Page 115 of Once Upon a Fable

Something had made happiness grow in my heart.

But it was fading.

Popping.

Turning black and cold.

“Hey...are you alright?” Her touch landed on my thigh. A hesitant, wary touch from someone who recognized the man in front of her wasn’t entirely sane. “You blacked out for a second—”

“You concussed me,” I bit out. “I’ve had a headache ever since you hit me.”

She stiffened and turned prickly. “I wouldn’t have had to hit you if—” Inhaling hard, she forced herself to stay kind, giving me things I didn’t deserve. “Maybe sit back down. Have another chocolate—”

“Quiet.”

There was magic in this woman. Viperish magic that’d somehow twined around me while we’d been sitting in this car. I didn’t know how she’d done it, but she’d made me soft, made mevulnerable.

Never again.

Never again would I be taken advantage of.

She needed to be reminded of that.

Immediately.

Shutting my heart down, embracing the man I’d become after losing everything, I snarled, “Are you deliberately disobeying me? I said,kneel.” Grabbing the rope around her wrists, I jerked her forward.

“What? Stop! I was trying to help you—”

“I don’t need your help. I need your body. I need you toobey.”

“I’ll never obey a madman.”

I chuckled as she tumbled to the side. “I’m not mad, Gemma Ashford.” I manhandled her hips, twisting her until she landed on all fours. “I’m just not available for others to use anymore.”

“I’m not using you, you monster. You’re the one usingme!”

“And you’re even more delicious than chocolate.”

I drank in the sight of her, falling forward onto her elbows, wrists locked together, her bare ass beckoning me. Her pussy still glistened from when I’d eaten her in the rain. The orgasms she’d denied both of us would still be there, waiting for me to finish.

She would give that to me.

It’s mine.

I ran a fingertip down her spine.

She quivered, a pained groan spilling from her lips. “Please...”

Her plea did terrible things to me.

I’d never wanted anyone so badly.

It gave me a dose of the power I’d briefly tasted.

“Tell me what you want.”

She scoffed. “What Iwantis the right to say no.”