Page 47 of Death and Donuts

“I love the smell of fear.”

I scrambled to pull the rope, but he was on me, his naked torso pressed against my back as he pinned me to the wall beside the bed.

The protection charm I always wore around my neck flared but winked out before it could do any good. Adriel never even noticed.

“What’s the hurry, Everly? I just want to play a little.”

I fought against the panic bubbling up inside of me. How fast would Cross be able to reach me once I bled? Fast enough to stop me from dying?

“Listen to that,” Adriel said softly. “The flutter of your pulse. Mmmm. So tempting. What is it that you fear, Everly? Me? Or perhaps you fear liking what I will do to you. Should I make you moan my name? We can record it so you can play it for the Alpha and Cross. I think that might upset them more than your screams. But I do crave your screams.”

My body started to shake, and I hated my visible reaction.

He chuckled low in my ear and scraped one long nail along the length of my arm hard enough to leave a red mark but not hard enough to break the skin, knowing one drop of blood would alert Cross.

“I think we’ll leave the screaming for next time.” He spun me around suddenly to face him, capturing my wrists as he locked his gaze with mine. “Give in to your hidden desires, Everly. Letgo of what is holding you back from enjoying everything this life offers.”

His words echoed in my mind briefly before wrapping around me with a heaviness I couldn’t resist. They pulled at me, flooding my mind.

What hidden desires did I have?

I thought of Cross then Shepard. They’d been tempting me with their presence for weeks. A vampire and a werewolf. Dangerous. Deadly. Yet, I wanted to do more than spend time with them. I wanted to taste everything they could offer me.

“Mmm. I can smell your desire. I knew I wasn’t wrong,” Master said, snapping me back to the present. “Kiss me, Everly.”

My gaze dipped to the twisted smile tugging at his lips, and I felt nothing but revulsion.

“I’d rather walk across a field of broken glass,” I said before thinking better of it.

He hissed in my face and twisted my wrists painfully. “Give in to me. Give in to your desire. I smelled it.”

“Whatever you were smelling, it wasn’t for you,” I said through my pain and fear. His fingernails bit into my skin, and I attempted to twist my arms out of his grip, hoping it would scrape me hard enough to draw blood.

He snarled again and darted in toward my neck.

I screamed, giving him one of the things he wanted.

The door crashed open behind him, and he was ripped away from me but not before I felt his tongue and teeth on my skin. Snarls and growls filled the room. Something hit me from the side, and I crashed onto the bed.

When I sat up again, only Shepard remained in the room. His shirt was torn and bloody as he faced the door.

Something about the way he stood there, his chest heaving while radiating anger, called to me. I wanted to go to him. To comfort him.

Give in to your hidden desires…

I was halfway across the mattress when he turned toward me. His intense grey gaze met and held mine. I felt it all the way through me, like a seductive caress.

“Are you hurt?” he asked roughly.

“No.”

His gaze drifted to my neck where I could still feel the rasp of Master’s teeth.

“I can smell him on you, Everly.”

“And you don’t like it when I smell like someone else,” I said.

Some of the anger in his stance melted away as he frowned at me.

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