Her own laughter rattles through her chest, as she chuckles lightly.

“You think it’s funny?” I snarl.

“Tragically so.”

Fury races through my body and my muscles tense so quickly I swear I feel them become so taut I’m worried they’ll snap. “If my brothers ever see you naked again, I’ll bend you over and fuck you right there in front of them. I’ll fill your pussy, your ass and your mouth with my cum and I’ll let them watch so they know that you’re mine, that you’ll only ever be mine.”

“I hate you,” she whispers.

“That’s okay, hate me all you want, but it won’t change anything. You’ll still be mine, my girl, my cum slut, my little bird.”

“I’m not a slut, I was a virgin until you stole it. And if I’m a bird, what does that make you? Am I the prey and you the predator? Now you’ve captured me and taken what you want, why don’t you let me go?”

“I’m your cage, Starling. I was always going to catch you, but I’m keeping you too.”

“I hate you,” she says again.

“Didn’t seem much like hate when you were coming all over my cock,” I say arrogantly, reluctantly sliding my arm from around her waist and sitting up. “Go pee.”

The moment she’s free, she jumps up from the bed and rushes to the bathroom. I’ve already removed the lock from the door, just in case she tries to hide from me in there. I considered taking the door off completely, but I’m hoping she’ll learn sooner rather than later to just accept that we’re together.

There’s a soft gasp of pain, then the sound of her peeing, and I can’t help the smile that spreads across my lips. I wasn’t gentle, she’s going to be sore, but I can’t seem to find it in me to regret that. She’s sore because I pushed my dick through her hymen and claimed her pussy for the very first time. Like a caveman I want to beat my chest with pride. Her security detail were under strict instructions to make sure no guys got close enough to think they even had a chance at taking what’s mine, but in the last two and a half years they haven’t had to intervene even once.

She ran from her home, her mother, her friend and started over somewhere new, but apart from her relationship with her father she’s barely made any attempt to get close to anyone else. I went to see her in Maine more than once, the last time I told her if she didn’t come home I’d take away all the people who were important to her. I was angry, furious even, and I did what I promised I would.

Removing Courtney from her life had been almost too easy. She’d jumped ship at the first hint of popularity and a place on the arm of one of The Elite. I’d assumed Cassidy would be harder, sadly it hadn’t been difficult to persuade her that offering Starling an ultimatum was the way to go. It just never occurred to me that Starling wouldn’t back down.