Chapter Twelve
Bear
She’s not getting away from me. From us. She’s only been here a couple of hours, and I’m already hooked.
She isn’t like anyone else I’ve ever met.
There’s a fire in her eyes, waiting to explode.
Begging to be released. She isn’t fit to be a princess of The Brotherhood, protected and hidden away in her castle.
Fuck, no. Amirah Ledger is a queen, a leader.
I can feel it. She has so much power just waiting to be pulled from within her, and I’m going to help her.
Help her see that and step into her power.
By testing her limits. By challenging her until she’s at breaking point, then watching as she rises from the ashes.
Her long black hair blows behind her shoulders as she runs through the living room, straight toward the open door. Fucking Kai. Why would he leave it open?
Because he wants her to leave. He wants to give her an option. He’s fucking weak when it comes to women. Freya’s always been his downfall, and now he’s helping Amirah.
I’ll give her to the count of ten once she’s out of sight. My breathing picks up.
Don’t let her leave. Get her.
I will. Wait. Seven, eight, nine, and ten.
I move at speed up the stairs. The cool night air is a welcome relief.
The lights from my amusement park make it easy for me to spot her running on the dirt path along the line of my park, past the roller coasters, her long hair moving with the wind.
I sprint after her, getting closer and closer.
She glances over her shoulder, her gaze catching mine.
The skin between her eyebrows pinches and her eyes widen.
She pushes her legs faster and harder, but she’s not as quick as me.
I turn, moving behind one of the roller coasters.
She doesn’t know this place like I do. She’ll think she’s free, that I’m gone, and that’s how I like it.
I want her to feel that excitement building inside her.
To believe she’s nearly out of here for good.
Her heavy breathing sounds close as I reach the end of the roller coaster, stand in the shadow of the control booth, and wait. Five, four, three, two, and one.
I jump out and she screams. Covering her mouth with my hand, I pull her back against me. She thrashes against my hold, her elbows hitting into my stomach, but I don’t dare let her go. After a minute, her body deflates and she gives in, as if now she knows her fate.
My finger reaches her pulse on her wrist, and it thumps percussively, just like someone playing the drums. I release my hand covering her mouth, and she sucks in a couple of deep breaths.
I pull her back around the roller coaster, heading straight for the slide.
As I shove Amirah onto the faded yellow slide, she doesn’t fight me.
She knows she can’t escape—at least, not tonight.
I can imagine that flame still burning beneath her eyes, and I don’t ever want that to disappear.
I want it to grow brighter, and I’m going to have fun playing with her, bringing out the best of her.
“Time for our beauty sleep, princess.” I press a sloppy kiss against her cheek before shoving her forward. A small gasp leaves her throat as she disappears down the tube, and I follow her.
Darkness consumes me, and I’d love to curl up in here to sleep. It feels safe, like a warm blanket surrounding me. Like nothing can touch me here as I catapult through the tunnel.
All too soon, I reach the end. Amirah isn’t anywhere to be seen.
I brace my hands on the slide and push out.
The small room is dark—I can’t see her. After grabbing my phone, I switch on the light.
There in the corner is Amirah, curled up in a ball.
Her arms are wrapped around her knees, her brows drawn in, and her plump lips are pulled back in a snarl. I smile.
“You okay, little princess?” I ask, and she rolls those mossy-green eyes.
My cock twitches. I want to know her more, and I’ve got plenty of time to do just that now that she’s staying here with me for good.
I’m grateful to Kai for messing up and spilling the tea about Zion’s daughter; it worked in my favor.
Now I don’t have to give her back. Not now. Not ever. Christmas has come early.
Jingle bells. Batman smells.
“Fuck off,” she hisses through her teeth, and I grin.
“Come on, it’s well past your bedtime. I’ll even sing you a lullaby.” As I move closer toward her, she turns, trying to push herself farther against the wall. Like she’s afraid of me. My chest tightens.
We don’t like that.
Why don’t we like that? I’m used to people being afraid of me, but she’s different. Everything feels different with her.
I reach out my hand to her, but she turns away, staring at the blank wall. Releasing a loud exhale, I grab her arm and pull her up. She doesn’t fight me, and I’m glad. I’m fucking tired and I need my sleep.
When we reach the door, I lean around Amirah, my arm sweeping against her pale skin, and a weird sensation moves through me.
The hairs on my arms rise, and my breathing picks up.
I frown, then shake my head, brushing it off as I twist the knob and push her forward.
I have no idea what that feeling was, but it felt good.
We move into the small hallway and then into my bedroom opposite.
I flick the switch on my bedroom wall, my LED lights turning the room blue, and kick the door shut behind me. I release Amirah, and she moves out of my reach, her gaze moving around my room. Graffiti lines every wall.
We write more and more and more when the voices get too loud, about all the things we’re going to do. All the people we’re going to kill.
My double bed sits in the corner of the room, right up against the wall, and I can’t wait to see her between the sheets.
I didn’t intend to bring her in here to sleep.
She should be in my other room, in a cage, like all the other captives I’ve had in the past. But I don’t want her there.
At least not tonight. I’m worried she won’t be safe.
She could try to escape again and might hurt herself.
One of the other members of the Hood could hurt her.
I don’t often have visitors, but if I did, it’d be just like the last time I had something so precious, a jewel so coveted, in my possession.
I can’t have that. I want her in here, in my space. I want to watch her. She’s different, and we like that. I’m obsessed with her and want to know more.
I turn off the light on my phone but leave the LEDs on, returning the room to its soothing blue.
I plug my phone into the charger beside my bed and set it on the small table next to my journal.
Amirah doesn’t move, stuck at the foot of my bed, her gaze still casting around the room, checking everything out.
There’s nothing in here apart from my bed, a small table, and a dresser.
I snicker. She’s clearly used to big, expensive rooms with walk-in closets and en suites.
“Sorry it’s not five stars like you’re used to,” I say, and Amirah folds her arms over her chest, pushing up her bust. I tear my gaze away, staring at the colorful ceiling.
“You don’t know shit about me. Now where am I sleeping?” She huffs, and the corner of my mouth lifts.
Fuck, I love her sass. She isn’t what I thought she’d be—full of herself, too good for me and the Hood. Instead, she’s curious, smart, and fucking strong.
I point toward my bed, and she wrinkles her nose before moving and sitting down on the edge of the duvet cover.
“I’m not sleeping in here if you are,” she says, her voice tinged with worry.
“I’ll be on the floor. Hurry up and get inside, so I can read you a story and tuck you in,” I say with a playful smile.
Falling back against my pillow, she rolls over so she’s facing me and the door.
I move toward my dresser and pull out an old T-shirt that has 18hood written on the front in a graffiti-style script. I throw it to Amirah, and it lands on her body. She doesn’t move, her gaze fixed on the door.
“Don’t even think about trying to escape again tonight. I’m a light sleeper. And I’m very good at finding little mice who try to run from my clutches.”
She releases a heavy exhale, shifting around on the bed, and her black pants cling to her like a second skin.
“Now put that on. Those clothes can’t be comfortable to sleep in. Unless you wanna sleep with bloodstains?”
She doesn’t move. Whatever.
I kneel down next to my bed, reach into the drawer of my bedside table, and pull out a book full of bedtime stories I’ve had since I was a kid—the only thing I kept and took with me from home to home.
Amirah rolls off the bed and heads to the adjoining bathroom. When she goes to shut the door behind her, I yell, “Leave it open, and don’t you dare try anything. You won’t get out of here alive!” I don’t trust her enough—what if she grabs something in there and uses it against me as a weapon?
But that would be fun.
I sit back on my bed, clutching the book, trying to keep my eyes downcast to give her privacy. A minute later she emerges, and all the blood rushes to my cock.
My T-shirt rests high above her knees, just covering her underwear. My black heart spurts to life. Fuck me dead. Is she even real? My gaze moves slowly over her milky skin that looks untouched, clean. I want to paint every inch of her in my favorite color: red.
She drops her clothes at the end of my bed and moves over the sheets, brushing past me. I grip the book, and it takes everything in me not to jump on her, pin her down, and claim her. Fuck. No. Stop. I shake my head.
Amirah watches me closely, her brows drawing together. She licks her dry lips and my breathing picks up.
I clear my throat, pushing all my thoughts down into the pits of hell. There’s some part of me that doesn’t want to scare her away. I want her to see me, really see me.
“I’ll read you a bedtime story. Do you know the one about the rich princess who got kidnapped by the sexiest man she’d ever met?” I smile, and she rolls those mossy-green eyes.
She looks around the room, her gaze stopping on my journal, and she points at it. “Read me something from that,” she says, not as a question but as a demand.
I snort. “Not happening.”
She bats her eyelashes at me, and it feels as though the ground swallows me. Maybe we should? You do use your thoughts for lyrics, so why can’t she hear them too?
Fuck, no. That makes you weak.
Does not.
Whatever, pussy-whipped dick.
Shut up. I squeeze my hands around the book.
With a grunt, I reach over, grab the journal, and open it.
My words fill every page, and I randomly stop somewhere in the middle.
My scribbles stare back at me, words about all the terrible things I’ve done in my line of work.
She doesn’t need to know about that. I’ve never pretended to be a good person, because I’m not.
Everyone is scared of me. I walk into a room and they look away.
They move out of my way. No one ever gives me a chance.
They think I’m a monster, so that’s what I’ve come to accept, but Amirah is different.
She isn’t afraid. It feels like she really sees me, and I thought that was what I wanted, but I’m starting to worry it’s wrong.
She needs to be scared, ’cause I am the devil.
I run my fingers through my hair, then turn the pages until I settle into yesterday’s words. When I was feeling trapped. Alone. Torn between two parts of me. That battle I’m constantly facing.
“The walls are closing in around me, suffocating. Taking every last bit of oxygen. I can’t breathe; we can’t breathe.
I open my mouth to scream, but nothing comes out.
Will we make it out alive? No, I don’t deserve to after what I’ve done.
I’m no saint. I’m the devil. Everyone only sees him.
They run. They hide. They scream. I want to make it stop, but the pull is so strong.
Who am I without the labels? Nothing. Nobody.
I have nothing. Weak. Unhinged. Damaged.
That’s who we are, who I am. If I was reborn, would I choose differently?
Be a better human being? Yes. No. I don’t know.
I can’t stop who I am. The DNA running through my bloodstream—I can’t change it.
I’ve done too much. Seen too much. There’s no turning back now.
My story is set; now I must live with the consequences. ”
Amirah sniffs, rubbing her red eyes before rolling over, giving me her back, and I close the book, leaving it on my bedside table. I pull back the sheets, and Amirah hops under, covering her body.
“Night, princess,” I say, and she ignores me. Did I share too much? Does she hate me now?
She already does. This is your chance to show her that she’s nothing. A toy. A pawn.
Her dark-as-night hair lies down her back, and I want to reach out and cut off a strand to keep with me when we’re not together.
When we kill her.