His words settle around me, the meaning of them stealing the breath from my lungs. I don’t know why I ever thought I could kill Elijah, or that he would let me go if I threatened him for that matter. It was a stupid idea, one I’m sure I’m going to be punished for, one that has led to this moment.
Elijah holds me tightly against his chest, his hard length pressing into my ass. The fabric of the robe is barely long enough for it to cover me, but that’s the last of my worries right now.
“I can’t,” I whisper. My fingers grip the gun so tightly they ache from the pressure. My entire body trembles with a mixture of fear and adrenaline, and more than anything I wish I had stayed in bed this morning. I wish I curled up in Elijah’s scent, enjoyed the warmth and safety he gives me even if I’ll never admit it to him.
“Yes, you can, Snow,” he says, his chin dropping to rest on my shoulder. The feel of his body pressing into mine makes it hard to think, hard to remember all the reasons I shouldn’t want to be here. Elijah’s other hand moves to wrap around my wrist, angling the gun until it’s pointed at Dwayne’s head. “He would have raped you, Snow. If I didn’t get here when I did, he wouldn’t have hesitated to take your little cunt, no matter how much you screamed, how loud you begged for his mercy, he wouldn’t have given it to you.”
His words seep into my pores and dread washes over me. He’s right. He wouldn’t have thought twice about violating me, in fact, he would have liked how hard I struggled. I came so close to having something I wasn’t willing to give taken from me, but I can’t take a life. I’m not capable of that kind of violence. Even if the situation was life or death, I think I’d have a hard time choosing between me or them.
“Please,” I murmur, the plea in my words needy and afraid. Begging Elijah is pointless, he doesn’t show anyone mercy, and certainly not someone who just held a gun on him.
He grinds his hard cock into my ass and I barely hold the groan from tearing from my throat. Being with Elijah is a contradiction if there ever was one. I don’t want to want him. I don’t want to want his touch, or his words, or his body, but I do, and perhaps that’s the scariest part of this whole situation. I want the monster to take me, and no matter how hard I fight against those instincts, how much I kick and scream against my own thoughts, there’s nothing I can do to escape it.
“One way or another, you’re going to pull that trigger, Snow. You will end his life for what he planned to do to you.”
“I really don’t think I can.”
He tsks in my ear, the disapproving sound grips me around the neck and something inside of me screams to obey him. Maybe it’s the Stockholm Syndrome kicking in, or maybe there’s something else entirely at work. “From the moment I saw you across the room at that party, I knew you were destined to stand by my side, to rule beside me. And ever since then, I’ve watched you from the sidelines. I’ve watched you laugh and cry, I’ve watched you yell and scream, and I’ve watched you watch your siblings with jealousy in those pretty blue eyes. Being the youngest always means you’re the one everyone underestimates. When it came time for Storm to name a successor, I bet you didn’t even get a look in. It was always going to be Rayne or Wynter because you’ve always been kept away from the dirty part of your family, so why would they put you in charge of it?”
His words sting more than I’ll ever admit, but he’s right. Every word he’s spoken is the truth. I am jealous of my siblings for their roles in the family while I’ve always been little more than the pretty face at the back of the family portrait.
“This is your chance, Snowflake. You have the chance to rule beside me, to take all the things you always craved within your own family and make them your own. But to do that, you need to spill blood. Your brothers have done it, even your sister, but they’ve kept you in the dark, away from the violence, and away from your true potential.”
My fingers tremble around the cool metal, the barrel pointed right at Dwayne who watches me quietly. He doesn’t think I’ll do it either, he sees me as the weak little girl the rest of the world sees me as, but that’s not me. I’m stronger than anyone has ever given me credit for, I just don’t know if it will pull me through killing a man.
“Do it,” Elijah says calmly, his breath whispers across my cheek and causes a shiver to force its way through my body.
I shake my head, it’s too much.
“Do it,” his words are louder than before as one of his hands wraps around my wrist, making sure my aim on the bound man at our feet is just right.
I take a deep breath and hold it, unable to allow my body the freedom of breathing when I’m about to do something so heinous. It seems completely irrelevant that this man deserves to die, or that if I don’t kill him, he could attack another woman just the way he attacked me.
“Do it,” Elijah yells. The anger radiates from his body, the heat of his fury enough to take my breath away. “Fucking do it, Snow.”
The loud bang echoes off the walls of the hallway before I even realize I’ve pulled the trigger. The moment I realize what I’ve done, the gun slips from my fingers and hits the ground in a heavy thud. I just killed a man. I took his life in a moment because the man who holds me captive told me to.
Tears pool at the corners of my eyes as I bring both hands up to cover my mouth. How could I have done that? It makes me nothing more than the monster I shared a bed with last night.
Elijah’s arms wrap around my waist and hold me tightly, as if he can feel how close I am to falling apart.
“Why did you make me do that?” I whisper. I’m not sure why they’re the first words I think to say after murdering the man who almost raped me, but they slip from my lips before I have the chance to catch them.
“Because you need to see yourself the way I see you, Snow.”
“So you see me as a murderer then?” I hiss. “Good to know.” I shove my elbows back into his torso, hoping it will be enough for him to let up his grip around me, but if anything, he holds me closer.
“No, Snow. I see you as a warrior. I see you as the only woman on this earth worthy of standing by my side. You think I want you to be the weak little woman at home that I’m going to toss away one day, but that’s not what I want. That’s not why you’re here.” He spins me so quickly my churning stomach protests and a moment later, I’m pinned against the wall with his hard body pressing into mine, holding me in place. “You’re here because I need a woman with a strong stomach and the strength to lead. I saw it in you the first day I saw you, even when you were young you were so much more than anyone ever gave you credit for, and now you can prove them all wrong. You can prove to everyone who thought you were the weak Saint James that that’s the furthest thing from the truth. You were born to rule, just the same way I was. And together, we will be unstoppable.”
