AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He peeled his t-shirt slowly over his head, his muscles rippling with the movement. My breath caught in my chest as it always did when I saw him; he looked like a god.
He unzipped his jeans.
"What are you doing?" I asked. And he thoughtIwas acting like I'd lost my mind.
He dragged his jeans and boxers down to reveal the tattoo I'd given him, low on his chiseled abs. My art skills were pretty damn questionable, I had to admit.
Property of the Demon's Daughter
"You definitely are mine," he said. "Just like I'm yours. You better remember that, or I might just have to tattoo it on your body like you did to me."
I bit my lower lip, stepping close to him so my fingernails skimmed over the tattoo on his taut golden skin. "I don't have any intention of getting myself killed, Cain."
"You aren't acting like yourself." He wrapped his hands around my shoulders, his thumbs brushing over my throat. There was always an edge of danger in Cain's touch, as if he might grip my throat and squeeze, and it made my heart speed up, my core clench.
"Who am I, really?" I asked. "Aurora? Delilah?"
"I thought we covered that already," he said. "Iamgoing to have to get the tattoo gun."
I raised my eyebrows at him.
"Mine," he said in one word, before his lips claimed mine in a hard, punishing kiss.
As Cain broke the kiss, a shiver raced down my spine. He was a force of nature, and sometimes I felt powerless against him. Other times, I felt as if our power combined was a wild, relentless force no one could stand against.
"I won't do anything stupid," I promised him. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll always be here making you crazy. But I need to take out Carnage. It's the only way we can save my mother."
Cain's eyes darkened. "If it comes down to saving your life or anyone else's, Aurora, you had better come back to me."
He was suffocating sometimes, and yet somehow he also made me feel as if we were invincible as long as were together. "You know I will. How did I end up so lucky, to be so loved by the psychos?"
"Kindred souls," he said. "You know you're a psycho too, deep down."
He kissed me again. His words felt like they lingered on my skin, but it didn't stop me from kissing him back. The intensity of the kiss grew until we were both gasping for air. Cain's hands roamed over my body, tracing the curves of my hips and the swell of my breasts. I moaned into his mouth, my own hands fisting in his hair.
The kiss was a mix of passion and desperation, each of us hungry for the other's touch. There was an unspoken understanding between us that we were both willing to do whatever it took to keep each other safe. As we pulled away, intensity blazed in Cain's eyes, a fierce determination I'd seen before. It was determination that should terrify anyone who threatened his plans.
He pulled away, and his voice was rough when he said, "Now. Let's take stock of our arsenal and get to work on details. I'm going to need a hell of a lot more information before you sashay into Carnage's path."
* * *
"What do we know about Carnage?"Cain demanded as we all gathered again in the living room.
Stellan pulled me into his lap, then ran his lips against the curve of my throat as his strong arms locked around my waist like he was trying to breathe me in. He seemed calmest of them all–Cain was all compressed fury, Pax paced like he couldn’t handle not having the chance to protect me, and Remy was bursting with information. I relaxed against Stellan’s chest, breathing in his fresh, clean scent.
"Carnage seems to be a meticulous planner," Remy explained. "Law enforcement's been powerless to catch him, although there are conspiracy theories floating around on the internet that he is law enforcement, or at least protected by them. This has been kept out of the news, but it seems like he has dead drops, where he stores supplies well ahead of time before taking his victims."
"What kind of supplies?"
"Ropes, handcuffs, duct tape," Remy listed. "It seems like he takes his time with his victims, sometimes keeping them for weeks before finally killing them. He sent a few videos of victims pleading for death to the news media."
"Lovely," Stellan muttered, looking sick, although I knew he didn't exactly shy away from danger. Still, he didn't seem thrilled about the thought that two serial killers wanted me.
"He seems to be carefully selecting his victims and stalking them. Entire families have disappeared in one night."
Like the one in the farmhouse.
A memory rose up like a ghost. The farmhouse. I was standing on the porch while the lights blazed out of the windows, like it was a welcoming home. There was a porch swing that creaked, and I'd pushed it back and forth so that its squeaks filled the night. They almost drowned out the sounds from inside.
