A nervous laugh left Sienna’s lips. "Bite! Am I an animal?" She pushed at his hard chest, "I will do no such thing Elias. Now let go."
His grip remained in place, firm holding her where she was. As she struggled, her lips brushed over his skin. "So you can kiss my neck but can’t bite ?"
Sienna made her own little growl. How had she kissed his neck? He was the one holding her face so close to his neck that she could barely move her lips without brushing them over his skin! It was very inappropriate.
And why did he taste like sea salt and cherries?
"Now you are licking !" Elias chuckled.
Sienna’s eyes widened. She tried to push him away, but failed again. The beast man was like a brick wall. What did he eat to even beco this strong? In a mont of irrational decision making, she chomped down on his neck, biting with the hunger of a starved wolf in the wild.
Elias moaned. His fingers moved of their own accord, carding through her hair. "Harder," he urged.
Sienna drew her head back slightly, mouth wide open, flat teeth ready for action.
A glass shattered and soone gasped.
The sound made him drop his hand from her hair as they both turned. Mrs. Miller was standing in the door way, the lemonade she had brought was tricking both into and out of the bedroom.
Her wide eyes went between Sienna and Elias, like she couldn’t decide who to scream at first.
"Mama..." Sienna laughed nervously.
Mrs. Miller turned, walked out and closed the door.
"Dang it!" Sienna muttered.
Elias, so unbothered, traced his thumb over the bite mark. It had barely made an impression, her teeth lacked the grip. Still, she had done as much damage as a human could do. "Do it again." He commanded.
Sienna leaped back as if she had been electrocuted. "I think we have done enough biting for the night."
Elias disagreed. "I have not had my turn."
"Ha-ha," Sienna laughed dryly. "We will try again tomorrow." She escaped the room as quickly as she could.
He listened to door rattle after she slamd it shut, and then fell back on the bed. "So close," he whispered.
A mont later, a servant opened the door and cleaned up the broken glasses, and cleaned the floor. The whole ti, she tried not to gawk at the fox lord, who was sniffing Sienna’s pillow!
anwhile, Sienna tracked her mother outside and pulled her to the side. "Mother, we should talk about what you saw upstairs."
Mrs. Miller, pushed Sienna’s hand aside, smiling easily. "You are both adults with a marriage certificate. Whatever you do to satisfy your urges is not my business." She touched Sienna’s shoulder lightly. "I am a woman too, so I understand that you have needs. You are not divorced as of yet so you can still ride that...."
"Mom!" Sienna scread.
Mrs. Miller chuckled. "I am just saying Sienna, that if I had a husband as well built and good looking as Elias when I was your age, they would have to pry away from him...."
"Mom!" Sienna scread again.
As Miller Miller started laughing, the clingy girls, Mira and Suri found her. They were both crying ’mama’ like little birds that had just been hatched. While clinging to her body, they looked at Sienna with guarded looks, as if she was the thief stealing their mother. Suri even screeched, as if she had detected danger.
Sienna scoffed. "Stare and screech all you want but you are the cuckoos here." she snapped at them.
Mrs. Miller gasped. "Sienna! Don’t say that to your sisters. They just need so reassurance that they won’t be abandoned."
Sienna huffed. "And I need to have a conversation with my mother without them screeching at . You need to give their custody to grandma Byra. Soren and I are your real children." She turned and stord off.
Mrs. Miller sighed. Her daughter had always been possessive and selfish from a small age. It was natural that she was not willing to share even a small bit of her motherly love. She probably held a grudge against Mira and Suri because they had been raised with both parents. But the children were not to bla, Paris was. Hana too, because she obviously knew about Sienna, Soren and her, but she pretended not to know. Not until she needed soone to raise her kids for her did she rember that Paris had a whole other neglected family.
"Mama," Suri whimpered, rubbing her head all over Mrs. Miller’s hand. "Mama, don’t leave ."
The woman sighed again. They all knew deep down that the ’mama’ Suri was calling for was Hana.
****
Later, beyond midnight, Sienna’s dream state and silence of the night was broken by muffled sobs. She stirred awake, her instincts sharpened by the fear of living in a beast world. She slipped from her bed, making sure not to wake Ali.
Barefoot, she descended the stairs, following the flickering glow of the lanterns on the walls. Her heart was thudding, fueled by air that was heavy with dread.
In the living room, Elias sat upon an unfamiliar chair which looked like a throne, covered with fox furs on the back. His posture was regal, predatory and fierce, the embodint of a lord surveying his domain. Two guards stood at his sides, whips coiled in their hands, while more stood to the sides, their eyes gleaming with anticipation.
On the floor, before Elias, knelt a young woman, her body trembling. Her voice cracked as she pleaded, words spilling out in desperation, begging for rcy. Her sobs echoed through the room, raw and unrestrained, each a stab to Sienna’s heart.
For her, this was a sight of her husband’s cruelty that she had heard of, but never witnessed. Her breath quickened, fury rising like a storm. Her hands clenched into fists, nails biting into her palms.
"Are you kidding ?" she snapped.
The guards shifted uneasily as an angry Sienna walked closer, her rage palpable, her eyes blazing with defiance.
Elias’s gaze flicked toward her, clam and unreadable, as though he had long expected her arrival. His silence seed to be a challenge, daring her to act.
The kneeling woman’s sobs grew louder, mingling with the wind, until the sound was unbearable.
"Continue," Elias commanded.
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