His Stolen Princess - MINK Page 0,10

my hand and look down at the knife, then the scar on my palm.

It’s from the time I’d grabbed Carter’s knife right off his desk in his room. I learned quickly that day how sharp a knife could really be. He loved knives. I never saw someone handle one like him. The day I got this scar was the same day that Carter made me learn how to use one. He had taped up my hand, then schooled me in the art of blades.

He could throw a knife and hit anything. To this day, I’ve never seen anything like it. I laugh thinking about how badly I wanted to do it, too. To impress him. The first of my throws had been a mile off the target. Carter didn't laugh. He retrieved the knife and handed it to me again. Making me repeat the same thing over and over again. I was twenty throws in and hadn’t gotten any better.

‘You going to quit?’ he’d asked.

“Never.”

I’d thrown that knife until I couldn't lift my arm. I still sucked. But I never quit. I flip the knife up in my hand and catch it. Test the weight. It’s been years. But my brother always said it was like riding a bike. Once you got it down, you never forgot it. I toss it again. I should have known when Cato pulled it from himself it would be a good blade. I toss it again and again. Over and over.

Cato isn’t as smart as he thinks he is. He wants me. It might only be for a fuck, but he wants me I’m some sort of a challenge to him. Maybe he’s tired of the easy women who fall on their backs with their legs open for him. That mental image smarts, though it shouldn’t. He’s my enemy, after all.

I’ll use his desire for me against him. He’s brought me into his home. Dropped me right in the center of his world. The man who thinks the only way to hurt someone is physically.

He’s wrong, though. The worst pain comes from the heart, and I plan on taking Cato’s. I’ll burn his world down from the inside.

I toss the knife up again and catch it before I flip it across the room. The blade pierces the headboard dead center.

I’m going to make Cato fall in love with me. Then I’m going to take it all away from him. The same way he’s taken everything I loved away from me.

6

Cato

I wipe the blood from my hands as the last soldier is dragged from my office. All day I’ve spent interrogating and torturing. My men are as loyal as they ever were. None of them broke. Not a single one. And when I was finished with them, each one dropped to his knees, even if it was into a pool of his own blood, and swore fealty to me.

“Have Dr. Constantine make a house call and patch up the ones that need it.” I clean my blade and replace it, though one is conspicuously absent from my kit. The one I gave to my lioness. Her new claws.

“I thought Otto might cry, but he handled himself.” Santino smirks.

“Do I need to work you over?” I ask.

“If you feel like it.” He approaches, and I hear when his knees hit the floor.

Turning around, I find him with his arms spread, no fear in his eyes as he looks up at me.

“Cut me if you need to. If you doubt me at all.” He lifts his chin and offers his neck.

“Get up, asshole.” I turn back to my cabinet and close the doors. Santino and I grew up together. He was our gardener’s son. Friends since before we could talk, we’ve always walked this world together. If he were to betray me, my empire wouldn’t be worth the dirt it’s built on.

“I thought you might want to get a free hit in or something.” There’s a grin in his voice.

“I can get that whenever I want.”

“You want to go a few rounds?”

“Not tonight.”

“Mm-hmm.” He strides to the door. “I think you do want to go a few rounds, but not with me. With Carter’s little sister.”

“And if I do?” I turn to him.

He shrugs. “Look, I like the easy life. I pay my women, and they always deliver. That little wild thing? She’s just as likely to bleed you as bed you.” He shakes his head. “And of course you gave her a knife.”

“My best knife,” I