Angel (A Companion Book to Monster) (Impossible #1.5) Read Online Free Page B

emphatically.  She was rising to my bait.
    “I like Claudia,” I insisted.  “It’s pretty.  Unless you prefer ‘doc’.”  I knew that she didn’t, and I enjoyed watching her wrestle with her irritation at me.
    “Fine.”   She threw up her hands up in exasperation.  But then she let out a small cry as the cuff jerked at her cruelly.  I was again struck by anger.  I needed to get that key from Bradley and get her free.  It wasn’t right that she should be in pain on top of everything else she was going through.
    I frowned.  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I warned, not wanting her to fight against her restraints lest she cause herself further damage.
    “Oh, you wouldn’t, would you?”  She snapped.  “Thanks for that sage advice.”
    I hated this, hated her pain and the disgust for me that I saw in her eyes. 
    “I’m sorry,” I said quietly, as though those two words were enough to rectify my actions.  But I knew that nothing I could do would ever be enough to atone for this, to repay her for what she had done for me.  “And thank you,” I added.  “For saving my life.”
    Her eyes widened, taken aback.  I watched as the hatred faded from them, replaced by a gentleness that made my heart squeeze.  I didn’t deserve that look.
    “You’re welcome,” she said softly. 
    She blinked, her eyes quickly darkening once again as her moment of softness passed.  “But you do realize that as a doctor I was compelled to save your life by the Hippocratic Oath; don’t think that I harbor any particular affection for you.  In fact, it’s just the opposite.  I should have just let you die.  Only, your douchebag friend didn’t really give me an option.”
    Anger rose up in me, caustic and unrelenting.  I couldn’t let anyone say anything against Bradley.  He had been there for me since we were in diapers, and there was no way that I was going to let anyone talk shit about him.  “Listen, doc ,” I said disrespectfully and not at all playfully, “I never want to hear you say a bad word about Bradley again.  Understand?”
    I unleashed the full force of my menace on her, demanding her compliance.  Her breathing hitched, but to my amazement, she lifted her chin and stared at me defiantly.
    Her challenge awoke something dark within me, the part of myself that I reluctantly embraced only because it refused to be denied.  I fixed her in my forbidding glare, willing her to drop her gaze in deference to me.  I wasn’t going to give her the option to do otherwise. But her grey eyes were still clashing with mine, refusing to surrender.  Savage, lustful thoughts of taking her in my grip and forcing her to yield to me began to cloud my mind. 
    Our silent battle of wills was shattered when Bradley came bursting into the room.
    “What the fuck is going on in here?”  He demanded.  “I heard raised voices.”  He glowered at Claudia.  “Are you upsetting him, doc?”  He asked, a dangerous edge to his voice.
    “It’s Claudia,” she snapped, still full of fire despite his threatening tone.  “And he seems to be upsetting himself.”
    My mind was two steps behind, caught up in disgust at my twisted desires that I had been fantasizing about turning against her.  Just how sick was I?  Although I found it irresistible, I had always been a bit uneasy with that dark part of myself.  And now I was envisioning unleashing it on her?  A woman who couldn’t escape me?  I was pretty sure that that was called rape.
    Bradley started to advance on her, and I snapped out of my self-loathing in order to come to her defense.
    “Bradley!”  I said his name sharply.  “It’s fine, okay?  The doc here was just being a bit snippy.”  I said it disparagingly.  My gut was urging me to defend her, but I didn’t want to fight with Bradley.  And I had the feeling that challenging him directly would only make him more hateful towards her.
    Bradley stopped in his tracks, turning his