“Relax,” I say calmly while shrugging my jacket off. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”
Probably the funniest thing I’ve said all night.
I throw the jacket around her shoulders before unlocking the restraints one by one. The second the last chain releases, her body slumps forward weakly like she doesn’t even have the strength left to hold herself upright anymore. I catch her before her face can hit the concrete.
“There we go,” I say softly while pulling her against my chest. “Easy.”
She’s freezing. Tiny tremors keep running through her body while she looks up at me with wide, exhausted eyes that still haven’t decided whether I’m safer than the others or somehow worse.
Smart girl.
“Shh,” I whisper while lifting her fully into my arms. “You’re okay now, little flower. Everything’s gonna be fine.”
Her head falls weakly against my shoulder while I carry her upstairs, blood smearing slowly across my clothes with every step.
The night air bites against my skin the second I step outside, but I barely pay attention to it while carrying her toward the car. I open the back door and carefully lay her across the seat, the plastic covering crinkling softly beneath her body. Her eyes instantly drop downward.
Ah.
There it is.
A weak little flicker of fear crawling back into her head again.
“It’s for the blood, princess,” I tell her while brushing some hair away from her face like I actually give a shit about calming her down. “Relax.”
She looks like she actually wants to believe me.
Cute.
Really-fucking-cute.
I bite back a grin before gently shutting the door and sliding into the driver’s seat. The engine hums softly once I start the car, and for a while the only sound filling the silence is her shaky breathing from the backseat.
Every now and then, my eyes flick toward the mirror.
Still trembling.
Still trying not to cry.
Still so fucking pretty it’s starting to become a problem.
After more than two hours on the road, the houses disappear completely. By the time I finally pull the car over and kill the engine, there’s nothing left around us except endless woodsand darkness. The silence that follows settles heavily inside the vehicle, broken only by the sharp change in her breathing from the backseat the second she realizes we’re nowhere near civilization anymore.
A grin slowly pulls at my mouth while I step out of the car and open the back door before reaching inside for her carefully, still keeping up the act, still letting her cling to the pathetic little hope that I’m somehow different from the others.
Which, to be fair, is true.
I’m so much worse.
“What’s wrong, princess?” I ask softly while helping her out of the car. “You were doing so good.”
She barely manages to stay upright once her feet touch the ground, her weak body immediately leaning against mine for support while I guide her backward through the cold night air until her spine hits the side of the vehicle, and the second it does, my hand closes hard around her throat. Her entire body jolts beneath my grip.
Fuck yeah.
I pin her against the car before leaning down and sinking my teeth into her neck hard enough to tear skin. My free hand clamps over her mouth instantly, smothering the scream that rips through her body as the taste floods my tongue—warm, sweet, addictive—sending heat straight through me. I press her harder beneath me, trapping her completely while my cock strains painfully against her sliced stomach, every shaky breath she takes only making it worse.
A rough sound breaks out of me before I slowly pull away, blood gliding down her skin while she remains trapped there beneath me, too shocked to react.
