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The vile words spewing from his mouth leave a sour taste on the back of my tongue, and my skin crawls at the feel of him against me.
“Get your fucking hands off me,” I snarl, trying to force my knees together. Against my wishes, a single tear escapes, which only seems to spur the man on further.
“I love when they cry.” He grins, standing and undoing his belt. I shut my eyes tight, the putrid smell of his sweaty cock invading my senses. I’m going to fucking puke.
There’s nothing—nothing I can do, no way to overpower the behemoth pinning me, so I close my eyes right and try to pretend I’m anywhere else. A field, a mountain, a lake, nestled in the middle of the forest, its water luminous, warm, and inviting…
There’s a loud booming sound, but only when I hear my attacker’s cry of pain do I open my eyes. His hands fall from my body, and another pair—a tattooed pair—-are wrapped around the man’s head, squeezing. Hard. While the sight of his face twisted in agony should terrify me, my heart soars.
Kain.
“Earmuffs, flower.”
That voice, that low, growly tone, pours over my skin, and lightning cracks in my veins.
Kain. You came.
His tone is more insistent than any I’ve heard before, but I can’t—I can’t look away. Not when Kain pushes his thumbs into the man’s eyes or when his massive palms press on either side of his temples, eliciting a sickening pop. A thunderous roar fills the space, and I fall to my knees as a dark pool spreads from the lifeless body.
“Kain,” I whisper, my chest so tight I’m sure my heart has burst. “Kain.” The word brushes my lips, filling me with so much warmth I think I’m on fire. He found me. He saved me.
“Lillith,” he whispers, his voice filled with agony that doesn’t belong to this earth. “What did they do to you?”
I shake my head, unable to speak the words that will ease that look. I’m fine, I want to say. Everything is fine now that you’re here.
Because it is. It really, truly is.
My smile is so wide I don’t notice I’m shivering until Kain says, “You’re cold.”
In a second, he’s shirtless, gesturing for me to raise my arms so he can put it on me. I don’t hesitate, too cold and desperate to be wrapped in his scent again. As soon as the tattered hem brushes my thighs, I take the first deep breath since I was taken and am surprised to find it smells like home.
Home.
“How did you find me?” I whisper, my skin humming as Kain wraps his arms around me. He pulls me impossibly tight, presses his lips to the side of my neck, and my heart sighs.
“I’d find you anywhere, my flower,” he whispers, swooping my legs out from under me and cradling me to his chest. “I also had a little help from Ghost.”
He presses his lips to the top of my head so gently I’m afraid I imagined it. That this is just some sick, trauma-induced hallucination. That I’ll wake up in a room full of wide smiles with all their teeth filed to horrific, jagged points.
“I’m here now, flower. I’m here,” he murmurs, cradling me so close, so tight, I’m worried I’ll break. I welcome the sensation.
“Can we go home?” I whisper.
Kain’s gaze softens. “Yes. Yes, Lillith. We can go home.”
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
KAIN
She’s okay. She’s alive. Alive, alive, alive.
I repeat the words over and over as I make my way out of the house, passing enough gaudy Greek-themed furnishings to make me gag. Everything is horribly cloaked in white, shining marble. Flawless. Pure. Angelic. Everything the master of this place is not.
Everything I’m not.
I look down at the perfect little flower in my arms, my chest cracking at all she’s had to endure at my expense. No more. No longer. As soon as I get her out of here, I’m going to give her the life she deserves. A life away from me, if that’s what she desires—if that’s what she needs.
“Are you still cold?” I don’t know why I ask it—she’s long since ceased shivering, and her cheeks are heated to the most beautiful shade of pink. I just need something to break the silence, something to take my mind off the impending… loss of her in my life.
