Page 54 of Taken By Touch and Torment

I gripped my lifeline, even as my lip trembled.

I would make it home.

Kole peered down at me with a smile, his eyes soft. “No need to worry, beautiful human. I am at your command.”

Confusion rolled through me, and for the first time, I dug deeper into Kole’s surface level lust for me.

Oh.

He didn’t want to dominate me at all. It was really quite the opposite. Sure, I’d still be used by virtue of being a slave. But it would be an entirely different game than the one I played with Durian.

Kole wanted me to have the power, even if it was all pretend. He didn’t understand that I already did. And the power I had was real and overflowing.

“You are not actually off leash, pet. Do not let my generosity give you any ideas,” Durian said dryly. “You will serve Kole in whatever ways he desires, just as it will please your Master. Consider this a reward for your good behavior and a very successful day.”

My heart twisted. What had happened? I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t appear too eager.

“Stand,” Durian said to me. He looked to Kole. “You will be the first born vampire to ever feed from her other than her Master. Feel free to pull any of the others into your fun. What’s mine is yours, brother.”

Kole appraised me. “An honor, truly.”

Brennan’s smile was tight and fake. I gazed at him, rounding my eyes and feigning innocence and nervousness.

It should be you who spends the night with me, I whispered to his mind. Durian continues to take you for granted. He’s willing to share, but not with you...

I looked down at the ground.

It’s you Scarlett wants, Brennan. It should be you.

Brennan swallowed, and a wave of desire soaked into my skin. Better yet, a tide of anger and envy.

I quickly shut down the accompanying wave of guilt, flashes of what had happened the night I sentenced two humans to death.

Forward. I couldn’t look back.

“What beautiful chaos you have stirred, little human,” Kole purred, offering me a hand.

I took it. I stepped back into my power, and I gave this life one last shot. I’d give it everything I had. Because that was who I was, no matter how severely I’d been beaten down into the dirt.

I smiled at him, allowing some of my genuine cunning to leak into my irises as if by accident. “I didn’t mean to cause any trouble, my lord.”

His gaze roamed my barely covered form, his lips quirking up as he stepped toward me. “Hmm. And yet trouble is exactly what you caused—what you are. Do you enjoy inducing such violent yearning in both of Valentin’s most powerful vampire clans?”

Durian tensed, searching my face again. “Answer him, pet.”

Kole was of short stature, only a few inches taller than me. I met his eyes, my smile fading an inch.

“It scares me.” I looked at the floor, and then slowly back up, my gaze flitting between Durian, Brennan, and Kole. “But I know I chose the strongest side. I know my Master will keep me safe.”

When Durian’s eyes burned into mine, I shut my mouth quickly, as though I’d revealed too much. As if he were someone I more than respected, but genuinely wanted.

You have stolen her weak little human heart, I spoke to Durian’s mind next. She is putty in your hands. You’ve poisoned her against Rune—everything you witnessed between them was his doing, not hers. She wants you, Valentin’s rightful ruler. Her silly human brain has latched onto you, recognizing that you are the one who controls everything she does. You are her whole world.

I danced and spun, taking back the reins of my webs—adding to them, bolstering them with my newfound power.

The power of Rune’s eternal devotion to a demon daughter of Lillian.

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