Provoked Read online

  His eyes landed squarely on me and he smirked. My heart pounded in my ears, drowning out all other noises. I gripped the sheets below me. What had my father done? Why had he made me come here? I was in the den of a lone wolf. There was no doubt in my mind this bedroom belonged to him.

  This can’t be happening. What the hell is going on?

  His eyes swept down my outfit. I hadn’t changed out of the green dress I’d been wearing for my graduation. I felt exposed.

  When he took a step towards me, I scrambled away onto the bed. It only made him smile wider. He shook his head.

  What does he want with me? Was this what they meant by three years?

  “Hello Liora. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

  Chapter Two

  Dante

  The girl huddled on the bed, her chin length blonde hair surrounding her like a halo. Pity her innocence wouldn’t save her. I could feel her terror seeping into me. Little did she know fear fed me. I wanted her scared.

  “It’s you,” she whispered, her voice betraying her slight Scottish lilt.

  It was the first time I’d heard her voice. It did things to me. I’d always loved the accent, but on her, it sounded so much sweeter. Perhaps it was the anticipation or it was just her. All I knew was I wanted to hear it again.

  “Glad you remember me.”

  She frowned.

  “What do you want?”

  I’d waited three years for this day. When I could finally have what was promised to me.

  “You.”

  She froze in place. Her mouth stayed firmly shut. I could see the wheels turning in her head at the implications of what I’d said.

  “Now, you best do as I say, girl.”

  I looked down at my nails.

  “You see, you are my gift.”

  I stalked towards her, coming to a standstill at the end of the bed. Her forest green eyes stared back at me, pupils constricted.

  “But if you choose to deny me or disobey me too much, then I’ll give you back. Trust that he is much, much worse than me.”

  “Who are you people?”

  She had no idea why she’d been taken. What she was given to my father for, nor why he’d given her to me. Good. Angus wasn’t meant to spill the beans.

  “You don’t get to ask questions.”

  “Why should I even listen to you?”

  She would learn from her mistake. I knelt on the bed and crawled towards her. She tried to escape, but I grabbed her leg and pulled her underneath me, pinning her hands down.

  “I am your master and nothing you say or do will change that.”

  She struggled in my grasp. I sat on her legs to stop her moving. Her eyes met mine.

  “What’s your name?”

  “That’s none of your concern.”

  Her green eyes grew wider. Her form trembled beneath me. Soon I’d have her trembling for a very different reason. As my pet, she’d do exactly as I told her or she’d be punished.

  “What are you going to do with me?”

  “So many questions. In time you’ll learn those won’t get you very far with me. I’ll allow this one since you do need to understand the rules.”

  I pulled her hands up above her head, lacing one hand around her wrists. I trailed a finger down her cheek.

  “There is only one rule between you and I. Obey or be punished.”

  “Wh… what?”

  “You will obey me in everything. No buts. No arguments. Nothing. If you are good, you will be rewarded and if not, you will be dealt with appropriately.”

  “Why?”

  I smiled at her.

  “Because, Liora, you are mine.”

  Her mouth opened and shut twice. She had the prettiest bow lips, just itching to be kissed. I wouldn’t, but the temptation was there all the same. As much as I wanted this girl and had done since the moment I laid eyes on her, she had lessons to learn first.

  “Why won’t you tell me who you are?”

  “You haven’t earnt that information… yet.”

  She was about to open her mouth again, but I put my hand over it.

  “No more questions.”

  Her eyes flashed with irritation. I hadn’t meant to invade her personal space, but something about her drew me closer. She’d lost some of that youthful glow, but she was still the same girl. Three years older and I wondered if she was wiser.

  Did she remember every detail of that first day like I did? The way she’d inspected each occupant of the room with sharp intelligence. How she’d unconsciously shifted back when my father laid eyes on her as if she knew he was deadly and should never be messed with.

  I’d known she was smart given her grades at school and now she’d received a First for her degree. What I wanted to know is why she’d chosen to study zoology. To be honest, I wanted to dig into her mind and find out everything about her. The things I couldn’t learn from regular updates about her progress.

  I released her mouth, hoping she would take my warning seriously. I wouldn’t answer any further questions. She had to earn them.

  “Can you get off me, please?”

  I should’ve expected that.

  “Mmm, since you asked so nicely.”

  I rolled off her, onto my side and propped myself up by my elbow. She turned her head towards me but didn’t move away. I could feel her appraising me, wondering how I would react if she bolted. She swallowed, perhaps realising it would be a bad idea.

  “Cat got your tongue?” I asked.

  “You said no questions.”

  I grinned.

  “So you can take instruction?”

  “I didn’t think I had another choice.”

  She pronounced the word ‘didn’t’ more like ‘didnae’. Her accent was like music to my ears. It drew me in. I resisted the urge to touch her again.

  “There’s always a choice.”

  She frowned and shifted away slightly but didn’t say another word. I sat up, watching her squirm underneath my gaze.

  “You either obey or you find out what type of punishments I have in store for you.”

  “That’s not a choice I want to make.”

  A part of me wished she would test the boundaries. Perhaps later.

  “No? Fair enough. Tell me, why did you come willingly?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Brent told me you didn’t fight him when he brought you here.”

  She looked conflicted for a moment before she sat up and faced me.

  “My dad told me to go with him. Didn’t want to make a scene or disappoint him.”

  Did she idolise her father? No. That wasn’t right. It was because she wasn’t the type to want attention brought on her.

  “You remember the day we saw each other three years ago.”

  “Yes.”

  I reached out, taking one of her hands. The need to touch her after all this time drove me. I could no longer resist. She flinched but didn’t pull away. I turned her hand upwards and traced lines down her palm. She looked like she wanted to ask me what I was doing and yet her mouth remained closed.

  “What do you remember about it?”

  “Everything.” Her eyes fell on our hands. “You look like your father.”

  A fact I hated, but that was neither here nor there. My fingers drew circles around her wrist, moving higher. I felt her freeze, her muscles locking up at my touch. Did I repulse her?

  I could feel the heat of her skin against mine like sparks of electricity. I wondered if she felt it too and that’s why she’d reacted the way she did.

  “Does this bother you?”

  Her green eyes met mine. Her gaze inscrutable.

  “Yes.”

  “Why is that?”

  She pulled her wrist out of my grasp, holding her arm to her chest.

  “I don’t know what you want and… I have a boyfriend.”

  That little fact was not lost on me
. It needed to be remedied, but I wouldn’t tell her just yet. Let her live in the fantasy that she could go back to him for a little longer. I’d rip that away from her just like everything else. And she knew what I wanted. Her. She just wasn’t ready to accept it.

  “I know you do.”

  Her eyes flashed again. I could tell it drove her crazy not being able to ask me questions.

  “And yet you still took me and now you say I’m yours. I’m not a piece of property.”

  “Property? No, I told you, you’re my gift. I only ask for obedience. You’re not a slave, but I suppose you could call yourself my pet.”

  “Pet? I’m not a pet either. I’m a human being. I don’t belong to anyone.”

  I struck, one minute we were seated, the next I was on her again. I kept her hands pinned with one of my own, leaning down, I buried my face in her neck and breathed in. A gasp left her lips.

  “Wrong, Liora.” I nipped her ear. “You belong to me.”

  She struggled in my grasp.

  “Get off me.”

  “No.”

  “I’ll scream.”

  I raised my head, staring down at her.

  “Go ahead. No one will come and you’ll leave me with no choice but to discipline you. Not quite what I had in mind for our first evening together, but I’ll enjoy it nevertheless.”

  The fire in her eyes died in an instant.

  “You’d enjoy hurting me?”

  And now I really did have to discipline her. Asking me questions and struggling instead of allowing me to touch her without complaint, neither of those were permitted.

  “I never said I’d hurt you.”

  “You implied it.”

  I smiled. Smart girl. If she expected pain, then pain is what she’d receive.

  “I think you need to learn a lesson about what will happen if you continue to step out of line.”

  Having her beneath me, trembling with fear caused a reaction in me I wasn’t prepared for. I wanted to rip away her clothes and have her whether she wanted me or not. I’d never taken anyone against their will. Was I really so much like him that I wouldn’t care if she struggled, cried and told me to stop? That pulled me up short. I was not him. I couldn’t be.

  I released her, shifting off the bed and pacing away. Those thoughts were not allowed. Liora had to want me first. And she would. I’d felt her unconscious reaction to me being on top of her. Her hips angled towards me, her legs falling open rather than staying shut. Her body wanted mine even if she didn’t know it yet.

  I couldn’t punish her in the way I wanted to. Not when I couldn’t keep myself under control. There were other methods. Ways of teaching her to obey.

  “Get up,” I told her.

  She shuffled off the bed and stood.

  “If you behave yourself, you will earn the right to have things, such as contact with your family, your own room and perhaps, eventually I will allow you to do what you love and work with animals.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “For now, I want your phone.”

  She hesitated for a moment before walking over to where she’d left her bag on my desk and fished it out. Stepping towards me, she held it out. I took it from her.

  “Passcode?” I asked.

  “Six, eight, four, two.”

  I unlocked it and checked her messages. What Brent told me was correct. She’d only messaged her so-called boyfriend to tell him she wouldn’t be out this evening.

  “I will tell you if he contacts you.”

  She nodded, eyes downcast.

  “Over there is the bathroom.”

  I pointed towards a door in the corner.

  “This room is where you’ll stay except for meals and when I allow you out with me. In case you hadn’t cottoned on already, this is my bedroom.”

  Her eyes caught mine, abject horror on her face.

  “You expect me to sleep in the same bed as you.”

  She framed it like a statement instead of a question so I let it slide.

  “Did you expect otherwise?”

  Her face went bright red.

  What just crossed her mind?

  “You’re not going to want me to… to…”

  “To what?”

  She squirmed, clearly uncomfortable. I smiled when I realised what she was thinking. It was clear on her face.

  “Are you trying to ask me if I expect sex from you?”

  She looked away, fidgeting with her hands.

  “Yes.”

  Despite my earlier urges, I was determined not to make her think I was a complete monster. I might not be the good guy, but I was not and would never become like him.

  “Forcing myself on unwilling women does not hold any interest for me. Rest assured I won’t touch you like that unless you ask for it.”

  “I have a boyfriend,” she mumbled.

  Something she didn’t need to remind me of. If she continued to bring him up, I’d make her break it off with him today rather than waiting until she was in a better frame of mind to accept it.

  “You think that matters to me?”

  “It should.”

  I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards me.

  “It will never matter because you’re mine, not his.”

  I saw the realisation on her face. She tore her hand away and shoved me, glaring.

  “No. No. You can’t make me do that. I won’t. You don’t get to make that choice for me.”

  That little outburst was unwelcome and now I was angry. She wouldn’t like what I was going to do next, but she’d learn she couldn’t say no to me.

  “Don’t I? You seem to think you can negotiate with me. You’re wrong. I was going to wait, but now you’ve just pissed me off. It’s time you realised how this works between us.”

  I unlocked her phone again and pulled up the camera. I stepped towards her and dragged her against my chest, pinning her there with one arm. She stared up at me in shock. I raised my other hand with the phone, placing us in the exact position for a perfect selfie as I leant towards her.

  “Smile, Liora.”

  Before she had a chance to look at what I was doing, I took a photo. My forehead met hers before I took another one. I turned my face towards the camera and smiled, snapping a further photo. I let her go, stepping away and checking my handiwork. The photos looked rather intimate and just the effect I was going for.

  “What did you do?” she demanded.

  “Don’t you want him to know how happy you are with me?”

  Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open.

  “No. No, you can’t send him those.”

  “You don’t get to make demands and tell me no.”

  I opened up her messages and composed something as she launched herself at me. I stepped back, holding the phone out of her grasp.

  “Please, don’t.”

  ME: I’m sorry. I didn’t want to do this over text, but I’ve been seeing someone else and it’s over between us.

  I attached one of the photos to the message. The one with our foreheads touching. It was the only one where she had her eyes closed and you couldn’t see her expression of shock. I didn’t hit send quite yet. She jumped at me again.

  “I suggest you stay still if you don’t want me to break his heart.”

  She froze in place. She only came up to my shoulder so keeping the phone from her was easy. I brought it down and showed her the screen. Her expression soured.

  “That’s heartless.”

  “Do you think I have one?”

  “No, but you can’t say that to him. He doesn’t deserve it.”

  “Watch me.”

  I hit send. Her face dropped. I expected her to retaliate and have a go at me, but she didn’t. She turned away from me, walked over to the bed and sat down, staring at the floor. Her phone vibrated in my hand. He was calling her.

  “Do you want to speak to him?” I asked.

&n
bsp; “After what you just did? No,” she said, quietly.

  I rejected the call. Didn’t matter to me either way. It was done. Now she couldn’t use that pitiful excuse to stop me from doing what I wanted with her. She probably thought I was being cruel for the sake of it. It was better for her not to have false illusions about what life with me would be like or cling to hope that I’d let her go.

  “Get up and come with me.”

  Her phone vibrated several times in my pocket. She stood but didn’t look at me when she walked over. I pulled her phone out as I opened the door and strode out.

  HARRISON: Are you serious?

  HARRISON: I don’t believe you. Talk to me. What’s going on?

  HARRISON: Please answer the phone.

  HARRISON: Liora, why are you doing this? Answer the phone. You’re not seeing anyone else. I know you.

  She followed along after me as I took the stairs.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to speak to him? He says he doesn’t believe you. Perhaps we need to give him further evidence, hmm?”

  “If you want to,” she replied, her voice void of any emotion.

  I’d only said that to get a rise out of her. What was wrong with her? Why wasn’t she fighting back?

  I stopped on the next landing and she barrelled into the back of me. I turned to find her rubbing her face.

  “I didn’t think you meek.”

  That made her look up at me, eyes narrowing.

  “You took me away from my home. You broke up with my boyfriend for me. You keep telling me I belong to you and that I’m only allowed to do what you say, when you say it and that if I don’t, you’ll punish me. Excuse me if that’s a lot to process in one go.”

  She had a point. We knew nothing about each other. I might have learnt things about her life, but that didn’t mean I knew the girl inside. That would only come from being around each other for an extended period of time. I had to remember to be patient.

  “Don’t dawdle.”

  I turned away and continued down the second flight of stairs to the ground floor. Her feet were almost silent on the carpet, but I could feel her behind me.