"Very well." Lilith purrs. "I'll remain within earshot." She studies her manicure with theatrical boredom. "You have until dawn. Then your... entertainment ends." Emerald eyes flash with lethal promise. "And remember—damage my property permanently, and your existence ends. Understood?"
He offers an elaborate bow, a mockery of courtly manners. "Crystal clear, my queen."
Their casual exchange about my impending torture might as well be a discussion about borrowing a designer handbag.Property. Entertainment. Understood.Each word strips away another layer of my humanity. To them, I'm nothing but a toy passed between immortal hands.
The sounds of destruction erupt from below—glass shattering, wood splintering, primal roars of combat—my pulse spikes.
Lilith's eyes flutter closed, pleasure painting her features."Ah, he comes. Right on time." She turns to Morgan, satisfaction curling her lips. "Let's go greet my love."
Hope detonates in my chest like a supernova.Rhyland.
"R-Rhyland—RHYLAND!!!" His name tears from my throat.
Stars explode behind my eyes as the buyer's hand cracks across my face. Copper floods my mouth. His glacial breath ghosts my ear, promising nightmares.
"Hush now," he purrs. "Can't let my eighty million go to waste." Those soulless eyes dismiss Lilith with imperial arrogance. "Leave us!"
His casual brutality, his way of reducing me to a price tag—it sets my blood boiling even as my cheek throbs. The bruise spreads like spilled ink beneath my skin, but I lock my spine straight. Terror claws up my throat, but I'll be damned if I let this monster see me break.
The sounds of chaos from below grow louder, and I cling to that hope like a lifeline. Rhyland's coming. I just have to survive whatever this psychopath has planned until then.
"With pleasure," Lilith purrs, sashaying away while death stares at me through immortal eyes.
Survival instinct kicks in—my knee rockets upward with desperate force. Instead of pain, his pleased growl fills the air. Ice floods my veins as his eyes slide shut in ecstasy—my resistance feeds his perversion. Dear god.
"Such spirit," he breathes, satisfaction with each word. "We're going to create such beautiful music together."
Time fractures. In one heartbeat, my dress becomes confetti. The next, iron bands masquerading as fingers lock around my wrists. My back slams against the wall, breath deserting my lungs. His frame becomes a cage of muscle and malice, supernatural strength rendering my struggles meaningless. Still, I fight—spitting defiance, screaming rage. His answering smile belongs in hell's darkest corner.
His free hand claims my breast, ice-cold fingers bringing waves of revulsion. Nausea rises as his touch brands me. "Exquisite," he growls, malice gleaming in bottomless eyes. "I'll savor breaking every inch."
Hishead strikes like a cobra. Fangs pierce delicate flesh, and agony explodes through my chest. My screams shred the air until my throat feels raw. I thrash against his grip but might as well fight a mountain. He pins me like a specimen under glass, drinking in my terror as greedily as my blood.
The battle rages below, but it's a lifetime away. Each second stretches into infinity as this monster feeds, his grip painting bruises across my skin. My struggles only fuel his frenzy.
Rhyland, please.The prayer echoes in my mind.I don't know how much longer I can hold on.
Rhyland
12
Iexplode through the doors like a force of fucking nature, my rage a living thing that turns the opulent ballroom into ground zero. These privileged bloodsuckers scatter like vermin, their champagne glasses shattering as they realize death just crashed their party.
Lucian and Emily tried to hold me back, begging me to stick to their precious fucking plan. But the moment I heard these bastards were auctioning off my girl like cattle, any chance of restraint went straight to hell. Erik's gone dark, which means shit's already hit the fan, and I'm done playing nice.
The stench of their corruption fills my nostrils—sex traffickers, murderers, bloodthirsty fucks thinking they own the world. My hand punches through silk Armani, past the ribcage with a wet crack, and emerges clutching a dead, shriveled heart. Blood sprays across their pretentious-ass artwork as I crush it, arterial red painting abstract patterns on gilt frames.
A diamond-dripping bitch in Chanel tries to run, her heels click-clacking across marble like a wounded deer. I grab her by her jeweled neck, feeling vertebrae snap under my fingers before ripping her head clean off, her pearls scattering across the floor like dropped teeth—her body twitches, painting the floor red.
A fat fuck in a tuxedo pisses himself as I approach. His scream gargles into silence as I tear out his throat, strings of muscle and tissue dangling from my claws. I drive my fist through his chest cavity, feeling ribs splinter and organs rupture before yanking out his dead heart.
I lose myself in a symphony of violence, baptizing the walls in their corruption. Their screams are fucking music as I deliver the justice these arrogant shit-stains deserve. One by one, they fall, their blood turning the polished floor into a crimson lake.
Myentire world narrows to a single point—Dani. Every other thought burns away in the inferno of my rage. These undead fuckers dared to look at her, to think they could own her. Their lives are forfeit.
"RHYLAND!!"
Her scream knocks the wind out of me, her terror and panic slamming through our bond hard enough to make my knees buckle—she's upstairs. I rip the heart from the worthless cocksucker in my grip, letting his corpse drop into the growing pool of blood at my feet.
