“One word from me and Epilaes snaps her pretty neck.”
“What do you want? I’ll give you anything.” Her voice was a raspy whisper laced with fear and regret. What had she done?
“What I want, kitten, is your undying loyalty.”
Words. She couldn’t find them.
“Our fates are twined, and the last thing I need is you out in the world fucking everything up.”
“Fucking what up? I don’t even know–”
Her words were cut short as he sliced the ties holding her hands. Her fingers throbbed as blood rushed back into the tips. Nyx didn’t even have time to whimper before her right hand was between their bodies and he drew the blade down her palm.
She gasped and recoiled, but his grip was firm.
He met her stare as he pulled the wounded hand to his mouth and lapped the cut. His tongue was tinged in red and he watched her with every sinful lick. His blood stained lips pulled into a devilish grin, pointed teeth on full display. “Your turn.”
That was all the warning she got before he pulled the blade across his neck and forced her mouth to it. She resisted at first, closing her mouth and shoving at his chest. But he grabbed her neck in a bruising hold and growled, “Take my fucking blood or I’ll slice sweet Evangeline from neck to navel and drown you in hers.”
Nyx sobbed as she closed her mouth around his skin.
If he thought subservience was in her nature though, he was mistaken. She wanted to hurt. Wanted to hurthim.
Nyx pulled back just a fraction before sinking her teeth in hard enough to make her jaw ache. She hoped it would make him hurt. Make him regret ever crossing her path. She should have known better.
A mix of laughter and moans burst from his lips and the harder she bit, the louder he got. He held her neck tighter with one hand and placed the other on her lower back and pulled.His hips ground against her with every brush of her tongue, his erection nearly bursting through his tailored pants.
She intended to rip his jugular out with her teeth, to tear the skin from his neck and watch him bleed out on the floor. But when Nyx tensed to act on it, he grabbed her cheeks in a menacing grip, and forced her teeth to release him.
“I’m going to have fun taming you, kitten.”
Evil was written all over his face, the spear of insanity glinting in his eye along with the promise of pain. He would hurt her, and he would enjoy it.
Nyx summoned the rage that fueled her hatred and spat the blood coating her mouth back into his face. He closed his eyes on impact but didn’t make a move.
When he opened them again, the milky whites bled black. His skeleton form flickered in and out, jagged teeth yawning, and the blood spatter emphasized the nightmare of a man. “I like you, Nyx.”
“I don’t fucking care if you like me.”
“You should. I kill people I like.”
Nyx was in over her head, and the water was too turbulent to break back through the surface. Her words dripped with venom but he liked the taste. The lower she fell, the higher he rose.
“There’s nowhere you can hide from me, kitten. Our bond is sealed in blood. If I die, you die. We are bound. This can be as easy or as difficult as you make it.”
“And what if I just kill you right now? What if I decide that losing my life is worth wiping this world free of you?”
That hungry gleam returned to his eyes as something heavy pressed against her palm. He wrapped his hand around hers and brought them both to his chest. Nyx’s heart fluttered when she realized she was holding the dagger, and he’d placed it to his throat.
“Do it.”
“Why? Why are you doing this?”
“Because I have a little problem I need solved, and I like you Nyx.” His throat bobbed against the blade as he swallowed and nicked the skin. “I think you and I have an understanding. You help me, I don’t drain little Evangeline dry for my next bath.”
Her hands trembled and she fought to keep the shake from her voice. “What do you need?”
He smiled, canines glinted against the lights. “Someone let the Soul Eater out of his cage, and I need insurance to barter my safety.” Nyx didn’t have time to process his information or the absolute terror it filled her veins with.
