Page 8 of To Crave Truly

An eternity seemed to pass, but just before I was about to pull away, Jasper’s lips softened beneath my own. His tongue traced the seam of my lips and I willingly let him enter. He devoured my mouth, licking all the traces of my blood from it and moaning deeply.

Suddenly, pain exploded across my scalp as something fisted in my hair and yanked me away from Jasper.

“Bad girl.” Mordecai sounded pissed. I looked up and saw dried blood beneath his nose. It had already healed, but a sliver of joy ran through at the thought that I’d managed to inflict some pain on him, even if it had only been fleeting.

Jasper’s roar was a feral thing as his mind broke free of Mordecai. It was full of anger, a cry of a thunderous rage directed at the man who had made him a puppet. He pulled at the chains, screaming with fury as they held him pinned to the ground.

“Release her, or so help me god, I will tear your flesh from your bones.”

“Oh, Jasper, don’t tease me,” Mordecai replied with a dark smile. “Unfortunately, I need you to die and I was going to take your head whilst you were under the compulsion to make it easier for you, but now I guess you’ll see it coming.”

A scream tore itself from my throat as Mordecai pulled me to my feet by my hair. “I will gut you for this.”

“I look forward to that, little one.” He turned me towards the crowd. “Now smile for your audience. We seem to be giving them quite a show.”

They cheered in response, eager to see more blood spilt. If it was a show they wanted, a show I’d give them.

I turned my thoughts inwards and tugged at the warmth of my demon. The more I pulled, the more I could feel her awakening from her deep sleep. She was lethargic but she was definitely there.

Come on, I called inwardly. Let’s have some fun.

That seemed to rouse her. Power surged through my limbs and flooded my core. Talons, thick and black, emerged from my fingertips and I clawed at the arm that held my hair. He let me go with a pained yelp and I flew to Jasper. Hands reached out from the demons around us but I had one goal, to free Jasper and nothing would get in my way.

I swiped my hands through the chains holding him down like they were made of butter. The demon executioner launched himself at me, but Jasper stood and blocked his path with a right hook to his jaw. I was just about to head for Selene when my entire body came to a sudden halt. My eyes locked with Mordecai over the chaos and my stomach dropped. He was my sire, he had full control of me.

“I wanted to make this easy for you, Lori,” Mordecai growled menacingly. “But you just had to make things difficult. Now I’m going to make you kill him.”

“No! You can’t do that!”

“Oh, but I can. I told you not to defy me, I warned you there would be consequences, but still you thought you could do what you wanted. I hope this will help you remember your fucking place!” Mordecai spat his words at me like venom. He was beyond pissed now. I could see his calm control fracturing and it terrified me.

“Master, please.”

He barked out a laugh. “It’s too late for niceties. Now kill him. I command it.”

His words slithered over my skin, and I felt the command bury itself into my core like a living, breathing thing.

I turned to look back at Jasper and I could sense his fear through our bond. But it wasn’t for him, it was for me.

“Run, Jasper. Please.” I knew I couldn’t fight this hold that Mordecai had over me, already I could feel agony beginning to spread as I fought the need to move towards him. My body vibrated with the effort it took to fight the urge to attack Jasper but the fool just stood his ground and stared at me.

The Sin Reaper thrashed inside me, trapped in a cage of Mordecai’s making. She wouldn’t be of any help right now and my shadow magic was still buried. I was all on my own. Pathetic and weak.

Jasper looked around him, he knew he wasn’t getting out of this without a fight. But I didn’t want him to fight. I wanted him to run.

“Go, Jasper. Now!”

His bright blue eyes flashed before they bled into the black of his inner beast. “No. I am not leaving you.”

Stupid man. Couldn’t he see I was trying to save him?

My feet moved forward, and panic bloomed in my chest. Jasper attacked the blue demon who was trying to pin him down. Even without weapons, Jasper was formidable, his movements fast and precise. A lethal assassin.

Kill him.

Mordecai’s voice slithered through my mind, the words forcing me to move closer to Jasper. My limbs throbbed and tingled as I fought the compulsion, the pain of fighting against it clawing deep into my chest.

KILL HIM!

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