him at first, but he’d be gentle. He was so gentle. He’d take care of their needs, then spend time with them so they’d get used to him. So they’d trust him.
I rest my back against the door. Raven won’t be able to open the windows. I made sure all of them were nailed shut so she couldn’t open them.
Raven goes from window to window, trying to get out, searching for a weapon.
“Raven, it’s okay–”
“It’s okay?” She whirls on me. “It’s okay? You just kidnapped me! Let me go right fucking now.” She’s shaking. I lock in on her hands, which are quivering. Just like they did the first time I saw her at the bar. When the man scared her.
“Raven…” I sink down against the door, sliding so I’m lower than her. I hold my hands out in a soothing way.
“No, fuck you!” Spit flies from her mouth, and she points at me. “Let me go! Now!”
“I’ll make sure you won’t miss work.”
She heaves in a breath, her face snapping back to fear. She backs up, putting the bed between us.
Good. I want her to make herself comfortable.
“I’m calling the cops! You’ll go to prison!” She digs in the bedside drawer and then paces between the bed and the wall. “Call Gage!”
I keep my mouth shut.
“Call Gage!” she screams, throwing pillows at me. They don’t hit hard, and that seems to make her even more mad. She rips all the bedding off the bed, screaming and screaming.
Raven is so afraid. I close my eyes, dropping my head against the door. Every creature Gage saved was afraid. They fought him, even bit and scratched. But they came around.
Just like Raven will.
My little bird with the broken wings.
All mine.