A slow smile curved Lucas’s lips. “Yes. You can go back. But never without me. If you ever try, I will find you and bring you back.” His smile grew wider. “And then all bets are off.”

He was looking at her with an open sexual hunger, so intense, for a second she didn’t think it could be sincere. She froze, terrified. And then a small part of her responded to it. For a second, Karina wondered what it would be like to cross the distance between them, laugh right into that stare, and walk away, leaving him standing there like an idiot. But as long as he controlled Emily, she could do nothing.

He leaned forward a quarter inch, like a predatory cat about to pounce.

In her mind, Karina gulped and fled down the hallway, her heart hammering too fast and too loud. But showing weakness wasn’t an option. Lucas had told her before that he was a predator. If she ran, the predator would chase.

She raised her face toward him. “If I do go back without you, don’t find me.”

He turned his head to the side, like a dog, studying her. “Or?”

“Or I will kill you.”

He laughed, a low rich sound that sent shivers of alarm down her spine. “How?”

“I’ll think of something.”

She turned her back to him and forced herself to walk slowly toward the kitchen.

Lucas tilted his head and watched Karina retreat down the hallway. The look in her eyes, the angle of her face, the way she stood, everything communicated defiance. She challenged him. She had no idea how exciting this made her. He wanted to pin her against the wall, until she acknowledged that he was strong enough and powerful enough for her. He wanted to kiss and taste and grind and own. Different standards, he reminded himself. For him it would be flirting. For her, it would be a prelude to rape.

Lucas looked at the ceiling. He knew exactly where this violent impulse was coming from. It was an evolutionary echo, the same echo that told him to murder every other male in the house and then hunt her until she gave in. He made a choice to reject it daily. Strangely, it wasn’t getting any easier.

Henry’s light steps approached him. “Physical assault is probably not the best way to go,” Henry murmured.

Sometimes Lucas could swear the man could read thoughts, even though every Mind Bender Lucas had ever met maintained it was impossible. “Playing in my head?”

“Of course not.” Henry smiled at him. “Your fists are clenched and it’s written all over your face.”

He’d figured as much. “She’s beginning to ask questions.”

“That’s a little faster than I expected.” Henry frowned. “I wiped almost twelve hours of severe pain from her. Usually a wipe of that extent leaves people inert longer. You’re pacing the explanations?”

Lucas nodded. “Not my first time.”

He’d helped bring people over a few times before. A human mind could only accept so much. If he flooded her with the information contradicting her view of reality, the impact of it, combined with her physical trauma, would cause her to snap under the pressure. Her body was at its limits already, fighting the poison and coping with his venom and its consequences, which would soon follow.

Lucas started down the hallway. He needed a shower and some time away from everyone to soothe the excitement rushing through his veins.

“Lucas?” Henry called.

Lucas turned.

His cousin looked at him for a long moment. “Be kind.”

An hour later Karina put the dinner on the table. The encounter in the hallway kept replaying in her head and she couldn’t decide if she’d botched it or handled it well. Emily still slept. Henry had said the fatigue was normal, but she worried all the same.

“Cubed steak.” Henry slid into his seat. “ ‘Beef. It’s what’s for dinner.’ ”

Karina took her seat. Lucas sat to the right of her. Too close. She should have served the dinner in the dining room instead of the kitchen. The bigger table would’ve given her more space.

Lucas crowded her, drinking in her anxiety. Karina swallowed, unable to help herself. He was simply too large and he watched her constantly. Even when she couldn’t see him, she couldn’t get rid of the pressure his gaze brought. He leaned toward her, emanating menace, and she shrank from him out of sheer self-defense.

His lips stretched and Lucas showed her his teeth, large and sharp. “Am I scary?”

She met his stare. “Yes,” she said. “But you know that already. Making me admit it makes you cruel. Corn or beans?”

He drew back. His eyes widened and for a moment the burden of his presence eased. “Corn.”

She passed the dish of corn to him.

Daniel sauntered into the room. While Henry migrated from place to place and Lucas stalked, his steps soundless and full of fierce grace, Daniel strode as if his feet did the ground a great favor. He didn’t walk but floated, devastating in his beauty and perfectly aware of it.

Daniel took a seat directly opposite her. He speared a steak and dropped it on his plate. “Are you going to do this every day? Cook the dinner, be the dinner?”

“Yes,” Karina said with a calm she didn’t feel.

“Why? Are you totally spineless? What do you think sucking up will earn you? Look at him.” Daniel pointed at Lucas. “He doesn’t care.”

“I’m not doing it for him.”

“Then why?”

“Here we go.” Henry rolled his eyes.

Daniel pushed off from the table, balancing his chair on its back legs, and crossed his arms. “No, I want her to enlighten me. How deeply has Stockholm syndrome set in?”

Karina put down her fork. Her instinct told her that whatever she said next would define her place in this house. The idea of some flattering subterfuge crossed her mind and died. She wondered if she should say nothing at all. In the end, she decided on honesty.

“I understand that I can die at any moment. Lucas’s cousin died at the last Christmas dinner. For all I know, Lucas might die tomorrow, killed by your enemies or by your family members. Without Lucas I have no worth. My daughter is here because of me. If I’m no longer needed, I expect that neither will she be. I’ve seen enough of your family to realize we won’t be allowed to leave. You will dispose of us as if we never existed. I have to find some way to make myself valued beyond Lucas. Then, if he dies, both my daughter and I might survive.”

“And you do this by becoming our housekeeper?” Daniel grinned. “Cooking, cleaning up after us? Tell me, how low will you stoop? If I leave some shit in the bathroom for you, will you clean it up?”

“No,” Karina said. “You’ll clean your own shit. Unless you’re sitting in a pile of it right now, you must know how to aim for the toilet and wipe your own ass.”

The amusement in Daniel’s eyes crystallized into anger. “If you want to ingratiate yourself, there’s a much easier way of doing it. You can come over here right now and suck my cock. That will put you into my good graces much faster than scrubbing the sink.”

Karina glanced at Lucas. He cut a piece of steak, chewed with obvious pleasure, and threw her a look that said, Sit tight.

“She isn’t a fool, Daniel.” Henry snagged another roll from the bread basket. “These are delicious. She knows that servicing you would put you and Lucas at each other’s throats. You’re playing this game for your personal gratification, but Lucas depends on her for his survival. She’d have to be mentally deficient to choose you over him.”

Daniel shifted to Lucas. “So what does his lordship think of all this? Your snack has you buried already. Are you flattered?”

Lucas cut into his third steak.

“What would you do in her place? Would you mop the floors, O mighty one?”

Lucas thought about it. “In her place I would’ve killed the two of you already. But I’m not in her place. And I’m not her. I’m not smaller and weaker than everyone around me, nor do I have a child’s life in my hands. She’s being prudent, given her situation.”

Daniel smirked. “Never thought you’d be so agreeable at the idea of your own death.”

“We all must come to terms with it one way or another,” Lucas said.

“Maybe I’ll help you on your way, then, since you’re all prepared. Seems a shame to waste the opportunity.”

“Think you can?” Lucas asked with genuine interest.

“Careful, Daniel,” Henry said. “That kind of talk will end with you breaking a nail or messing up your hair.”

Daniel ignored him and glared at Lucas. “Bring it.”

Lucas put down his fork, smiled, and shoved the table aside like it weighed nothing. Karina scrambled out of the way. Lucas’s huge hand clamped Daniel’s throat. Daniel clawed at Lucas’s forearm. The bigger man jerked him off his feet, shook him the way a dog shakes a rat, and slammed him down onto the table. Dishes flew. Trapped in a corner between the counter and the stove, Karina threw her hands in front of her face. A ceramic dish shattered next to her, spraying green beans over the counter.

“No,” Henry screamed. “Not inside! Not inside!”

Red marks sliced Lucas’s forearms. His skin bulged as if his bones were trying to break free.

“Yeah!” he snarled. “Hurt me more. Is that all you got?” His hand still locked on Daniel’s throat, he pulled him up and smashed him onto the table again. “Need some more?” Daniel’s face had grown bright red. Lucas jerked him up. “Not done yet?” He drove Daniel back down.

With a thunderous snap, the table broke in two. The two halves fell apart and Daniel crashed onto the floor, Lucas atop him, still crushing his windpipe. Daniel’s feet drummed the ground. Veins bulged on his face, his skin turning magenta. His eyes rolled back into his skull.

“Here we go.” Henry sighed. “We lose all the good dishes this way.” He showed Karina the bread basket. “At least I saved the rolls. And don’t worry, I’m keeping Emily asleep.”