Page 54 of Ocean of Sin and Starlight

Priest doesn’t say anything; he just puts himself between me and the other man.

“What are you doing to her?” the man says. “Step aside, Father Aragon.”

“Please leave,” Priest says in a hard, cold voice. “You are not allowed back here. This is consecrated ground.”

The man snorts and brings out his gun, pointing it at Priest. “Consecrated ground. I know you are no priest, no holy man. I’ve always suspected as much—all these visits to the church in the middle of the night. Now, I see you’re keeping a woman back here for yourself. Holy man indeed.”

“She belongs to me,” Priest practically growls.

“I’ll let her decide who she belongs to,” the soldier says as he smiles at me. “Don’t worry, darling, I’ll get you out here.” He glares at Priest and shakes his pistol at him. “Step aside, Aragon.”

Priest looks back down at me.

I suppose this is my chance.

This is all I was waiting for.

Someone to come and rescue me.

But then, to my utter surprise, Priest steps aside.

And my heart sinks with fear.

The man grins and walks over to me, keeping the gun trained on Priest as he approaches.

“You’re beautiful, aren’t you?” the man says as he leers at me. “I can see why he wanted to hide you back here.” The soldier reaches out with his free hand and grabs my wrist, hard enough for me to cry out. “Don’t worry, I’m here to help.”

Priest makes a move for me, but the soldier pulls the trigger.

With a fiery blast, gun smoke fills the air, and I scream again as Priest is hit with a bullet to his chest. He goes down with a gasp, hitting the ground hard.

“Priest!” I try to scream against the chains, but the soldier hits me on the side of the head with his pistol, and everything explodes into sparks. I feel warm blood trickle down the side of my head, and I’m shoved down on the pew again, the soldier pushing up my shift.

He groans, pressing his hard-on against my rear as I thrash, trying to get out of the way, drowning in disgust.

“I doubt you’ve been properly fucked by a holy man,” the man says, grabbing my wrists and yanking them behind my back, my shoulders dislocating again with debilitating pain. “He probably had to tie you up because he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Probably had to put this in your mouth so you wouldn’t tell him how bad he was.”

He hits me with the gun again, and I yelp, feeling my fight start to slip away. I try to get my claws to come out, but the way my shoulders are ripped from their sockets must be preventing me. “Or did he do it because you’re a screamer? You know, I like it when they scream.”

He grabs the chain at the back of my head and slams my forehead down into the wood before he pulls my head back up again. I feel his other hand fumble in his trousers. “Let’s see how much noise you make, darling.”

I feel the chain start to come loose.

I feel my resolve start to slip away.

“I wouldn’t remove that if I were you.” Priest’s voice rings out like a beacon behind me.

I open my eyes.

He’s alive!

The chain comes undone and falls out of my mouth.

I feel the soldier twist around to look in Priest’s direction, hear his confused gasp at seeing him alive.

“She bites,” Priest adds.

And that’s enough for me.

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