Page 6 of Hunted in Holly

My cry was lost under the tension of his palm against my throat. I clawed at his forearm, begging him to lighten the pressure, while the essence that dripped from his blood filled mouth splashed just beneath my eye.

Nicholas hovered over me now, my much smaller frame caged by his size, and my body completely immobilized under his strength. He teased pressure against my pulse with his thumb and fingertip, as if to remind me how easily he could take my consciousness from me at the slightest whim.

“That kind of resolve is so satisfying to see.” He wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand, slow and with satisfaction. “You were fully committed, no matter how much fear spiked through your soul, and inexperience shook your dainty little hands. That’s true power, Dove.”

I gritted my teeth and dug my nails into his sleeve, but I wasn’t getting any traction or relief. I was forcing oxygen into my lungs like I was sucking air through a straw, and I didn’t know how much longer I could keep up the fight in this position.

The more blackness started to dot my vision, the more viscerally the panic started to grab me. My gripweakened, and all I could do was tug on the sleeve of his suit in a feeble plea. The whimper that slipped even sounded pathetic to me.

Nicholas only laughed in response. “Keep struggling, Sweet Noel. I love those helpless little sounds you make.”

His palm was still snug on my windpipe, and I could feel exactly how much my helplessness was turning him on. He watched me squirm with wicked interest, and my drive to stay alive assured he had quite the show.

“You’ll pay for this.” I managed with the little voice I could muster.

“Oh, I look forward to it.” The Vicious Saint of the North leaned down and touched his lips to my bloodied cheek. “I have so much I still want to give you.” That chokehold clamped down, and Nicholas looked at me with something that resembled affection. He burned that expression into my brain as he joyfully strangled me into unconsciousness.

Chapter 3

“Silly woman.” I looked down on my prey affectionately, as she went limp in my hand. She looked so harmless when she was unconscious, in beautiful contrast to the brutal determination she’d exhibited while awake. I rubbed my chest where her ice dagger had entered my body, and I recalled the look of both terror and rage as she’d put it there.

Truly spectacular.

To her credit, she had fully and completely punctured my heart from end to end. But to her detriment, the fact that she believed killing me would be so effortless was a tragic comedy.

Ironically, I’dpersonallyspread the rumor that staking me through the heart was the only way to kill me, precisely so my enemies would think they had a chance. I knew of one veryspecificenemy who’d been seeking my throne for millennia who was very likely her source. Funny that her blade had been pointed at me over him.

How gullible. If it was that simple to end my life, I’d already be dead.

I took my time in climbing off the bed, not wanting to disturb her resting form. Her long, dark hair fanned out around her soft, rounded face, her deep red lips were parted so enticingly, and her diminutive figure appeared so deliciously defenseless. I’d give her credit for her bravery, but certainly not for her diplomacy.

I’d have to offer at least a little grace for her crimes, however. She was in a particularly emotional state, being the newly appointed queen of a kingdom that had been burned to the ground. Not only had the previous monarch not properly prepared her to rule, but lovely Mother Nature had also neglected to mention who her true enemies were.It must have been rather stressful to be picking up so many pieces without any clue as to the puzzle’s full picture.

I would be ignorant to assume she was weak and a fool simply because she’d made this singularly irrational choice, however. I’d felt the amount of magic she’d channeled into her icicle, after all. To penetrate my heart at all took power that was truly special, befitting of the South Pole’s ruler.

And to have had the audacity to try to murder me in my own home?

I tasted the smile on my lips with a slow drag of my tongue.

Perhaps it was about time we united our Kingdoms. It would be a calamity to let her continue making so many mistakes without proper guidance. Sweet Caroline was lucky she’d come here and gotten my attention.

I leaned down and cradled her cheek in my palm, then I pressed the lightest kiss to her forehead.

I couldn’t imagine a better Christmas gift.

Chapter 4

I was beginning to despise the smell of peppermint bark. It was a travesty that what was once my favorite holiday treat was now something I associated with hell itself.

I’d woken up still in that bed, once again tucked in tightly, but this time I was wearing a small red nightgown, made of satin trimmed with black fur that barely covered my panties. I didn’t know if Nicholas himself had changed my clothing, or if he’d had some servant do it, but neither sat well with me.

Not the least of which because my coat and my boots were also gone now. It was a subtle way to communicate that I didn’t need them, because I wouldn’t be going anywhere until he said so. Before I’d attempted to murder him, I was just a strange intruder, so there was no reason to take my things.

But now? I was a traitor, an assassin, and a prisoner.

The fact that every door and window was sealed shut corroborated that fact. I’d attempted to form a screwdriver out of ice to unscrew the hinges on the door, and I’d tried to cut open the windows in the same way Ibroke into the castle in the first place, but my icicles kept melting on contact. Some sort of spell sealed every possible exit in every possible way.

Absently rubbing my neck, I stood from the bed and paced around the room. On the bedside table was a plate of freshly baked cookies, somehow still warm, and their melted chocolate fragrance nearly overwhelmed all the peppermint. They were more inviting than a good book on a cozy armchair by the fireplace on a bad winter day, but I’d be damned if I was going to eat anything I hadn’t personally seen prepared. I couldn’t risk being drugged or poisoned to satisfy a slightly grumbly stomach. I wasn’t that naïve.

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