Fuck. I couldn’t afford a doctor bill. Hell, I couldn’t even afford to go to the campus infirmary. And it was all the way across campus anyway. I definitely wasn’t about to turn around and try to make that trek.
Sighing, I slipped my arms from my backpack so it’d completely fall off of me and stop pulling at my shoulders. Just as I was about to push up onto my feet, I was flipped onto my back, and then, a rag was stuffed over my nose. My eyes widened in horror, my vision a little blurry as I stared up at a dark, hooded figure. The only thing I could tell was that it was clearly a woman, and her hair was as dark as black ink.
Her knees pinned my arms down to the gritty concrete when I tried to fight her, and I sucked in a sharp breath of pain, which was amassivemistake because I only inhaled whatever she had on that rag.
“Go to sleep, little one,” she murmured, leaning down so I could clearly hear her. I struggled, trying to free myself, but my head was throbbing, and whatever was on that rag was making me sluggish and sleepy. “That’s a good girl. It’s all going to be okay. Just take a little nap for me.”
My eyelids slid shut, and the world faded to black around me. The last thing I was aware of was her lips brushing against my forehead and her sharp nails dragging across my skin as her fingers swept my blonde hair back from my face.
Chapter Two
Elektra
She was so damn pretty. My eyes never left her beautiful face as I caressed her soft, blonde waves, letting the strands sift through my fingertips. She was still asleep, her dark lashes casting shadows over her cheekbones. Light-colored freckles dusted her cheeks. I’d spent so much time every day watching her from afar and trying to count them.
I never got to count all of them, which was quite frustrating.
The moment I’d laid eyes on Raine Florence, I was a goner. Something about her had called to me, and that piece inside me had demanded I make her mine. But I hadn’t known how to approach her without being overbearing about it. Because Iwantedher. No, scratch that. Ineededher.
My parents had done their best to teach me how to be “normal”. After living the first seven years of my life with a neglectful mom and an abusive, touchy father, I’d become detached from my emotions. I didn’t feel guilt, remorse, or empathy. And I was obsessive by nature. My adopted parents were both therapistsand worked with kids like me. When they fostered me, I was with them for a week before they began the adoption process.
They’d refused to allow me to get lost in the system and wind up in prison or dead. I respected the hell out of both of them, and I did my best to not break their rules.
But I just couldn’t help myself last night. Mom and Dad would be furious once they figured out what I’d done, but I could deal with that.
I just needed to have her.
Raine’s pretty eyes fluttered open, and those electrifying gray orbs locked on mine. Almost immediately, they widened in horror, and panic flared in them before she scrambled back from me. I could see her pulse fluttering rapidly at the base of her neck, and I had this twitchy urge to suck at that spot. To see if she’d moan and lean her head back. To see if she’d grant me more access.
What else would she let me do? Fuck, I desperately wanted to know.
“Are you—you kidnapped me!” she finally snapped, her voice high-pitched and panicky.
I raised my hand and flipped it from side to side. “Eh. Sort of,” I confirmed. “I plan to return you. Is it really kidnapping then if I do that?”
She scowled at me, and God, she was so pretty when she was angry with me. Her cheeks flushed with anger, and her eyes sparked with ice.
“Yes, it’s still kidnapping!” she seethed. “Have you lost—umph.”
I pressed my fingers against her lips, effectively shutting her up. Then, I crawled toward her, and she scrambled back from me, her gray eyes wide and alarmed. When her back met the headboard, her breathing quickened. I prowled into her space until our noses were almost brushing, and a smirk tilted my lips.
“Scared, little one?” I murmured. She swallowed thickly, not moving a single bit. Hell, she was barely even breathing anymore. I brushed her hair from her shoulder, revealing her pulse point again. Leaning down, I brushed my nose over her heated skin, letting myself feel the throb of her heartbeat against the tip of my nose before I moved and skimmed my lips across the sensitive skin.
She whimpered, and my belly pooled with warmth at the sound. Because that whimper wasn’t a sound of fear. It was a sound of shock mixed withwant. Shelikedthat.
Of course, she did. She was fucking perfect. Just as I’d always known she would be.
I leaned up, letting my eyes meet hers. There was still a bit of panic in her mesmerizing eyes, but there was lust there, too. A need that matched mine.
Spreading her thighs apart, I pushed my body between them and gripped the headboard on either side of her head, caging her in. Her pupils blew wide, and her lips parted the slightest bit, her warm breath fanning over my skin.
“I’ve been watching you for months,” I murmured. “Since you moved onto campus.”
She licked her lips. “You—you did?” she asked, sounding both horrified by that tidbit of information and turned on. It was clear I only needed to push a little further, and I’d have her rightwhere I wanted her. Beneath me. Begging. Pleading. Asking me to never let her go.
And I wouldn’t. Raine wasmine.
“Yeah,” I breathed. “Took one look at you and knew you were supposed to bemine. I tried to stay away, little one. I really did. But I could only deny myself of what I wanted for so long.” I dropped my hand to the back of her head and fisted a handful of her dirty blonde hair, tilting her head back to expose more of her long, slender throat. But I didn’t give into more of the temptation—not yet.
