From her upside-down vantage point, she could still see the entrance. She’d been dragged pretty far down but she could see it. Someone had pulled her through those splintered boards and they, along with the rocks, had scratched up her arms pretty badly.
“Fuck,” she grunted, teeth bared. She tried sitting up again, head clutched in her hands. The pain in her skull was like a red-hot star rotating within the confines of her skull, singeing the backs of her eyes with every turn. She whimpered and covered her face as another flash of light beamed through the cave, this one focused right on her face, illuminating her in a wash of yellow light.
“Oh, Nadine,” a voice whispered. “You look so helpless lying there. Like a wounded little bird.”
“Who’s that?” she choked, her mouth dry with dust. “Who’s there?”
There was a pause, and then the voice said: “Your master.”
Her blood went ice-cold.
Get up, her mind screamed at her.Get the fuck up right now.
She struggled to get to her knees but they were shaking so badly that she fell right down again.
“But I’m here now.” Another step. “I’ll take care of you.” A hand touched her face and she flinched from it. “My poor broken sparrow. Didn’t you like the gift I left you?”
Her heart felt ready to crash right out of her chest. “W-what gift?”
A body swung over hers, crouching like a predator in the dark. Pushing her back against the cave floor where small rocks nipped at her back like teeth. “You tried to hide it, but the person who leaves the mark owns the quarry, Nadine. That’s the rule of first blood. So this time,” they said, their voice almost discernible, “don’t cover it up.”
Lips crushed against hers, sharp with sawtooth blades of stubble. Their fingers wrapped around her throat, gripping tighter when she tried to pull away. And then she became truly terrified because whoever it was that was straddling her hips like this, they were enjoying it. Immensely.
She could feel it.
“No,” she said, cringing back. “No, please . . .”
“Shh.” A hand slid beneath her shirt. “It’s only going to hurt a little.”
“No! What are you doing?” She wrenched her body, shoving at a hard male chest just as he found her nipple and pinched it. “Pleasedon’t. Don’t hurt me.Don’t—”
“I want to make you soar, Nadine.” She felt them—him—kiss her neck as he toyed with her, rolling the stiffening bud between his fingers. She sobbed when his hand slid out of her top to glide possessively down her prostrate form. But when she grabbed at it, trying to stop him, he gathered her wrists into one large hand and held them loosely over her head. “Soon, you’ll fly just for me.”
And then he bit her.
Pain lit up the side of her neck like a sparkler as she screamed. And when she bucked and tried again to get away, she realized—oh god—that his hand was in her pants. Fingers were gliding over her clit, circling so roughly, soknowingly, that she cried out again.“No!”
“Yes. Come for me,” the voice whispered, breath hot. “Chooseme.”
She fought him, biting and kicking her legs. But that just ground her body against his, as he continued to stroke her with determined fingers, bringing her closer to unwanted release as her tingling clit throbbed in spite of her terror. His free hand tilted her face towards his, and when he kissed her again, she tasted blood.
Herblood. Oh, dear god. Gasping wretchedly, she clawed at him, digging her nails into the back of his neck and biting in, until she felt the dampness of his blood coating her fingers. There was dampness everywhere, in the air, on her skin, between her thighs. Blood, sweat, and arsenic. Dark pleasure twining with her fear, flashing through her body like quicksilver lightning. She heard him draw in a sharp unsteady breath when she clenched around his fingers, her hips bucking weakly even as her fingers continued to gouge.
“No,” she moaned, and she felt him shudder as he dipped into her.Getting you ready for him, her brain whispered, over that scream of panic.He’s going to fuck you, Nadine.
She raked him again, higher—well into his hairline. He had thick hair, soft. It was the only thing about him that was. His thumb pressed over her clit, rubbing just hard enough to make her see stars.No, she thought.You can’t do this to me!Then, bracing the heels of her sneakers in the mine, sheyanked, twisting those captured strands so sharply that she heard the click of his jaw snapping back.
“Let—me—go!”
He drew away with a hiss. “Do you prefer your punishment in a different flavor? This could be seduction, Nadine. I could give you candlelight and sweet words.”
Punishment?
Nadine clutched her throbbing neck, kicking backwards until she felt the roughness of the cave wall at her back. She levered herself upwards and a bright light immediately shown in her face again, creating purple splotches that blinded her. Through the piercing, splintered beams, she caught a brief glimpse of a tall, shadowy figure.
“I could give you everything,” he whispered.
“Fuck you,” she screamed. “Fuckyou!”
