The red strip of material hangs from my fingertips, and my jaw sets. Indignation rises within me. He cannot possibly expect me to put this on. It is degrading.
“It’s a collar,” I say.
“Don’t think of it that way.”
I drop it back into the box and thrust it back at Callum. “I won’t wear it.”
“It’s not much different than a wedding band—”
“And you’ll see I am not wearing one of those, either.”
“You would have worn one, if I’d left you at the Borderlands.”
“So that is my choice? To belong to Sebastian, or to belong to you?”
Callum’s jaw tightens. “Surely I’m the better choice. Aye?”
My gaze dips down to his crumpled shirt, straining over tensed muscles, then back up to his eyes. They burn into mine and my heart beats a little faster.
The first time I saw Callum, I thought him a monst
