The next day—repeat.
Little changes over the next week except that Daphne gets bolder. I catch her lurking outside my door, and she threatens me twice in the bathhouse.
“I had Griffin until you showed up.” If she bit me, I swear I’d feel venom.
A weight settles in my chest. “Take him back. I don’t want him.”
“It’s about what he wants!” Her look is scathing, as if she can’t fathom what he sees in me.
“Then I guess you’re out of luck.” If there’s one thing Griffin has made clear, it’s what he wants.
She strikes, claws bared. I mostly avoid her fingernails, but one still gouges my chin. I dive underwater to dilute the blood. While I’m under, I drag Daphne down with me and hold her there until she almost drowns.
“Really?” I taunt. “You’re a soldier, and the best you can do is scratch?”
She recovers faster than I thought she would and punches me in the eye. I guess I asked for that. I punch her back hard enough to make her nose bleed.
“Now you’ve ruined the bath.” I grab her hair, dunk her, and give her a good shake before letting her back up. She wrenches out of my hold and attacks with practiced, forceful moves, but I’m like a fish in the water, slippery, and nothing connects.
Daphne finally gives up and pokes at her nose. “You’re nothing to him. A passing fancy. And now you’re whoring for the rest of Beta Team, too.”
“Is that so?” I ask frostily.
“I see you going into their rooms. At night, I see them going into yours.”
That also means she knows I’m screaming my head off at the time. “Don’t you have anything better to do than to watch me?”
“Oh, I’m watching you.”
My eyes narrow. Threats bring out my natural instincts. “I have no mercy,” I say, shoving her away from me. “Touch me again and you’ll regret it.”
*
Griffin comes to collect me for dinner and finds me with Kato and Flynn. He doesn’t look happy about it and steers me back to my room with a possessive hand on the small of my back. Except for a few advisory moments here and there, some of them contrived just to get me into the castle, I think, I hardly see him except in the evenings. It’s obvious he doesn’t like my spending most of my day without him, especially in the company of other men.
“What happened to your chin?” he asks, his concern tinged with jealous aggression.
I touch the scratch. “Nothing. Just a cut.”
“Is there anything to worry about?”
I shake my head, but his eyes narrow, and he takes my arm to pull me closer. His warm, strong fingers make my pulse race.
“You’re not planning on mauling me again, are you?” I try to pull away, but my effort feels disgustingly halfhearted.
He doesn’t respond, brushing his fingertips just under my eye. It must be turning colors. Tomorrow, it’ll be hideous.
“What’s this?” he demands. He’s close enough that his masculine scent teases my senses—sun, citrus, and something uniquely Griffin’s that’s increasingly hard to resist.
“Nothing.” I turn my head from him.
He turns it back, his tone sharpening to a dangerous edge. “Who hit you?”
Not answering, I fold my arms across my chest, creating a barrier between us. He unfolds them and takes my hands in his, holding on to them. His are steady and warm and so large that mine feel lost in them.
“You don’t have to handle everything on your own, Cat. And I need to know what’s going on. Egeria may be Alpha, but I’m king of this army. You’re part of my team. An attack on you can’t go unpunished.”
A warm feeling I don’t like at all spreads through me. I can’t afford to depend on anyone for protection. My life doesn’t work that way. “The guys and I get into scuffles all the time. I probably just ran into one of their elbows with my face.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
Argh! He always knows! “What if I don’t tell?”
He backs me against the wall, a wolfish smile spreading across his face. My heart kicks into a faster rhythm, and a nervous thrill flutters in my belly. I’ve seen how creative people can get with a wall.
His voice a low rumble, he angles his head toward mine. “Then you’ll be punished, too.”
My breathing turns shallow. Tingles skim down my spine. “How?” Good Gods! Was that my voice?
He takes his time answering, all the while devouring me with his eyes. Apparently only satisfied when my skin catches fire, he finally dips his head and murmurs in my ear, “Spanking?”