Well, if he had, he guessed it was time to change his mind, he thought sarcastically.
“Doesn’t look to me like you have much choice.” His c**k was insistent now. Damn, Doc said to be in the lab first thing after Roni awoke, not after another hour or two of f**king her silly. “Button the shirt, Roni. We have to go down to the lab and I’ll be damned if I’ll let you flash that pretty ass for whoever is standing around outside this room.”
He stomped back to the dresser, jerked a T-shirt and sweat pants from the drawers, and hastily donned them.
“Lab?” At least she was buttoning the shirt, even if her voice did pulse with disgust. “Do I look like a f**king rat to you?”
He turned to her slowly. Her voice was harsh, guttural, the scent of her building heat reaching him effortlessly.
“Don’t push me this morning, Roni.” He was holding onto his temper and his arousal by the thinnest thread. “You won’t like the consequences.”
She eyed him with brooding fury and a bitterness that confused him no small amount.
“You mean it can get worse?” she asked with vicious sweetness. Damn, that smile could cut a man in two without even trying.
He stepped closer, his hand reaching out, catching in the long strands of her hair before she could jerk away from him. He watched her eyes widen as he exerted just enough pressure to force her head back, to look into her face, fighting instincts he hadn’t even known he had.
“It can get worse,” he snarled, allowing his lips to pull back, the lethal canines at the sides of his mouth to flash dangerously. “I warned you years ago, baby, I was more than you could ever imagine. You should have heeded that advice.”
She didn’t show fear as he had expected. Fury leapt into her gaze—hotter, stronger than before.
“And I thought I had.” She mocked him with a sneer. “What are you going to do now, Taber? Take me to the floor and mount me again? Is that the only way you know of to make your women submit to you?”
He leaned closer, inhaling the sweet scent of her arousal. “The good thing about taking you to the floor is how much I know you would love it.” He allowed the growl building in his throat to escape with his words.
Instantly, the smell of her heat intensified.
“Unwillingly.” Her lips thinned, her nostrils flaring as she tugged at the grip on her hair. She liked it. The knowledge pierced his anger like the sharpest sword, making him damned near desperate to have her now.
“Unwillingly?” He backed her against the bed, watching her eyes darken and her cheeks flush with lust. Oh yeah, that’s how he wanted her. Hot and hungry for him.
“It’s a drug, Taber.” He stilled against her as she spoke with chilling emphasis. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t allow you within a mile of me. You drugged me. I can’t stop it, I can’t control it, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let you sugarcoat it.”
She spoke as though there had never been natural desire between them. As though the hunger and the heat were something she would have never felt otherwise. It sent a surge of anger crashing through his system, ripping aside his natural control as he faced his mate’s defiance.
“You wanted me before,” he snarled, furious that she would deny the bond they once had. “I hadn’t kissed you then, Roni. Before the mark, before the kiss, you still wanted me.”
He dared her to deny it, staring down at her, praying she wouldn’t because he knew if she did, his control would break.
“I was a child, remember?” A flash of pain, quickly covered yet so deep it seared his soul, shadowed her eyes. “I grew up and I grew up fast, thanks to you. Now either f**k me, or let’s get these tests the hell over with because I need a shower. I told you, I stink.”
He released her slowly but watched her more closely than ever before. She looked angry, sounded furious, but beneath the smell of her arousal, the scent of fear and pain surrounded her. She thought she was so tough, standing up to him, hating him for only God knew what, when he could sense the agony slashing at her soul. She was a part of him, more than she knew, more than she could ever understand.
Taber’s hand reached out, his fingers touching her cheek despite her instinctive flinch.
“You were mine when you were eleven years old, and mine when you turned into a woman. You’re no less mine now, Roni.” He kept his voice soft, fought back the beast roaring to make her submit and to do it now. “You can fight it all you want to, for now. But I won’t let you go. Don’t deceive yourself there.”
She inhaled slowly, deeply. He could see the moisture shimmering in her eyes. Not tears, but close, though she maintained the disdain in her look.
“You must enjoy deluding yourself, Taber. If so, that’s fine. But I won’t play the game with you. Not this time.” Her voice trembled on the last word.
Taber stepped away from her carefully. He could feel his fragile hold on his control weakening.
“We’ll take the elevator to the lab.” He refused to comment on her statement. Let her believe as she wished. For now. “Doc was impatient an hour ago, I’m sure he’s less than pleased by now.”
He gripped her upper arm lightly, needing to touch her, no matter how small that contact was.
“I don’t need you to lead me like a child.” Her voice was low, pulsating with a mix of anger, arousal and fear as she tried to pull her arm from his grasp.
“Stop fighting me, dammit.” He turned back to her, jerking her against him, allowing her to feel the erection that was throbbing like a raw, open wound. “Give it up for now, Roni. Let it the hell go before I do something we’ll both regret.”
Déjà vu swirled around them. Would I regret it? She had once asked him.
“I already regret it,” she snapped out, trembling with the excess of emotions that seemed to be tearing her apart. “Don’t you understand, Taber? I regret it all, more than you can ever imagine.”
He clenched his teeth as an unbidden rumble of warning escaped his chest. He was rock hard. Every instinct he possessed screamed out that he show her differently, that he force her to admit that it wasn’t just the hormone causing her need, that it wasn’t something her heart and soul regretted. The animal was roaring for submission, the man was screaming out for more.
“One day,” he snarled softly, “you will admit differently, Roni. Pray, baby, that you haven’t pushed me too far to hear the words by then. I’m not one of those civilized little boys you used to date. I’m your f**king mate, and by God, you’re testing my limits right now. Stop, before I hurt us both.”