Page 78 of Touched By Death

My chin touches it as I peer back at him in the firelight, our lips dangerously close. Visibly swallowing, he stares at my mouth.

“It doesn’t matter.”

His eyes flick up to mine, and he frowns. “What are you talking about?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“When are you gonna get it?” Leaning in closer, he looks down at my mouth as he whispers, “Everything about you matters.”

My heart stalls. But before I can answer, the door flies open. I jerk back, looking over his shoulder as Daemon and the others come tumbling through the door.

“Get the fuck away from her!” Daemon growls, striding forward.

With a defeated sigh, Dmitriy climbs to his feet and steps back, hands held up in a placating gesture to soothe the raging bull that’s tearing across the room to get to me.

Flipping the armchair over, Daemon crosses the floor in five large steps and hauls me to my feet. Crushing me to him, his voice rumbles in my ear, “Thank fuck!”

I’m not sure how to feel. Relief to be back in his arms holds me in a chokehold. But as my eyes collide with Dariana across the room, the ugly truth of our predicament slaps me in the face. She’s marrying Daemon.

As though she can read my thoughts, her eyes narrow, and she gives a small shake of her head. A shake so small, it’s barely noticeable.

“Daemon,” I whisper, then stronger, “Daemon!”

He looks down at me, arms still banded around my waist in an iron grip as though he might lose me to the shadows at any minute.

“We can’t.”

His brows furrow, and he stiffens. Then he looks to the side, where Dariana stands with a defeated, broken look on her face. Realization dawns, and he looks back at me with gritted teeth and hellfire burning in his gaze. Reaching up and gripping my chin hard, he leaves me no choice but to drown in his dark, determined gaze. “No, little witch. It’s not fucking happening. We’ve played this game too many fucking times now. I don’t give a damn what you want or don’t want. You’re ours, and if you think you can walk out that door because of some stupid fucking idea that my father has in his head, you’re dead wrong. I won’t ever let you go.” Bringing his face close enough to mine for our noses to bump, he growls, “I’ll chain you to my fucking bed if I have to.”

When I visibly flinch at the assaulting memories of my time in the darkness, a cruel smile lifts his lips to reveal his slowly elongating fangs. “He’s a dead man walking, little witch. No one chains my angel but me.” Then his lips descend on mine in a fierce kiss that’s more than a simple claiming. It’s a ravishing of my soul, a complete plundering of my essence. Daemon leaves no stone unturned.

Forcing his tongue between my lips, he smiles into the kiss when I gasp. “You belong to me,” he whispers before driving his tongue back into my mouth to tangle with mine. “I won’t ever let you go.” His teeth sink into my bottom lip, the sharp sting turning me delirious with frenzied desire. “I don’t care what it takes, or what depraved lengths I’ll have to go to in order to keep you. I won’t ever stop hunting you, little witch. Do you know why?”

Whimpering, I clutch his T-shirt.

“Because I love you. This thing between us? It’s beyond obsession.”

My lungs burn when I moan into the kiss. His words seduce me as much as his dominating touch and biting kisses.

Breaking away from my lips, he tosses me at Alaric, Ronan, and Dariana. His voice is deadly cold. “Break her.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

AURELIA

“With pleasure,” Dariana says, smiling cruelly while Alaric and Ronan pace behind her, each with matching smirks.

Backing away, I yelp when my spine meets Daemon’s hard chest. His hands clamp down on my shoulders, and with a lift of his chin, he orders Dmitriy to leave the room. His voice brokers no argument. As Dmitriy passes, his brown eyes collide with mine. But then they slide away just as fast, and he leaves the room.

Soft fingers, calloused and sure, slide my hair away from my shoulder in a caress that wrings my heart of every emotion it has ever clung to. And like blood, it pours from my chest. Daemon leans down and presses his damp lips to the curve of my neck. Behind us, the flames shoot sparks into the air. My eyes slide shut against the pain that whispers inside me.

“Don’t shut us out,” Dariana pleads, taking my hand. “The fighting stops now.”

“No,” I breathe, my lips parting with a sigh, lashes fluttering as Daemon peppers heated kisses over my skin.

“What’s holding you back?” she asks.

My heavy gaze skates past her to Ronan and Alaric, who pull their T-shirts over the back of their heads. Discarding them on the floor, they exchange smirks before looking over at me. Everything they do, from how they communicate silently to how they pop the buttons on their jeans, is synchronized, like that of a seductive dance designed to break down every wall I’ve ever erected.

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