Vengeance in His Bed novel Chapter 173

Chapter 173: Can You Bring the Dead Back?

Jannah twisted her wrists, trying to pry his hands away from her body. Her skin was burning where he touched her, the heat of his palms soaking through her clothes and making her nerve endings spark with an involuntary, maddening thrill.

"Let me go, Dorrent!" she commanded, her voice tight, breathless, and laced with a sharp, final warning. "Stop right now if you actually want to recuperate well. Let go of me. I am already running late, and

none of you are coming along tonight. Not Shadron, and definitely not you. Look at yourself—you’re sick. You can barely sit up without ripping your stitches, yet you’re talking about playing bodyguard in the city square?"

Dorrent didn’t release her. Instead, his grip tightened around her waist, anchoring her hips onto his lap. He leaned his head forward, his jaw brushing against the side of her neck as his eyes darkened with a dangerous shadow.

"Are you actually worried about me, little physician?" Dorrent asked, his deep voice dropping into a rough, low rumble that vibrated against her spine. A smirk touched his lips, though his eyes remained intense. "Or are you just desperate to get out of this house so you can mingle with the crowd? Is that it? You want to stand on that stage, under those bright lights, and let thousands of strange men feast their eyes on your body without my presence to stop them?"

Jannah let out a bitter, sharp laugh, tilting her head back to glare down at him with defiance. Her defensive walls slammed down instantly, her eyes flashing with immediate fire.

"You should not be so concerned, Alpha," she scoffed, her tone dripping with casual disdain and a sudden, biting malice. "You have nothing to worry about. According to you, I’m just a gutter rat from the lower sectors. A filthy peasant. I won’t attract anybody with my filthiness anyway, so your precious pride is perfectly safe."

Dorrent’s expression went utterly rigid. The silver in his eyes flared, burning into hers with a sudden, suffocating intensity that filled the space between them.

"If you had attracted me with your filthiness," Dorrent rasped, his voice dropping into an intense growl, "then there are many other men out there who will also get attracted. Do you think I’m blind, Jannah? Do you think I don’t know what happens when men look at you?" His fingers dug slightly into her hip, his possessive alpha nature completely overtaking him. "I don’t mind that I am hurt. I don’t care if every rib in my body breaks tonight. I will take you to that venue no matter what you say."

For a long, agonizing second, neither of them moved. The static of their mutual stubbornness crackled in the air. Then, slowly, deliberately, Dorrent let his fingers uncurl from her waist. He released her, his arms falling back against the mattress.

Jannah didn’t hesitate. The moment the pressure left her waist, she scrambled off his lap, her breath coming in fast, agitated pants as she stood up and took a sharp step back from the bed. She smoothed down the hem of her shirt, her chest heaving as she tried to stabilize her erratic heartbeat.

Dorrent remained sitting on the edge of the bed, his broad chest rising and falling in rapid, shallow cycles. But the possessive fury in his face suddenly shifted. A strange, heavy quiet fell over him. His silver eyes narrowed, losing their predatory edge and turning deeply troubled. He looked down at his own bandaged torso, then slowly lifted his gaze back to her face.

"Jannah," he asked quietly. "Two days ago... in your grandfather’s house. When you jumped at me with that blade... would you really have stabbed me to death if I hadn’t moved?"

Jannah froze. The memory of that storm-ridden room, the scent of her grandfather Duro’s cold corpse, and the rusted knife in her hand rushed back into her mind. Her eyes hardened into twin stones of venom.

"Of course I would," she delivered ruthlessly, her voice steady and sharp as a razor. She stepped closer, her chin tilting upward in a display of unyielding hatred. "I wanted to drive that steel straight through your arrogant heart. And given the chance, Dorrent... I would still do it. I would do it without blinking."

Dorrent’s jaw clenched so hard a sharp vein pulsed against his temple. He didn’t look angry; he looked hollowed out by her words, his chest expanding with a slow, painful breath.

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