Chapter 29: .•12•.

She gulped. Hands balling at her sides into tight fists as she continued to stare back at him. Her legs were refusing to move. To carry her any further into his bedroom. His lair. The place where she was possibly about to get sucked dry. And god-knows what else.

No. I can't. She mentally whispered. She was way too scared. Too apprehensive of what was possibly about to happen to her.

"Come here," he ordered, his tone firm and cold. Devoid of any emotion.

But she remained exactly where she was. Her legs so stubbornly refusing to move. She was petrified. Heart pumping with pure fear.

She watched him finally let that book rest upon his firm abs, his expression so frighteningly calm as he stared at her. Giving her a look that made her want to either run for the hills or fall to his feet and start begging for forgiveness.

"Get your ass here. Now," She startled at that icy bite lacing his tone, her legs immediately carrying her straight to the bed.

Her heart pounded so fast now, body shaking as she stood by the other side of the bed, refusing to go any further. Chin dipped as she warily gazed at the length of him, lying there so relaxedly. He was wearing next to nothing, save for those black silken trousers, and he wasn't making any moves to leave. If anything, he'd even made himself even more comfortable against his pillow, casually ducking one tattooed arm behind the back of his head for better support as he resumed to his reading.

Holy god! He really was going to make her sleep right next to him! She immediately started to panic, looking around for any place where she could nestle herself instead. She wasn't going to do that! She couldn't! She refused to! He wasn't her husband, nor her boyfriend! He was a dangerous stranger with violent tendencies! She wasn't about to share a bed with him! No! She had to find someplace else to sleep in this room. A chair, or even a piece of rug if she had to. Anywhere but there.

Her gaze casually fell on a chaise longue sitting in a far corner of the spacious room as she desperately searched for a better option, just about to turn and head straight to it when that cold masculine voice reached her ears once again.

"Get in the bed,"

She desperately shook her head, eyes wide as she turned to stare at him again.

"No! I-"

"I said get. In the bed. Now," She violently startled once again, almost on the verge of crying as she grabbed the covers with shaky hands, pulling them aside.

She slowly climbed in at the very edge, almost on the verge of rolling down from the bed as she laid on her back on the pillow and tucked herself in right up to her chin.

She continued to tremble. Hands so tightly gripping at those covers as she held them up against her chin as if trying to shield herself away from the monsters under the bed. Or in her case, the monster that was lying on the bed, just a few spaces away from her.

"Starting from tomorrow, I expect you to come to bed wearing your usual pyijamas, not...whatever those are,"

Her eyes immediately widened with alarm again.

"These are-"

"Don't lie to me. I know what you usually wear for bedtime. And it's definitely not those tasteless things," She winced at that sudden harshness in his tone, along with the lewd request.

So he was going to force her to do other things for him after all as she'd suspected, along with the offering of her blood. She couldn't help but let those tears fall free again, her gaze unseeing as she absently stared at the ceiling.

Why? What did she ever do to deserve this? What had she done wrong in this life?

Greed, her mind whispered back rather crudely. She'd accepted to come live and work into this house even if her instincts had been telling her from the very beginning that something was wrong. With this house, that obscene amount of money they were offering...

She'd been greedy. Reckless. And now she was about to pay, for all of that.

She quietly sobbed into the smooth and soft coverlet, lying still. Refusing to look at him. To acknowledge his presence. She didn't want to know what he was doing. What was going to happen next.

She could only ask of him one thing though. One small and meaningless request.

"C-can you p-please be gentle?" She meekly stuttered out between tears and hiccups. Her gaze still attached to the ceiling.

Seconds passed. She could feel her cheeks heat up even after uttering that small request. What it implied. She'd never had sex before. She hadn't even seen a naked male before, in her entire life. She didn't know what to expect. But she definitely knew that it was going to hurt. The girls from her high-school had warned her of that. That it was going to hurt really bad at first. And that it wasn't actually that pleasant either.

She startled at the sudden sound of his masculine chuckle. Her head instinctually turned to look at him before she could even try and stop herself.

He was still holding onto that book, letting it fall against his toned abdomen once again. She couldn't help but look at his body, observing the outline of his sinewy muscles. His tapered waist. Those carved pectorals. The fine lines in his strong and tattooed arms.

She watched him turn to lie on his side, his elbow digging into the soft pillow as he held his head in his hand. A sly smirk displaying on his beautifully-carved features.

"And why would I do that?" He rose one brow. She immediately felt her cheeks burn even hotter.