Though, sadly, all of my confidence fell to the floor when he spoke. “Your clothes,” he said, eyes still on his phone. “Remove them.” I stared at him, my breath going cold. He’d already seen all I had to offer—had recorded it to watch whenever he wanted—but that wasn’t the point. Every nerve in my body fought against submitting to his will. The pacifist inside of me wanted to obey. My brain ordered me to strip, now, but my pride and somehow my heart pulled me in the other direction. Swallowing hard, I took a step back. The movement brought his dark gaze to mine. I wouldn’t hand this devil my soul. If he wanted it, he’d have to rip it from my chest. “No.” His eyes hardened, holding mine as he set the phone on the dresser beside him and gave me all of his terrifying attention. My resolve wavered like a plucked string. I backed up until my legs hit the bed. “Kotyonok,” he warned, taking a step toward me, “‘no’ is no longer in your vocabulary. When I tell you to do something, you’ ll do it with a smile. Don’t, and things will become very unpleasant for you. Take. Them. Off.” I needed to know what he had planned for me. My imagination was a scary place, and it was thinking up a myriad of disturbing ways he might exact his revenge. The unknown twisted my lungs in a tight grasp. I wanted him to do his worst now, or the anxiety would eat at me until I was physically sick. Heart racing against my ribcage, I held his gaze. “No.” He watched me for a second, and then he was on me so fast a scream rose up my throat. Ronan threw me onto my back on the bed, dropping his body on top of mine. I twisted against him, managing to knee him in the groin. A human man would fall to the floor and grab his junk, but this monster merely paused for a second, closed his eyes, then let an animalistic sound escape between clenched teeth. I took advantage of his distraction and turned onto my stomach to crawl away from him and up the bed, but he grabbed my ankle, dragging me down and underneath him, then rolled me onto my back. “You’ve managed to piss me off,” he growled. “Not a good move.”