someone might see what you threw away for some dirty little slut? Tell me, Fairy, does she get off on you calling her that as you take her?”
The feeder looked like Claire, and the thought that he’d been with and sought out someone who resembled that woman burned. She’d been the woman I’d watched him within his mansion, long before we’d become a thing. Then, Claire had tried to have our unborn babes and me murdered. My pride was torn apart, but the thing I hated the most was that I kept asking myself if it was my fault, if I’d failed him somehow.
“Didn’t I give you enough of me?” Tears slid down my cheeks as I studied his face. “What did I do wrong?”
“You did nothing wrong,” he uttered. “You’re perfect.”
Sitting up, I stared at him through angry eyes. “Then why were you with her? Why did you fuck her?”
“It’s not that easy, Pet.” Ryder shook his head, but his expression was cold and resolved.
“It’s not that easy? Don’t wordplay me. I want to know what I did or failed to do that sent you seeking out another woman. If I’m so fucking perfect, then why were you with her?”
“Leave it alone,” he warned.
“Where are my children?” I countered, staring him down as he studied me.
“They’re safe. You won’t leave me as long as I have the children.”
“That’s your plan? Hold my children against me? Until when, Ryder? Until they’re old enough to realize I’m your fucking hostage?”
“Until I fix this,” he growled.
“We cannot be fixed! You can never fix what you’ve broken between us. You cannot ever undo what you did. I will never lower myself to be yours again. Do you hear me? I will never fuck you again. I will not play wife to a cheating bastard who uses our children as pawns to keep me here. I trusted you with my heart, and you crushed it the first moment I let my guard down.”
“You will let me into this room, Synthia, or I will send my men to collect everyone you care about and love. Do you hear me? Let me in, woman.”
I laughed soundlessly, wiggling my fingers to remove the wards. Ryder moved swiftly toward me, stopping at the bed, staring down with a worried expression. His hands fisted at his sides, clenching and unclenching as he continued to stare at my naked form. Slowly, he crawled onto the bed, catching me as I moved to sit up and slip away.
“Don’t touch me,” I hissed, holding my hand in a fist as he pulled me in to his arms. He didn’t strip. Instead, he held me against his chest, stroking my hair like I was some distraught child he was trying to calm down. “Stop,” I whispered, hating his touch.
“I love you,” he murmured against my ear, holding me in his arms until I couldn’t move away. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you here, you know that. You’re mine, created by Danu for me and me alone. You’re my wife. Stay with me, Syn. You cannot leave here. Faery needs you.”
Faery needed me, not he needed me…or wanted me.
I stared out at the open balcony, looking at the stars as they shot across the endless sky. Ryder’s earthy scent filled my nose, and I inhaled, drinking him in, memorizing it before I tried once more to push away from him. His lips skimmed over mine, and I didn’t kiss him back. I didn’t respond.
Leaning me back on the bed, he began kissing my face before his hand moved between my legs, touching and rubbing my apex. His motions were frenzied, trying to make me respond to his touch. I was so mentally unavailable that I just laid there, unresponsive as he tried to coax my body to life.
“Get off me.” I stared emotionlessly into his eyes. “Go back to your feeder, because I am not accepting sloppy seconds. You will not have me hours after you’ve fucked another