Queen Takes Rose (Wicked Villains #6) - Katee Robert Page 0,13

the hook dangles a spreader bar with cuffs on either end.

Malone positions me below it and then moves to a ring on the wall where it’s tied off, lowering it until it’s just within reach. Without a word, she walks back and fastens my hands on either side of the bar. It spreads me wide, leaving me unable to cover myself.

Malone steps back. “Now. Let’s see what I’ve claimed.”

5

Malone

There are certain expectations that come with being the leader of a territory. Carver City is nothing like Sabine Valley—too carefully refined, too polite, too kind—but that truth remains the same. I am a law unto myself within my territory, and as long as I don’t push too hard at my neighbors’ borders, they’re unlikely to start something. The factions here don’t need feasts and curated times a year to keep blood from shedding, aren’t always on the brink of a new war.

It’s made me soft.

There was a time when I wouldn’t hesitate to take what I wanted. It’s how I got this territory to begin with. When I arrived in the city, I took a month to analyze every territory’s strengths and weaknesses before choosing one for myself. The southern chunk of the city was ruled by a woman who really was soft. Too lax. Too lazy. Too willing to let her people do whatever they pleased. A few weeks of undermining her and one brutal fight, and the territory became mine.

But since then?

I haven’t had to fight for anything, aside from squashing a handful of squabbles and power grabs over the years.

Claiming this woman glaring at me with large dark eyes will be a battle. It doesn’t matter that I have no intention of keeping Aurora. She’s an itch I haven’t been able to scratch, a thorn in my paw for years. If I can just purge this woman from my system, then I can go back to my carefully ordered life. I’ve worked hard to create balance, and my heady desire for Aurora disrupts that balance.

She’s beautiful. She possesses the kind of perfect features that everyone recognizes as the standard to be strained toward: high cheekbones, full lips, big eyes, and flawless light-brown skin. Her body is just more of the same perfection. She’s short and built soft. Not quite curvy, but she’s got a figure that says she doesn’t spend too much time worrying about achieving a model-thin look. I like it. A lot. Her breasts are high and tipped with brown nipples that have shiny silver barbells through them, and her waist draws my eye down to hips just made to be grabbed.

There’s a reason she’s the favorite of everyone who’s ever come into the Underworld, and her face and body are only half of the equation. The rest is the sunny disposition she shines at everyone…except me.

Ever since that first scene right after she started working in the Underworld, Aurora’s never been anything but coldly polite when she’s forced to interact with me. It shouldn’t bother me. I don’t want the girl, and no matter what the other fools in this city seem to think, she’s not one for keeping.

Now she’s mine for two full weeks. The thought fills me with a vicious delight, a feeling akin to my younger years, when I’d step into the ritual combat ring on Lammas.

I can’t think about Lammas now. Can’t think about what my sister has allowed to happen. There’s nothing I can do, and the helplessness I’m not used to feeling is why I contracted Aurora in the first place. She’s a distraction to keep me from doing something unforgivable.

She’s practically quivering from a combination of anger and anticipation. I’ve allowed my thoughts to wander long enough. It’s time to get down to business. I cross to her and catch her chin with my fingers, digging my nails in just enough to make her flinch. “You have the terrible habit of trying to top from the bottom.”

“I don’t,” she grits out.

“If I want you to speak, I’ll ask you a question. You most certainly do top from the bottom.” I’ve spent far too many hours watching her play in public, studying her interactions with the other Dominants. They indulge her new bratty behavior. They flat-out indulge her. “You have them all wrapped around your pretty finger. Does it get boring? Never having to wonder what will happen next because you already know?”

She blinks up at me. I’m only a few inches taller than her, but the heels give