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My primal instincts were on guard. I disliked him, the way he entered as if he owned the room. Unlike Draven, he showed no respect for my personal space, an oiliness about his beady eyes as they raked over me.
“I’m a guard,” he replied, stepping into the room and locking the door behind him. His tone was much more conversational than Draven’s had ever been, but I had no interest in talking to this one. “You can call me Lochlin.”
“Is it morning?” I asked, intuitively drawing up the blanket around me as I’d done every time someone had entered my cell.
“Oh, don’t do that!” Lochlin cried, hurrying forward to lower the covers from around me. “I want to look at you.”
My hands yanked back, and a struggle ensued. A newfound dread washed through me, and I longed for the return of the stoic dragon I’d teased only hours before.
Oh, gods. Had Ash sent this one in to teach me a lesson?
My eyes darted, panicking through the room for a means of defense as Lochlin stripped the sheet back again, and I folded my arms over my breasts, realizing that any fight I put up would only be met with resistance.
“Oh, come on, baby,” he insisted, pushing my appendages down. “It’s not every day I get to see a little bunny. I didn’t expect you to be so damn sexy.”
He licked his lips, saliva dripping off the corners, and I read pure malice in his eyes.
Little Bunny. That’s what Ash called me. This is my penance for disagreeing with him.
“Tell him I’m sorry,” I whispered, no jokes formulating in my head.
Pure terror had overtaken even my most natural defenses, and I was frozen, powerless to do anything.
“Who?” he asked, sliding onto the cot beside me, a hand slipping onto my leg. “Draven’s gone for the night, baby. It’s just you and me now. Were you showing him some of your bunny moves?”
I shook my head vehemently, squeezing away from him, but he was too fast, locking his arm around my neck.
“Don’t be shy,” he laughed, kissing my ear. A shudder of revulsion rushed through me. “We’re going to be good friends over the next few weeks. You may as well relax and enjoy it.”
I squirmed against him, but he was much too strong, even without putting in much effort. I guessed him to be a wolf—a fitting predator for me.
My lips parted to release a scream, but as the howl bounced over the cement walls, Lochlin’s hand closed around my neck.
“Shh!” he growled, pushing his face toward mine until I was pinned back against the bed. “You wouldn’t want someone to think something was wrong, would you?”
He laughed and crushed his lips on mine as tears pooled in my eyes.
It’s just a bad dream,I whimpered in my own head.
Lochlin’s teeth tore at my lips, and my eyes flew open as his face ripped away from me, the weight of him lifting from my body. I stared, dumbfounded from the mattress, unable to move.
“What in the actual fuck, Lochlin?” Ash rasped, his face red and glowing, eyes black pits as he dangled the now tremulous guard in his clutches.
I wouldn’t have recognized Ash in his demonic mask, rage permeating from every pore, if not for the even tone and identical clothing.
“I-I wasn’t doing anything, Ash!” Lochlin cried. “I-I was just—”
He didn’t get a chance to finish his lie. Ash flicked him once across the room, his head cracking with the most horrific crunch I’d ever heard as he hit the wall. As if in slow motion, Lochlin teetered forward and fell face-first to the floor. Life extinguished from the guard’s still-open eyes as blood pooled around his limp form onto the carpet in front of the vanity.
My mouth gaped, eyes bugging as I stared at the terrible sight, head tipped over the side of the mattress, my body in exactly the same position that Lochlin had left me. Bile rushed to my throat, and I swallowed over and over to keep from vomiting all over the room.
“Someone get in here to clean this up!”
Even then, Ash wasn’t yelling, but the pitch and tone were enough to draw the attention of two nearby guards who stood in stunned silence at the doorway.
They looked at one another and then at Ash, who had since regained his human face.
“Was I not clear about my instructions on how Ms. Madison is to be handled?” he asked.
