Page 32 of Sticks and Stones and Broken Bones

Nox stared at me in disbelief. “Your coven was training witches to be assassins? Sounds a little farfetched to me.”

I guess to an outsider it would sound fantastical, but it was all I knew. Well, all my grandmother allowed me to know. It was only now that I was here, away from it all, that I was starting to see how kept apart from everything I really had been. Anger started to burn in my gut. I hated them. Hated them all.

“How could I have been so blind?”

Nox stepped closer, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “Pretty girl, you thought you were in a place where you were supposed to be cared for. It’s okay to feel angry and hurt.” He cupped my face, making me look deep into his wild, angelic eyes. “We will make them pay. I promise you.”

I nodded, unable to push any words past the lump in my throat. I wanted them to suffer. Wanted them all to suffer as I had. I wanted to make them feel pain, loneliness, torment.

“I want them to burn.”

Nox grinned wildly. “Oh, they will, pretty girl. They absolutely will. There’s nothing I love more than slicing flesh from bones.”

His eyes darkened with every word he spoke, and his grip tightened on my chin.

“Nox?"

He didn’t respond, held by whatever was causing a dark rage to swirl in his eyes. I wrapped my hand around his forearm, feeling the tension vibrating under his skin, his muscles tight with restraint, power curled into every inch.

I brought my other hand to his cheek, trying to bring him back to me with a soft touch. “Can you hear me?”

I’d barely got my words out when his hand gripped my throat, and he lifted me into the air before slamming me onto my back. Pain exploded through my ribs as all the air left my lungs.

“Nox!” I screamed but it was no use. The grinning maniac I was starting to like was nowhere to be found. All I could feel was a dangerous, brutal power seeping from him, soaking up the light and smothering me in fear. This wasn’t the man. This was the nightmare.

I tried to scramble away, kicking my feet and clawing at his grip but he was immovable. A solid weight that pinned me in place.

Where were my instincts now?!

Adrenaline roared through me, heightening my senses. Fuck. I needed to do something. But what?

Fuck it.

I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck and pulled his lips to mine.

They were harsh and firm. Unyielding.

But only for a moment.

Nox’s eyes widened briefly before the darkness seeped away, leaving his angelic gaze staring back at me. There was a pause, a moment suspended in time, a single breath, as he watched me with those unyielding lips pressed against mine.

Then he kissed me.

No, not kissed.

He owned me. He forced my mouth wide and thrust his tongue deep without seeking permission. His kiss devastated me. It brandished a mark on my soul and from this moment I knew, without a doubt, that I belonged to him.

Fuck, was that a tongue piercing?

I squirmed and ground against him, seeking friction, and he pushed his hips down against my core, his erection pressing against my clit almost painfully. A gasp escaped my throat, and he swallowed it, like he demanded it from my very body.

Nox pulled his lips from mine, trailing them along my jaw, nipping and biting, pulling at my sensitive skin. I felt the sharp scratch of fangs. His hands under my sports bra, plucking at my nipple. I wanted his touch everywhere. I need it. Hungered for it.

“Nox,” I groaned as he made his way down my body.

He hooked his fingers into the waistband of my leggings and then looked up at me, his eyes full of fire. “I’m going to spread your pussy wide and feast on it until you’re screaming.” He pulled my leggings off, throwing them over his shoulder, before turning his attention to my red lace thong. “Fucking hell, Raevyn.”

He stared at my covered pussy like he was worshipping at an altar, and I was so fucking wet.

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