Page 8 of Hunted in Holly

I dropped my gaze to my lap. I hoped he didn’t notice exactly how scared I really was, but I wasn’t doing a strong job of hidingit anymore. I’d never been a good actor, but fear had a way of crumbling any semblance of poise I pretended to have.

“I won’t just roll over and let you have your way.” I whispered, so quiet it was barely a threat at all. I bit my lower lip harder when I felt it shaking.

“Are you trembling, little queen? My, you look so fragile and breakable.” The words dripped with violence. “What happened to the brave, fierce woman who was going to kill a Saint?”

I hugged my arms tighter around my chest, hoping I could hold myself together that way.

“I’m still going to kill you.” I said, hoping I’d feel stronger after putting those words into the air. “I just have to figure out how.”

“Of course you are.” His tone was so smooth and calm and patronizing, I resented him even more for it. “That attitude is why you’re still alive. I have all sorts of lovely plans for the silly little intruder who broke into a castle where she didn’t belong, without knowing the first thing about her enemy.”

I cupped my biceps and squeezed. The tension did nothing to calm me down. “I’ll bite off my own tongue before I’ll let you torture me.” I spat, finding my backbone best I could.

“Torture you?” The door opened, and my whole body jerked with surprise before I could stop myself. I lifted my sightline as my captor casually and nonchalantly entered my space. He made a show of closing and locking the door behind him. The sound of the deadbolt clicking back into place was a death knell in my ears. “Is that how you see me? When I put you on my lap and let you stab me through the heart, you determined thatIwas theproblematic one between us?” His laugh made me sick. He lifted his chin and sliced along his neck with his thumb, as if mocking his own murder. “For future reference, Dove,thisis how you kill a Saint. You need to take their head not their heart.”

I filed that into my database, while I cursed the bad information I’d gotten. There was nothing I could do about it now.

Nicholas approached me with precision disguised as casual nonchalance. Everything about his movements suggested a seasoned hunter. He reached my place at the edge of the bed, and I was too off my mark to decide if I should retreat or engage. I just kept hugging my chest protectively, while holding eye contact, and hoping that, somewhere in those blood colored irises, there was a shred of humanity.

My throat bobbed as he placed a hand on my cheek, so gentle he was barely touching me at all. He lifted my chin with the slightest nudge, then he traced my jaw with his fingertips, slid down my neck, then brushed the narrow strap of my nightgown with suggestive purpose. The strap slipped down my shoulder. His touch followed my collarbone to the other strap, and he slipped a single finger beneath it. He tugged up on the thin material, then let it drop down my other arm.

The black, fur-lined red satin dropped down my bust, exposing the top of my emerald green bra.

I continued hugging my chest, supporting my nightgown with the pressure. Something about these light touches had my body reacting more fervidly than I had when his hand had been squeezing the consciousness out of me.

This feeling was different. Provocative. Sensual. Yet it was still the quiet terror that sang loudest in my heart.

“Are you a virgin, Caroline?” His too cool tone speaking such fiery words made my heart stop.

“W-what?”

He smirked, then shoved me back forcefully, sending my back into the bed. “I asked…” he climbed on top of me, dipping the mattress under his weight. He nudged open my thighs, taking position between them, and he supported himself with one hand beside my head. “If anyone…” he cupped me between my legs, and my eyes shot open, wide as they could go. “Has been inside your pretty little cunt, Sweet. Noel.” He said that pet name with vicious, staccato emphasis, as he slid his fingers up my center, staying over the green lace of my panties and dragging my scarlet nightgown upward. My breathing sped as he revealed my navel, then my rib cage. He hesitated only when he reached my breasts.

He watched my expression as he exposed me, taking entirely too much delight in it. I knew my face was on fire. I was sure my distress was obvious. I could feel my lip quivering, no matter how hard I bit into it, as vividly as the pounding of my own pulse in my ears.

I didn’t want to answer that question. I had always been groomed to be royalty, after all. I couldn’t just bed any man I wanted whenever I wanted. I’d been sworn to the son of Father Time, and I’d been expected to stay pure for him. Though I doubted he’d done the same while we were apart, he’d never so much as fooled around with me while we waited to fulfill the age restrictions outlined in the treaty.

“Why does that matter?” I shook out words, defiantly.

“Heh.” Nicholas continued to look at me like I was his mouse in a trap. “Your body language answers my question quite clearly.” He used two fingers to draw a line of pressure down the center of my stomach, stopping when he reached the band of my lace underwear. “Every little twitch tells me so many things that you don’t want to admit out loud.” I held perfectly still, confirming nor denying not a single thing. “Though to be clear, it’s fine if you aren’t. It’s okay if I’m not your first. I’ll simply need a list of names, so I can eliminate anyone who thinks they can walk this earth knowing what my future wife looks like when she comes.” He dipped his fingers beneath the band, and I was stunned silent by the proclamation. “Or what her pussy feels like when she’s convulsing on his cock.” He settled his index finger at the top of my lips. “Anyone who dared to fill my queen with his worthless seed.” He nudged my clit. My heart hammered, while my thighs clenched against him.

“Th-there’s never been anyone.” I admitted in my panic. Why I had, I couldn’t say. I didn’t want him to think he was going to be taking something special from me. “I was forbidden to even touch myself before marriage.”Stop talking. Stop talking.Every word was more mortifying than the last. The closest I’d ever come to orgasm was while grinding on a pillow or a plush toy, but I never dared use my fingers. I would have plenty of time in my immortal life to explore, I’d been told. But I wasn’t supposed to have urges outside my husband oruntilmy husband.

I did my best to not have urges.

“Oh?” Amusement took his mischievous expression. “So you saved this gift just for me?” He slid down the center of my folds so slowly, while the pressurewas a sensation unlike anything I’d ever known. I couldn’t breathe. “Then I can’t wait to open the Christmas present you brought me, Sweet Noel.” He stopped at the base of my pussy, traced the entrance, then he moved upwards again, taking his time to spread the wetness on his fingertip on the way up.

My whole body shivered at the contact, and I hated the way I was practically throbbing in his hand.

All I managed to do was whimper in response. I turned my head away, not wanting to look into those intense, scarlet eyes for even another second.

Every time I closed my eyes, I waited for that voice to tell me to be strong again. To demand I kill him again. Those quiet taunts had been my only source of strength.

But they’d been silent since Nicholas had taken me prisoner.

“Don’t be so afraid, Sweet Noel. I won’t take you yet.” His own half-lidded eyes were of a man fighting his own needs. “Such a valuable prize needs to be earned, don’t you think?” He leaned in and sniffed along my neck as if he was scenting me. Though it was hard to focus on anything but the pressured circles he was drawing around my most sensitive nerves. His intense body heat was filling my entire soul, and the weight of him on me might have been a comfort if it wasn’t a prison. He dipped down again, then spread more of my wetness between my lips. The way my own body lubricated his movements, increasing the pleasure coiling in my core, was a true betrayal.

“Let’s play a game.” His words were breathy and increasingly undone as he played in my arousal. “The most dangerous game.” His chuckle heated my neck. “Becauseyouare the most dangerous game I’ve ever wanted toplay.” His lips brushed my ear, and I cursed the quiet moan I let slip.

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