Page 88 of Beautiful Prey

Asher just listens. When I stop, he asks another question and lets me answer it.

By the time we reach the museum, I’ve told him more about my own planet than I’ve ever said out loud to anyone but Onyx. Ever.

He parks and gets out with me.

“I still don’t know why you want to see this place.”

“Because you wanted to show it to me.”

I look toward the museum. “Men like you did this, you know. The Imperial Houses. The Vultures. Someone came here in a survey ship, looked at the forests, the lakes, and the farms, and decided whatever lay beneath it all was worth more than the people living on top. And you know, maybe it wasn’t your House that signed the papers, but it doesn’t matter. It was your kind.”

His gaze moves across the empty lot. “I know.”

He doesn’t defend it or even try to distance himself from it, which somehow makes me even angrier.

People like him hunt. Claim. Strip worlds bare. Doll.

Something in me snaps.

I grab his jacket in both fists and shove him back against the car. “People like you gutted this planet. People like you took everything. And now you drive me through its wreckage and expect me to be grateful because you paid off the debt your own kind put us in.”

Asher glances down at my fists twisted in his jacket, one corner of his mouth lifting. “Come on, then. Show me.”

“You think this is funny?”

“No.” He leans into my grip instead of pulling away. “I think you’re finally touching me because you’re angry, not because I told you to, and yeah, I’m enjoying it.”

My grip tightens.

“Go on, stormbird.” His eyes remain on mine. “Tell me what men like me deserve.”

“No.” I shake my head, jaw locking. “You don’t get to turn this into something you want, too.”

“Oh, come on. Want to know a secret? I love the Hunt. Love coming after helpless people. There’s always this smell in the forest, you know? This smell of poverty. Of helplessness.” He sniffs the air. “Go on. You’ve been wanting to since the intake hall.”

That’s it.

Something tears loose inside me. Before I can stop it, my hand flies, and the crack echoes across the empty parking lot.

“You fucking monster.”

I punch him wherever I can, sobbing and clawing. I want to kill him, this... this... this…

His hand catches my wrist, but I wrench free and swing with the other until he catches that one too. For one long second, he holds me there, both my wrists trapped between us, my hands shaking in his.

A wicked smile spreads across his face. “Fuck, prey. That’s a very dangerous thing to do.”

Turning one of my hands, he presses my palm against his throat. “Go on, then. Show me what else you’ve got.”

I squeeze, my chest heaving. The sound tearing out of me doesn’t feel like mine. Neither do the tears rolling down my cheeks.

Asher doesn’t even blink. “So full of fire.”

“Yet you’re smiling. You buy a man, lock up his whole life, and somehow this is the reaction you expected?” My fingers dig harder into his throat. “Guess we’re both reckless today.”

“Mm.” His smile widens. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

His hands close around my wrists, and the world turns. My back hits the sun-warmed side of the car as he pins both my hands above my head with one of his. He wedges his knee between my thighs and presses it against the erection I’ve been pretending I don’t have.