I didn’t have a chance to react before the needle pressed into the side of my neck. Jane pushed down on the plunger, and in an instant, heat flooded my system. My wolf howled as the warmth coursed through me, pooling in my low belly and groin.
“What…. Did you… Do?” I snarled, grabbing Jane’s wrist. My vision blurred, every touch turning into fire against my skin. Jane grinned and ground her hips down on me, momentarily making my eyes roll back with ecstasy.
But this wasn’t right. This wasn’t what I wanted. Even with my system clouded, I knew what this was.
An aphrodisiac.
I shoved her. Hard. She went sprawling across the room, hitting the floor with a thud and a cry. I didn’t care if she was hurt. Not right now.
“What the fuck did you just inject me with?” I demanded, sitting up. My head was spinning, my body temperature spiking, but I forced myself to stay focused, gripping the bedframe to stay upright.
“Alexander, I—”
“Answer me.”
Jane looked at the door, hesitating, then leapt to her feet and scurried over to the door. I moved faster than she seemed to expect and blocked her path. She pressed herself against the wall, shrinking beneath me.
“It was just supposed to help you rx,” she said quickly. “That’s all.”
“Bullshit.” I grabbed the empty syringe from where it had fallen on the bed and shoved it in her face. “This is an aphrodisiac. Do you think I’m fucking stupid?”
Her face went pale.
“Why?” I stepped closer. “Why would you do this?”
“I didn’t have a choice!” Jane’s voice cracked. “Richard paid me. He offered me so much money, Alexander. I need the money, and he said all I had to do was seduce you. Get you into bed. He even had photographers ready to document everything.”
The room spun.
“Richard?”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But I needed the money. I’m going to lose my house, my car, everything—
“So you thought drugging and raping me was the solution?” My voice came out cold.
She flinched. “I wasn’t going to–I mean, I was just going to make it look like—”
“Get out.”
“Alexander-
>>
“Get the fuck out of my room before I rip your throat out,” I hissed.
“}
<b>+25 </b><b>Bonus </b>
Jane looked at me for a moment as if trying to gauge whether I was being serious or not. When she realized that I was, she scrambled to her feet and ran. The door mmed behind her.
I stood there for a moment, trying to process what had just happened<b>, </b>but it was difficult with the aphrodisiac still working through my system. I stumbled to the bathroom and turned on the cold shower, stepping in fully clothed.
The shock of the cold water helped clear my head enough to think. I pressed my hands against the tiles and shut my eyes. So Richard had orchestrated this whole thing, hadn’t he?The press tour, Jane’s involvement, all of it. He’d been nning this from the start.
How could I have been so stupid?
And E. Fuck, if Jane was telling the truth about photographers, then there was a chance E had already seen the pictures. I needed to get to her, needed to exin.
I got out of the shower and grabbed my phone, not caring that my soaked clothes were dripping water all over the floor. I still had no service, but I tried calling anyway. Of course, nothing went through.
I threw on dry clothes, grabbed my keys, and headed for the door. The drive back to Ashw usually took fiv hours, and it was already past two in the morning.
Thankfully, the roads were mostly empty this time of night. I pushed the car as fast as I dared, my hands gripping the steering wheel so hard my knuckles were white. The aphrodisiac had mostly worn off by now, leaving me with a pounding headache and a sick feeling in my stomach.
I tried calling E again every few minutes, but my phone still had no service. It wasn’t until I was an hour outside of Ashw that the signal finally returned. Immediately, my phone exploded with notifications. Texts, missed calls, news alerts.
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<strong>Sara Lili</strong> is a daring romance writer who turns icyndscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of d’s breathtaking cold.