83. Tell Me One Thing

83. Tell Me One Thing
Emara Stone

Dakota storms furiously towards me.

Hooded green eyes appear unreadably dark, like someone turned off lights in his head and something evil has taken over him.

He looks dangerous, like a vicious wolf that has finally stopped pretending to be a pup.

I gasp as Dakota grabs my elbow in a steel grip and drags me to the end of the corridor. He yanks open the door of a poorly lit storage room filled with extra glassware, and pulls me inside with him.

My heartbeats skyrocket as I hear the lock click, sealing me inside with this unpredictable man who reeks of jealousy and anger.

Dakota slams me against the wall, my back hits the hard surface and air whooshes out of my lungs in a sharp gasp.

Fear crawls up my spine as déjà vu hits me harder. My body still remembers, how he forced on me in the bathroom when he lost himself over Ryan talking with me.

My ears echo with the eerie silence of chaos as Dakota takes a dark, menacing step towards me.

My entire body paralyzes as if facing a deadly wild animal, having nowhere to run other than its jaws.

His tall frame cages me completely, one hand slams beside my head, and the other wraps around my throat possessively.

I gulp under his grip, feeling his blood run through his hand, wild and furious.

His thumb presses just under my jaw, forcing me to tilt my head up and look at him.

I look at him.

Green eyes appear feral, darker than I have ever seen.

The elegant, controlled Dakota is gone. There is not a drop of softness or humour left in his gaze as he glares at me with unfiltered rage.

Anger. Hurt. Possessiveness. All of it bleeding raw out of him.

“Tell me one thing.” Dakota growls, lowering his face so close that I feel his hot breath burning my lips.

“What the fuck did you mean by.. You will think of marrying Ryan?” His voice explodes into a roar, spitting fire right on my face.

I flinch at his sudden outburst. Tears form in my eyes as I stare at the version of him that scares me the most. More than even death.

My body still carries the memory of horror he has done, and what he is capable of doing.

“Tell me, kitten.” Dakota’s voice drops dangerously low. I watch his jaw clench hard as his chest vibrates with raw jealousy, “Do you want to marry Ryan?”

Hah! A gasp escapes my lips as his fingers suddenly tighten around my throat, reminding me who exactly is in control right now.

I am shit scared, but I stay on my feet, barely hanging in between the wall and his brooding body. 

While his enraged gaze burns through me with a terrifying intensity, like he is hardly holding himself back from doing something much worse.

This isn’t Dakota. This is his dark side.

His Beast.

The one who takes what he wants. And right now, he is looking at me like I belong to him. Only him.

“Do you want Ryan?” His voice rough against my lips, sending violent shivers down to my toes.

“No.” I gasp, letting out a tiny word.

My heart pounds wildly as he stays completely unhinged, just like the last time when he lost his sanity and kept mindlessly asking over and over, what Ryan said to me.

He didn’t care about anything, or me, and even now, he doesn’t.

“Do you like him?” His fierce gaze doesn’t waver a micro-inch from me as he remains fully immersed in his madness.

“No.” I swallow hard against his grip.

“Do you think about him?” He demands like a madman burning in the flames of jealousy.

“No.”

Dakota leans in dangerously closer. His eyes burn into me without blinking as he asks in a low, lethal whisper, “Do you want him to touch you?”

My heart races so violently in my chest that I could feel it beating in my throat.

Tears fill my eyes and I close them for a second, before pulling air into my lungs and murmuring, “No.”

The air feels thick, and his presence feels more suffocating.

“So you don’t want to marry him?” Dakota asks me calmly, loosening his grip on my neck, just enough for me to breathe.

“Yes.” I breathe in deeply.

A pure male satisfaction flashes across his face. His thumb gently strokes the side of my neck, almost tenderly, as a proud smirk curves his lips.

“Good kitty.”

A shiver runs down my spine the way his thumb keeps on stroking my throat softly, where his fingers once choked me violently.

A tear slips past my lashes, betraying me as my traitorous body finds a strange kind of comfort in the touch of the man I want to despise.

His eyes follow the tear as it rolls down my cheek and slowly, he leans into it. 

My breath catches as his soft lips press against my skin. I squeeze my eyes shut as I feel his hot, possessive tongue drag across my cheek as he licks my tear.

The memory hits me like a belt, how he treated me like a fuck doll, degraded me, then drank my tears like a sadistic demon dying of thirst.

“Dakota!” I jerk my face away sharply, not giving him the pleasure to taste my tears, like they are some damn prize.

He slowly pulls back, as if I offended him. His fingers tilt my chin up, forcing me to look into his darkness.

“Call me Alpha.” He commands me, his rough voice scrapes over me like a cheese grater, peeling open old wounds that are inflicted by him.

His Alpha Beast.

“I hate you.” The words spit out of me in an uncontrollable fury as I stare back with loathe.

He doesn’t even flinch. His dark, predatory gaze remains locked on me, like none of it mattered to him.

“I love you.” He says calmly. Very calmly.

The words hit me like a slap. After every evil thing he did to me, he dare to say those words.

“I don’t want your love.” I yell, pushing at his chest with both hands. But like an iron door, he doesn’t budge an inch.

Dakota simply stares down at me. His body remains pressed against mine, hard and unmoving, as he cages me against the wall.

He is strong enough to crush me. Even with the rage of an immortal, I alone can’t fight him.

“Leave me.” I hiss angrily, brimming with frustrating tears.

“Kiss me.” 

“What?” I freeze at his haunting words.

Dakota leans into me darkly, like a malicious shadow. He licks his lips slowly, while staring mine as he stops just an inch away.

“I said.” His gaze burns into me as he orders again, “Kiss. Me.”

“Never.” I spit, trying to shove him away. But it’s useless. I feel my strength fading under the intensity of his stare that says I-am-not-going-until-I-get-what-I-want.

Dakota smirks. His lips curve into a slow, dangerous smile as he watches me struggle, like a wolf enjoys the last moments before the kill.

His large hand cups my jaw, and his thumb slowly traces my lower lip, while his eyes follow the movement with raw hunger.

“Either you kiss me.” He whispers, his voice dark and possessed as he declares, “Or I’ll kiss you.”