“He won’t hurt you.” His hold on my throat is tighter. Strangely, I can breathe easier like this. “No one will.”
“I’m okay,” I wheeze, stroking his forearm, begging him never to let go. “Keep going.”
“As I said, Grandpa isn’t a bad man.”
Knox’s lips pinch when he sees my frown. He understands that my definition of “bad” is truly different from his.
“He was tired of growing livestock. Said they made him itch. People were more convenient anyway, since the townsfolk fed and cleaned after themselves.” Knox brushes a strand of my hair behind my ear. I don’t think he can stop touching me, just like I can’t stop loving him. “Since he also owned the only grocery store here, he sold them what he wanted them to eat. Kept their skin soft. Made his job easier still, since he had to handle the tanning when I was too young. When he saw those types of foods were good for him too, he stocked the Colbert family fridges and pantry with them. But he got bored with that. He stopped caring about nutrition as soon as we killed our last neighbor. My entire family did. Not me.”
“Um.” Air whooshes out of my lungs. “What did he feed them?”
“Liver. Eggs. Nuts. Watermelon.”
A pause. A heavy one. My throat tightens.
“Mango purée. The coconut water came later.”
I need her skin perfect before I kill her.
“You…” Every breath I take is jagged. The realization that he might’ve lied about caring about me this whole time hurts. “You weren’t lying to Jett. You were going to skin me. That’s why you fedmethese things too.”
“Never you.”
I scoot back anyway. “Liar.”
“Stop it.” My predator pins my back to the blankets, climbing on top of me.
“My fridge is packed with other things, but you couldn’t digest meat. Not even chicken. You were in shock. Dammit, you know you’re still healing. That you can’t just eat anything…” His voice dips. “I’ve been taking care of you so you could live.”
His body wraps tighter around me, his presence calming me in a seriously messed-up way.
The longer he’s there, the darker Knox’s stare grows. His cock thickens in his boxers, poking my belly.
But when he leans in for a kiss, I finally understand just how deep his desire runs.
He’s ravenous. Dominating me.
With him above me, taking up all the space, the sad thoughts are forced out.
I’m burning up everywhere as my tongue swipes over his. Our mouths mate passionately, fervently, like neither of us needs air.
Am I giving in or giving up? I can’t tell.
The only truth is that I want him.
We’re together in this.
“I have to finish what I started, my story.” He pulls back, his heated gaze melting me. “I need you to learn more about Colbert. About me. That’s how we’ll stop being strangers. And before you ask again, no, I won’t skin you.”
His honesty is pure. Real.
I nod. “Okay.”
“The townsfolk.” He says it calmly, like he’s talking about an errand. “One by one, my family, then me and my brother, wiped out the townsfolk. Every last one. Except for one woman who was brought into the family long before I was born. She helped Grandpa and Papa trick the townsfolk back then.”
“Your mom,” I fill in the sentence.
“Yes. Papa said her parents abused her.” Anger radiates from him. Rightfully so. It makes so much more sense now why Knox refuses to kill them. “So he took her. That’s what he wants us to do, just take someone. Neither Jett nor I would do it, each for our own reasons.”
