Captive Mate - Eliot Grayson Page 0,17

My shoulder bumped into Matthew’s; I realized he’d stopped a while ago, and was already reclining next to me.

I turned my head. He was staring at me, with something between bemusement and — something else I couldn’t read. It was intense, whatever it was, and I was caught, unable to look away.

“Feeling better?”

“Did you not believe I was hungry or something? I was on bread and water in the basement.”

Matthew shrugged, a hard move to pull off while lounging on a bed, but somehow he made it look good. “Not believing you is a good default position.” Before I could muster a reply to that, he added, “But now that we’ve dealt with your immediate needs, you have some questions to answer. Starting with where Hawthorne was for the last two years, how he ended up with the Kimballs, and how you ended up with the Kimballs. And who you really are.”

I blinked at him. “‘Starting with’? That’s a long list.” I licked my lips absently, and Matthew’s eyes flicked down to my mouth. His pupils expanded and his breathing sped up a little. “I’m not answering those,” I said quickly.

Fuck. Damned if I did and damned if I didn’t, because the last thing I wanted was him getting all bitey again — except that was tied for last with how little I wanted to answer any one of his questions.

“Yeah, you are,” he said grimly, looking at my eyes again, at least. “You realize you’re never getting free until you do, right? The Kimballs are still a threat. Hawthorne’s dead, but who knows what he was up to while he was off the grid. He could still be a threat from beyond the grave — for the second fucking time. And until I have some reason to think you’re not a threat, you’re staying neutralized. I of all people know what you can do.”

My heart pounded away and my fists clenched. “Then you’ll be under my spell forever,” I snarled. “Because I can’t remove it with these fucking things on my wrists.”

Matthew shook his head and laughed a little. It didn’t reach his eyes, which were as dark and cold as the depths of the sea. “You won’t remove it anyway, right? Not when you’re convinced you’re a dead man as soon as you do. Ian told me about your little heart-to-heart.”

A few hours before, he would’ve been a hundred percent right. Nearly ending up knotted, bitten, and permanently mated had changed my perspective a bit.

And the danger wasn’t over, either. I’d have to be stuck to Matthew’s side, and on my guard, twenty-four hours a day until the spell was off.

Yeah, safe to say I was starting to come around on the spell-removal issue.

“Not necessarily,” I admitted grudgingly. His expression didn’t soften. Gods, he was so much better at this than Ian and Nate. They didn’t have any patience. Shouting and insults rolled right off my back, but if Matthew kept staring at me like that I’d start to squirm. “I’m not enjoying this situation we’re in either.”

“Then answer my questions. Because worst-case scenario, if we keep on like this? I mate you against your will. And I guarantee that’s going to be a lot worse for you than it will for me.” He shrugged again. “I’m in love with you, thanks to your magic. I’d be delighted to be your mate. Using your magic. Using your body.” Matthew’s voice had dropped to a low register that thrummed through me, sending shivers down every limb. “You’d belong to me, Arik. Mine.”

“Bullshit,” I whispered. “You hate me as much as you love me.”

“Makes it more fun,” he growled, and bared his teeth at me.

No. No, I didn’t believe it. Not a chance. Matthew’s passionate defense of me and my right to have a choice in who mated me, when he hadn’t even known I’d been listening to him arguing with Sam Kimball, was engraved on my brain. And his arguments had all been based in logic, too, not even dependent on his ‘love’ for me. Matthew had been sincere.

“You’re too nice for that,” I protested. “That’s not you. The way you tried to get me free when you came down into the basement the other day? You were worried about me. You’re a…responsible pack leader. You don’t believe in forced matings, either. That isn’t you.”

Matthew sat up slowly, propping himself on one elbow and looming over me, his face only inches from mine. “You know fuck-all about me,” he