Rowland no longer looks human. He’s a mess of tangled hair, an unkempt beard, and eyes flashing with insanity. Sunlight shines through the trees, backlighting him like a halo. I blink away the glare, remembering something about Lucifer being a fallen angel. What the hell have I gotten myself into?
“You have such a beautiful neck. Such delicate veins. I’ve dreamed of possessing you like this.”
This isn’t love. This is hunger that’s lost its leash.
He wraps his free hand around my throat, fingers digging into the soft flesh of my neck until all I can feel is my pulse hammering against his palm.
“Rowland,” I say, my voice choked.
His grip tightens, cutting off my air.
My lungs spasm. I claw at his hands, dig my nails into his wrists hard enough to draw blood. I kick my heels into the ground and raise my hips, trying to get leverage. But he doesn’t move. Doesn’t let up. His gaze bores into mine, determined to snuff out my life.
Spots dance on the edge of my vision. My throat fills with acid.
The grip around my neck tightens as he drives into me, each stroke relentless and deep. Each powerful snapof his hips makes my limbs twitch from the force of his movements. My pulse roars between my ears, blotting out the slick, obscene sounds of fucking.
He bares his teeth. “You’re mine. You belonged to me the moment you invited me in.”
My life flashes past like lightning. The old bedroom where Dad locked me up for being a sinner. The church where Brother Matthew made me a child bride. Him ordering Mom to inspect me for signs of pregnancy. His house in flames. A blur of penthouses and hotel suites filled with worthless sugar daddies. Then the abandoned brothel where I was forced to kill a cop.
I open my mouth to breathe again, but it sticks in my throat. I buck, kick, try to twist free, but he keeps me pinned to the ground. Leaf litter flies in all directions. My fingers spasm, tingling like they’re falling asleep. My tongue goes numb. My lungs scream for mercy, while he fucks me like a demon dragging my soul straight to hell.
“Mine,” he growls, voice distorted into something dark. “Say it.”
I try. Can’t force out the words. Just rasp like I’m dying.
Panic blooms under my skin. I jerk my head back against the ground. He tightens his grip around my wrists and slams them back to the dirt. His other hand continues squeezing my neck until the world fades to a pinpoint of light.
Pressure in my head builds until my skull is about to crack. Blood rushes through my ears with a desperate ring. Darkness creeps in from the edges of my consciousness like spilled ink.
My pussy pulses and clenches around his cock with ravenous need. He groans, the sound rippling throughevery pleasure center. It’s horrifying, it’s sick. I can’t think past the need for air, but my body won’t stop convulsing.
Rowland is going to kill me. Maybe he’s the one who murdered all the others. Maybe both brothers are equally as corrupt. I made the same fucking error as always: thinking I could tell predator from protector.
His face hovers above mine, both beautiful and terrible. Eyes black with insanity. Mouth curved in a grin sharp enough to slit my throat.
And it will be the last thing I see.
This is it.
I’m dying.
And I made the mistake of inviting him in.
THIRTY-EIGHT
White light explodes across my vision, wiping out everything except a mind-blowing climax. Pleasure rips through my body, and my pussy clamps down on his cock so hard I swear I’ll break him in half.
I can’t breathe. Can’t think. Can’t do anything except feel the orgasm ripping me to shreds. Ecstasy tears through every inch until I’m a vessel of ruin.
My back arches off the ground like I’m electrocuted. The scream that rips from my soul is inhuman. Hell, I don’t even know if it’s coming from my throat. I drift above the wreckage of my body, too broken to scream again, too empty to care.
Just when I think I’m about to expire, Rowland’s grip on my throat loosens.
Air rushes into my lungs so fast it burns. I return to reality with a noisy gasp, my chest heaving like I’ve been stuck underwater. The black spots crowding my vision fade as oxygen reaches my brain.
I try to swallow but my throat is scraped raw. It’s like forcing down shards of glass.
