Free of Raziel. Free of every shred of social code or family tie or anything that might have held him back before. This was simplyhim.His raw self. And now she was trapped with it. Alone. In the dark. Unable to protect herself.
And in a sick, twisted way, she couldn’t have been more excited for this moment. Because he wasn’t the only one who had been waiting for it. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had wondered what this would be like. What it would feel like.
“Your heart is racing, little murderer…” He chuckled, his voice coming from somewhere else in the chamber. “You’re afraid of me. But I can smell your blood. You aren’tjustafraid.”
“Raziel.” She gripped the bolt cutters tighter in her hand. “We don’t have time for this.”
“I believe we have all the time in the world, don’t we?” He laughed. “The world thinks we are dead! And who cares if we take a little longer to get to the surface? No one. So I plan to take this moment to remind you who I am, my sweet little fae assassin. To remind usboth.”
That sent a surge of something that was definitelynotfear coiling through her body. She wanted him. But she knew this was a waste of time. And a dangerous one, at that.
“Raz—” The rest of his name never left her.
Hands grabbed her shoulders from behind and spun her around, half throwing her, half pushing her to the ground. She used all her reflexes to roll back up to standing. But it meant she had to drop the bolt cutters in the process, which had likely been his only goal.
And the moment she was back up to her feet, a hand in the center of her back pushed her forward, using her inertia to shove her. She couldn’t stop herself, and in the dark, she couldn’t see whatever it was in front of her that she rammed into at hip-height, doubling over with a hard “Ungh!”It was likely a branch of some long-dead growth of vines, by the feel of it.
That would leave a bruise, but he knew she healed quickly. Her clothing was his next target, and she snarled and swiped at him with her fists, struggling in his grasp as he yanked her blouse and her bra free of her. In the dark, she might as well have been fighting a ghost.
She was cussing at him in fae when he tossed her to the ground to yank off her shoes and pants. He let her get to her feet, and she knew it was just because he wanted to see her standingthere, now fully naked. She wasfuriousat how easily she had lost to him in the dark.
Maybe she had wanted to lose. But he was too fast. Too strong. Even having not fed for days.
He was a monster, down here in the Wild.
What had she done, bringing a vampire to this place?
“You areso beautifulwhen you’re mad.” The whisper in her ear sent goosebumps crawling up her skin. She shuddered and tried to run.
“Try” being the operative word.
She had forgotten about the damn silver chain he had been carrying.
He must have looped it.
Because now it snapped around her throat. Heavy and thick, doubled over so he could use it like afuckingleash. She gagged as she ran against the end of the lead, and he pulled her back against his chest. Hard and cold like a rock.
“This is how you’re meant to be and just how you like it, isn’t it? My little assassin. My little faepet.”The growl in her ear sent another shiver down her spine. “Just how nature intended it to be.”
The length of chain tightened and she gasped, her hands flying to the links to try to worm her fingers into the space between them and her throat. She could breathe, with difficulty—but for how long?
Damn him. Damn him to the pits. Because it made her knees weak. She would murder anyone who dared do this to her—but foolishly,stupidly,she trusted him.
They were moving again. He was dragging her forward as he walked and pulled her with him, and she had no clue where he was taking her, until he shifted to sit on some object and pulled her to stand in front of him. When he yanked her forward, sheflailed with one of her hands to keep from falling over, and her palm met his thigh.
“Raz—wh—” She wanted to protest. She wanted to tell him to knock it off. That this wasn’t the time for his antics. But the burning need in her was making it really difficult to argue that he wasn’t right about the fact that she wanted this too.
And when he leaned in close to her and started to purr…
Her knees almost buckled.
And all thoughts of protest melted away like morning frost in the sunlight. Her eyes slipped half closed, one hand still grasping the chain around her throat, the other still resting on his thigh.
“There’s all the proof we need, hm?” His lips hovered close to her ear before nipping at the lobe, that deep, animalistic purr making her lean in closer to him instinctually. “Proof that you belong to me. That you are my beautiful pet. Now, be a good little fae, and open your mouth. I want to see you wrap those lips of yours around me before I rut you like the Wild beast you are. As you deserve to be.”
His words made her tremble. She hesitated, her thoughts dazed. He pulled the chain around her throat, yanking her head down to his waist. He wasn’t going to give her an option. And that was fine by her. She didn’t want a choice. She wanted to fight, and he wanted her to struggle.
A hand tangled in her hair at the back of her head, sharp nails pricking her scalp. And when he fisted her hair painfully, she gasped, and he used the opportunity to fill her mouth with his length.
