Page 31 of Forever Touched

Slowly, he crawled on top of me and pressed my body into the dirt with his. An excited moan left him as he positioned himself between my legs. I didn’t fight, knowing it was pointless. He had to see me ashelpless. As his captured prey. It was the only way out of this.

“I hope you taste as good as you feel, sweet thing,” he breathed, reaching up to brush hair off my face. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been with a witch, and none of them were as pretty as you. I’m going to take my time, and if you please me, I’ll make sure you feel good too.”

As he settled more fully on top of me, revealing just how turned on he was by my helpless state, I inched my hand toward my back jeans pocket. He tipped back my head and exposed my vulnerable throat, growling softly as he bent and inhaled my scent. I stiffened when he began to kiss and nip at my flesh, slowly grinding himself against me. Knowing what I had to do, I clenched my teeth and arched my neck back, encouraging him to bite me.

“Oh, so eager,” he crooned, dragging his tongue up my throat. “Are you wet for me too, sweetheart?”

He slipped a hand between us and fumbled to undo my pants. As the button popped open, cold resolve filled me. Yanking the small knife from my back pocket, I plunged it into his side.

He jerked off me with a roar, staggering back to clutch his side. I stayed still long enough to see the feral rage on his face when he realized the weapon was made out of silver. And then I was up in a flash, running for my life.

“What have you done, you connivingwhore?” he screamed after me, shouting obscenities while he tried to remove the knife without burning himself. It wouldn’t kill him, but the injury would hopefully buy me enough time to reach my car.

But as I ran, I realized with a sinking heart that he’d carried me farther into the woods than I thought. I wasn’t going to make it.

Sure enough, I hadn’t even reached the treeline before he caught up with me. This time, there was no mercy in his movements. Heplucked me up and slammed me against the nearest tree, punching the air from my lungs. I gaped like a fish out of water, pain streaking up and down my spine like lightning. Gripping my throat, he leered in my face, his mouth twisted in fury.

“You’re going to pay for that, slut,” he hissed, spittle hitting my cheek. “I’m going to make you feel so much pain, you’ll wish you were dead.”

I opened my mouth to scream, but he struck like an adder. As his fangs brutally ripped into my neck, no sound left me. The shock of the pain crashed into me all at once, freezing me in place. The usual hit of venom didn’t come, his aim topunishand not pleasure.

His mouth rapidly jerked against my neck as he began to feed, inhaling great gulps of my blood at alarming speed. Panic pushed through the shock, making me tremble from head to toe. Too much. He was takingtoo much. I tried to calm myself so I could gain control of his mind, but he slammed me back against the tree again, leaving me stunned and disorientated.

By the time I cleared some of the fog from my brain, I knew I was in trouble. My arms and legs were already starting to go numb. He was consuming too much blood.Drainingme. I only had seconds left before it was too late.

A scream built in my mind, one formed of desperation and fear. I didn’t want to die. I thought I was prepared to face death, but I wasn’t. There was still so much life in me. Still so much I wanted to do. I’d barely begun tolive, and leaving the world like this filled me with fury.

I didn’t deserve this fate. No matter what I’d done to survive, I didn’t deserve to be killed and tossed aside liketrash.

The scream grew and grew, invading my mind so completely that I let it explode. No sound left my frozen lips, but I was burning upinside, raging against the unfairness of it all.

Benjamin suddenly let go of me. His fangs tore open my neck even more as he jerked away. More likehewas jerked away. My ears rang as a deafening roar lit up the night, the tree behind me trembling under the force of it. Shadows darker than the night streaked past and tangled with Benjamin, bringing him to the ground. They landed with aboom, shaking the tree once more. The impact tore up a path of pine needles and dirt before the pair came to a grinding halt.

I slowly blinked, trying to make sense of everything. The shadows looked a lot like a person. Like . . .

“Everett?” Benjamin stopped struggling as he recognized who’d tackled him to the ground. “Ever, it’s me. Ben. Ben Osborne.”

“I know,” Everett growled, his voice far from human. The shadows whipped around him, so thick that I could barely see his face. He was staring so hard at Ben that I expected red lasers to shoot from his eyes at any moment. “You never should have touched her.”

He gripped Ben’s head with both hands.

“Everett? What are you doing? We’re friends.Ever!”

With a sharp twist, Everett broke Ben’s neck. I slowly blinked again, barely hearing thecrack. The ringing in my ears had grown louder and louder, each ring matching the tempo of my heart. With each ring, the tempo slowed, along with my heart.

Another blink, and I saw Everett rip Ben’s head clean off. As it fell to the ground, I lost the battle with gravity and hit the ground as well. I stared up at the night sky, watching as it slowly darkened.

This wasn’t good. I was probably at death’s door now.

A face suddenly took the night’s place. A face I knew. A face that was no longer hidden by a mask.

He took one look at my neck and swore colorfully. Wow. It must be pretty bad. My eyes drifted shut.

“Star.Star. Don’t do this to me. Open your eyes.”

Oh. He knew who I was. Also not good.

But I couldn’t seem to care. I couldn’t feel much of anything anymore, and the beats of my heart had slowed to a crawl.

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