Poison's Kiss (Deadly Beauties 2)

"If you change her, I'll simply make her my toy. You know how I love a good girl toy. Changing her will pass the bond you share with her to me. Of course, you could always drain her dry and get back your strength. We've got some time to make up for. I don't want you too exhausted to enjoy my company."

He snarls at her, still held back by the invisible restraints. "You fucking twisted bitch."

She just laughs harder as she leads the men away from the room. She stops and turns around once more, her eyes going black again as they did in the car.

"I'll be back in a few days to see what you've done. Enjoy, lover."

The door creaks to a sealed shut, and I back against the far corner as Kane is released. He starts to walk toward me, his eyes proving he's ready for a kill, but he turns back and slams his hands against the wall.

"Fuck!" he shouts, making my ears ring a little. "Why the hell didn't you just get out of town?"

I slink down, tears teetering on the edges of my lids. I'm going to die by the hands of the only man I've ever loved. I feel as though I've landed in some tragic Shakespearian play.

I don't even attempt to answer. I wrap up in Gage's jacket as though it can save me, when I know it can't. His scent lingers on it, making me feel safe, though I know what a gravely false sense of security that is.

"Damn it, Alyssa. I kept telling you to leave. I warned you over and over! You made it too easy. You could have stayed on the move!"

I wipe the stray streaks of clear tears, but they start coming in such abundance that I can't catch them all.

"Sorry," I almost whisper.

Knowing my fate, there aren't really a whole lot of words. He grips his head and drops down to the corner across from me.

"She's starved me for a week, Alyssa. She wants me to snap, and she wants me to kill you to reinstate our bond."

"I know," I murmur while looking away. "Just get it over with."

He says nothing and makes no attempt to move until I look at him. Then, he slowly stands and starts walking toward me, his eyes growing bluer until he reaches me.

"No. Not while I have any sanity left. You need to do something about your knee. It's bleeding, and that's not nice to do to a hungry night stalker."

He pulls his shirt off, which only provokes my own hunger. I'm trapped in a dungeon with my bloodthirsty ex, while playing pawn to a sadistic bitch's game, and I'm still controlled by this fucked up connection we have because I rushed into giving him something I couldn't get back. Pathetic.

Each of his sculpted lines becomes a sweet trail for my hungry eyes. He's so different from Gage, and I feel so much more familiar with his body. It's almost as if he's still mine, though nothing could be further from the truth.

His lip is split - obviously he's taken a beating at some point. He's bruised on different sections of his body. His face has smudges of dirt from a week of living down here, but he still looks so incredible even now. He should smell foul, horrid possibly, so why does his scent leave me almost spellbound instead of appalled. I swear he's defying all the laws of nature right now.

His dark hair sweeps his brow. His bedroom messy locks are tousled in a way only he could pull off. The strong line of his jaw, the firm promise of his skin, and his towering stature all taunt me with the things I desperately want but can't have.

He rips part of the shirt, and then he kneels to tie it around my bloody knee. The force of the impact split it open when they threw me in here.

"Did she pull you out of bed or something?" he asks, his voice softer than I've heard it in a while.

My heartbeat quickens as my eyes fall prey to his perfection. There's no telling the collage of colors I'm sorting through right now.

"No. Sierra showed up, broke a window, and then warned me. We were on our way to Edgebrook when Castine caught up with us."

He finishes his makeshift bandaging job, and then his eyes scroll up my body to rest on the jacket that has fallen open.

"I assume we stands for you and your dark user."

I just nod, not giving him more than he needs to know. He lets out a derisive huff before walking away.

"How long before you lose it? I'm not overly fond of feeling like a juicy steak being waved in front of a starving man."

He lets out a bitter laugh, one of exhaustion and disbelief.

"I don't know. I've never been starved before. I've had control of my blood needs for a really long time. How long before you lose it?"