Hope snapped her head up, not sure she'd heard him right. "Wait. What?"
"Do you think I want to be like this, chained up and unable to control my craving? No better than an animal?" He shook his head in disgust. "Did you really think you were the only one with a life they'd rather get on with?"
Yes, Hope had to admit, she had thought that. Or rather, she hadn't given the alpha's feelings any thought at all, beyond his obvious cravings.
What he said was true. She had been thinking of him as an animal. Not a man.
She wished she could start over again. Give him the respect he'd given her.
Going back in time wasn't possible. But at least she could do a better job going forward.
"Will you tell me your name? Please?"
He stared at her for a long time before answering. This time, Hope didn't look away.
"Maddox," he finally muttered.
Maddox. The name fit him—hard and strong, and just a little bit crazy.
"I'm sorry I've been inconsiderate," Hope said. "You have to understand that waking up to all this is really confusing. On the one hand, I'm grateful to be alive, but on the other, I'm terrified of what I've become."
The alpha didn't blink. "I don't want your gratitude, and I don't need any apologies. I just need you to unlock these chains."
Hope let out a breath, stung by his reply.
"I can't."
"Why not?" he demanded.
"Because I'm scared of you."
"Bullshit." He spat the word like it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard in his life.
"How is that bullshit?" Hope said, inching toward him. Why did he have to turn everything she said into an argument?
She felt her anger start to rise and embraced it for a change. The truth was that it felt good to experience something—anything—other than lust or fear. "You wanted to kill me the first time I saw you."
"You were trespassing on my land," Maddox said as if that made his reaction perfectly reasonable. "But I didn't hurt you. I killed one of the men that shot you instead."
Hope froze. "You did?"
"Of course," Maddox said. "He trespassed, and he didn't have any excuse at all. I broke his legs and stomped his neck. You don't have to worry about him anymore."
Hope's hand flew up to cover her mouth, shocked.
A part of her was glad that someone so evil had been punished, that he wouldn't have the chance to hurt another soul.
But another part was chilled to the bone by the way Maddox described what he'd done. As if killing the man was no big deal. Just an annoyance that he'd taken care of.
"Holy shit," Hope whispered, not fully realizing she was speaking aloud. "My parents were actually right about something."
"Oh yeah? What's that?"
"They always said that alphas were the devil's spawn."
Maddox's mouth twisted into an ugly smirk. "Sounds like your childhood was almost as fucked up as mine." He laughed harshly. "But no. If anyone was the devil, it was the man who shot you in the back. Not me."
"Maybe," Hope conceded. "But you can't pretend that your hands are clean. Can you honestly say that you wouldn't have killed me that day if the narcos hadn't got to me first?"
The alpha's gaze darkened. He lunged forward until the heavy chain pulled taut behind him.
"Do you know why I locked this chain around my neck instead of an ankle or a wrist?" he demanded, suddenly deadly serious.
Hope held her breath, a little afraid to know the answer.
"Because, Hope Johansen, I knew that the urge to get to you—to possess you—would become so strong that I would willingly chew off a foot or hand to satisfy that need," he told her, mercilessly drilling her with his gaze. "I knew that the only way to protect you, to give your body a chance to heal, was to make sure I'd die if I tried to get anywhere near you."
The brutal, unflinching honesty in his ebony eyes caused something to break inside Hope. The dam that held back every painful emotion started to crumble.
"So trust me when I say that I'd kill for you. Fuck, I'd even die for you. But the one thing I would never do is hurt you."
Hope believed every word Maddox said.
And nothing had ever scared her more.
Chapter Seven
Hope was naked in the water.
Maddox didn't have to be near her to know. He didn't have to have his eyes on her to see. All he had to do was close his eyelids and let the rest of his senses take over.
He'd heard the rustle of the soiled bedsheets as she carried them down the short path that ran to the hot springs. Once she arrived and knelt at the edge of the basin, he'd listened to the splash of water, caught the scent of soap in the air, heard her breaths deepen as she struggled to scrub away the proof of her desire for him.
Once finished, she'd wrung every drop out of the soaked sheet, snapped it flat, and whipped it over a tree branch to dry in the wind.
Then she'd paused.
Hope wanted to go into the water. Maddox had picked up the desire in her shifting scent long before he heard her whisper "what the hell" under her breath.
The sound of his flannel shirt gliding slowly over her golden skin made him grind his teeth with want. What he wouldn't do to break these chains and go to her. To wrap his arms around her waist and draw her down into the steaming water himself. To settle her on his lap and slide her down the length of his cock.
Fuck.
Maddox cursed his old, sensible self. The self who
