Page 98 of How Does It Feel?

He turned his back to me as he raked his fingers through his inky tresses in an attempt to calm himself. He looked barbarous. No longer gentle and sweet. It was as though the layer had finally cracked, and the creature left was fully unhinged and maniacal.

I recoiled slightly as the air shifted. The human prey in me began to panic with a new fear.

He was losing his control, I could feel it. I should be frightened, but some idiotic, lurid part of me begged to see what would happen if he did. Would he finally kill me? Or something worse?

“We may have both been trying to destroy each other, lamb, but rest assured, only you have succeeded,” he snarled as he turned. “I have tried and tried to rid myself of you. I have never felt the things that you evoke in me.”

He walked to the dresser that sat against the wall as if he needed the space between us or he would truly snap. He grabbed a glass decanter from the tray and poured the dark amber liquid into a small glass. Shaky hands held the glass as he replaced the decanter’s topper.

“You will finish the last trial. I will find out what it is from my mother and make absolute certain that you are kept safe.” He tossed back the amber liquid, emptying the glass. “And then we will be married. Then my burdensome suffering will finally end,” he mumbled the last part softly.

I stepped closer to the door slowly, attempting to keep my movements undetected.

He was insane.

Gorgeous and alluring but cracked in the head all the same. I ignored a secret part of me that seemed to vibrate with the power I got knowing how strongly I affected him and the butterflies it gave me. He was the Unseelie prince. The most feared of the Fae, and I, a little human, had somehow gotten to him?

“I will go home after the third and final trial. Your mother will see to it. I know she would never allow a human to take her throne,” I said smugly as I watched a muscle tick in his defined jaw. He knew I was right. “I’ll die before I marry you. I still hate you,” I growled at him, not sure if I was reminding myself or him.

Something sharp seared painfully on my right breast. The bite mark burned like fire coal against my skin.

I startled and clutched my chest tightly with a hiss.

Mendax groaned and threw the glass against the wall. It shattered as he shouted out an angry roar.

“And I still want you dead just to rid myself of these nagging feelings! You are mine, and I will kill the entire world if it means keeping you,” he snarled. “Which includes getting the trace venom from your wound!” He growled as he took a step closer.

His wings unfurled in large billowing half-moon shapes that trailed onyx smoke along the floor.

I gasped at the sight of his wings spreading wide.

And then I ran out the open door.

The hallway was dark, but that would only help him. He seemed to be made from the shadows. My bare feet slapped against the cold marble floor. I was almost to the end of the hallway. I knew where I needed to go, and I would do anything to get there.

I couldn’t let him catch me.

I listened, expecting to hear footfalls behind me, but there were none. That didn’t mean anything though. He was a master killer. He enjoyed it. He was probably silent and hidden in the shadows right now. Watching me.

The door to the left at the end of the hall was open. If my calculations were correct, there should be a set of stairs in there that would get me to the roof. To the portal Walter said he knew was up there. I would find it. I had to.

The pain seared through my chest again. I wasn’t sure if it was from the thought of Walter being dropped off the roof by Mendax or the trace venom, but it hurt like crazy either way.

I turned to run into the room but fell backward as I slammed into a black wall of muscle. Mendax had shadowed into the door frame. Firm arms wrapped tightly around my waist, stopping my fall.

The front of our bodies pressed together, and my thin dress did little to buffer the feel of his hard muscles against my chest and shoulders. He was so large, every ounce of him chiseled and sculpted. The hard muscles of his abdomen tightened against me. My arms pressed against his biceps, feeling the hills and valleys of strength through his thin tunic.

The scent of campfire smoke and amber lacquered my senses as I inspected the sharp features of his face in a daze. His high cheekbones and sharp jaw looked so masculine when he clenched his jaw that way. Sky-blue eyes stared intensely at my mouth as if it were the key to the universe.

My eyes flickered as warm porcelain slid under the tips of my fingers. I hadn’t even realized I’d reached up to touch his face. My pointer, middle, and thumb traced the line of his jaw.

My eyes widened at my need to touch him. Stabbing pain flickered like confetti over my right breast shaking me out of the lust-filled daze. What was I doing?

I pushed off his chest, having caught him off guard just in the right moment, and ran down the hallway to the large staircase.

Panic and pain set in halfway down the wide stairs, and I’m not sure what caused it, the venom or the all-consuming want to be consumed by him. The need to know what would happen if I let the villain touch me.

I released my grip on the black railing and ran for my life. Every part of it.