Interrogation

Roman stared down at me, his eyes burning with an expectation that made my skin crawl. The heavy silence in the dusty storage closet was suffocating, broken only by my ragged breathing and the metallic tang of the dead guard’s blood pooling on the concrete floor. I wanted to run, but my legs felt like lead, and his terrifying gaze kept me pinned against the wooden shelves. He was waiting for an answer to an impossible implication. How was I supposed to respond to something so absurd? A child? With him? He truly believed we had a child together.

Before I could gather my wits, Jaxon, Roman’s Beta, stepped into the cramped, blood-splattered space. He moved with a quiet, lethal grace, taking the blood-slicked sword from Roman’s hand and replacing it with a thick folder.

Roman flipped the folder open. When he spoke, his cold, detached baritone sent a chill of dread down my spine.

"Tessa Sterling," Roman read, his tone flat. "Belonging to the Blackwood Pack. Daughter of the Beta Richard Sterling and his mate, Evelyn. One younger sister, Blaire."

My breath hitched. He had my entire life summarized in a single folder. My entire life, summarized in a single folder. I swallowed hard, unable to tear my eyes away from his harsh, striking features as he flipped to the next page.

"Not a virgin," Roman said, snapping the folder shut with a sharp crack. He lifted his gaze, his piercing blue eyes locking onto mine with deadly intensity. "Tell me where the child is, Miss Sterling."

"What child?" I gasped, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. My heart hammered violently against my ribs.

"If you value your life, you will not lie to me," he warned. His voice remained a steady, dangerous rumble, but the sheer menace in his posture was suffocating. If looks could kill, I would be dead ten times over.

"I mean no offense," I said quickly, desperation making my voice crack. "But you must be mistaken. I’ve never been pregnant."

Roman didn't blink. He just stared at me, his gaze calculating and merciless.

Just when I thought he might take the sword back and use it on me, he turned to Jaxon. "Get her into one of the rooms. I intend to interrogate her privately."

"Yes, Alpha," Jaxon replied immediately.

Roman turned and walked out.

Jaxon straightened up, his cold gaze landing on me. "The first and only rule of this household, Ms. Sterling, is total obedience. The King is not to be denied, nor is he to be questioned. I suggest you think that over as you follow me."

"But I—"

"I do not care to hear you talk," Jaxon cut me off. He turned and began walking down the dimly lit hallway. Left with no choice, I quickly scrambled to follow in his shadow.

He led me toward a massive stone tower that seemed to rise into the very clouds. Inside, a dizzying spiral staircase coiled upward, seemingly without end. I lost track of the flights we climbed, my thighs aching and my chest heaving as the tight, curved stone walls pressed in on us. The space was incredibly narrow, forcing me to keep one hand pressed against the cold, rough stones to keep from losing my balance and tumbling backward down the steep drop.

Finally, Jaxon stepped off the stairs and into a winding corridor lined with heavy wooden doors. He stopped in front of one, pulling out an electronic remote. With a soft click, the lock disengaged, and the heavy door swung open.

As I walked in, the door slammed shut behind me. An invisible lock turned with a heavy mechanical thud, trapping me inside.

I took a shaky breath, forcing myself to look around. The room itself wasn’t horrible. It was actually much more spacious than my cramped attic space back home. I had a double bed with a thick mattress, a wardrobe, a small sitting area with a round table and two chairs, and a private bathroom with a shower, sink, and toilet. If it had a kitchen, I could live solely in this room. But the lack of windows was a harsh reminder of my captivity. The only light came from an overhead electric bulb that flickered slightly, casting long, eerie shadows across the stone walls.

The only truly unnerving thing about the room was a separate, locked decorative door built into the wall near the bed. It had no handle and no obvious way to open it. Yet as I neared it, looking for a way to open it, a sharp click echoed through the quiet room.

The door swung inward. I jumped backward, narrowly avoiding a hit to the face as the heavy wood swept past.

Roman himself stepped through the open doorway, as regal and threatening as ever. I scrambled backward, my heart hammering violently in my chest as he stalked toward me like a predator. The door moved on its own, sliding closed and locking behind him.

My back hit the wall. I was trapped, locked in a windowless room with the Lycan King.

"Now. You’ve had time to think it over," Roman said. He stopped just a foot away, his towering frame completely eclipsing the light from the flickering bulb. "Stop pretending you don’t remember our encounter."

A sudden wave of unwanted memories flooded my mind, shattering my defenses.

I remembered his face. I remembered those intense blue eyes staring down at me, his brows pulled together. I remembered the bead of sweat that rolled down his chin and dripped onto my face.

Most of all, I remembered the raw physical sensation of our bodies joined. I remembered his thick dick buried in my wet folds, thrusting and taking me over and over again. I remembered the headboard pounding violently against the wall, and the sheer, overwhelming power of his weight.

My cheeks burned suddenly hot.

He leaned closer, trapping me against the wall. He caught the sudden change in my expression, peering at my reddened face.

"So you do remember," he said, his voice dropping to a dangerous rumble. "Three years ago. I was at the pack junction, attending an Alpha meeting. I went to a bar when a woman, soaked with wanton pheromones, draped herself all over me and begged me to take her to bed."

I swallowed thickly. I didn't remember that part. But the rest of it...

"I’m entirely certain that woman was you, Tessa Sterling," he said, lifting his chin to stare down his nose at me. "Try to deny it."

"We had a one-night stand," I admitted. "But there was never any child."

Roman's upper lip curled. "Lie."

With lightning speed, his hands snapped forward. Grabbing my wrists, he yanked them over my head and pinned them to the wall with one hand. His other hand flattened onto the wall right beside my head.

"Give me my child," Roman growled.

"I’m telling the truth!" I said, my voice shaking as fear rushed through me.

Roman brought his face closer. As his lip curled higher, his canines began to elongate ever so slightly. He was so furious he looked ready to shift.

"You knew who I was that night. You purposefully seduced me, knowing your heat would trigger my own rut and make me forgo condoms. Then you secretly gave birth, raising my child yourself."

"You think I planned to go into heat?"

"There are ways of triggering it..."

"I would have never," I said. "I was engaged... I never even meant for the one-night stand!"

I hated this. With my arms restrained, I had no way of holding my torn shirt closed. It hung open in tattered shreds, completely exposing my chest and revealing my bra underneath. Fortunately, Roman didn't look. He didn't seem interested at all.

"I didn't reveal who I was," Roman continued, his voice dripping with arrogance and certainty. "But you could have figured it out on your own. There is no way our night together was strictly coincidence."

"It was," I insisted, anger rising along with the fear inside me. "I lost everything because of that night! My fiancé broke the engagement the moment he found out. My family started treating me like I'm tainted, like I was some dirty, shameful secret to be hidden away. If I’d had a baby, I would have at least gained something, but I didn't. I have absolutely nothing."

At once, Roman moved his hand from the wall beside my head. He roughly grabbed my chin, his fingers digging into my jaw as he lifted my face up toward his. Sneering down at me, he said, "You still want to marry someone else? You would dare let some inferior male raise my child?"

"There was never a child," I said, defiant even in the face of his monstrous fury. I didn't have much, but I had the truth.

"Take me to a doctor," I said. "Let them check. That will prove my innocence."

Roman’s fiery glare dropped from my face down the length of my body, to the exposed swells of my breasts and below.

He was close enough for me to detect the sudden, intense increase in his body heat. With a low growl, he lifted his eyes back to mine.

"No one will examine my woman except for me."

He released my hands, but did not back up a single inch.

"Strip."