Page 26 of Spider Demon's Kiss

Before this moment, I could never have imagined a husband truly being a part of my life. But that was what I wanted. It had always been what I wanted. I had never let myself acknowledge it before, but that was the version of my life that was worth fighting for.

With a new focus, I reached behind me and grabbed the apron string. Pulling it just enough, I was able to twist throwing him off balance. With the apron string loosening more, I yanked him towards me, grabbed his dress, and tossed him over my head.

Rolling forward, he didn’t stop until he was again on his feet. But he was faced the other way. This was my chance. Struggling for air, I shot to my feet and dove for his waist.

The man wasn’t a spider, he was a cat. Twisting around as I caught him, I half expected to feel a knife sever the carotid artery in my neck.

Alive for another second, I let instincts take over. Disabling him, I spun and threw his shoulder onto the ground. It startled him. It was enough for me to wrap my large hands around his skull. Knowing this was life or death, I slammed it against the floor.

That stunned him. Rolling on top of him, I wrapped my hands around his throat and tightened my grip. I could see the life slip out of him. His was such a beautiful face. The sharp cheekbones, prominent eyebrows, silky brown complexion. What was I doing?

Catching myself as I saw blood below his nose, I eased back without letting go. Where was he bleeding? Even now my desire to protect him was strong.

‘Oh shit, it’s coming from me. And it’s gushing.’

It looked like Kuroi didn’t need to strangle me. He had opened a gash big enough on my head that given enough time, I would bleed out.

“You crazy fuck,” I said letting him go and grabbing my skull.

“How would you know?” he coughed out.

“What?” I asked confused if he was flirting with me or questioning my judgement.

Not taking my eyes off of him, I stumbled to my feet and applied pressure to my head waiting for the elevator. When it arrived, I backed in, stared into his intense eyes, and waited for the doors to close.

Safe, I knew what I had to do. I either needed to shift or get help. Considering how much blood I was losing, shifting wouldn’t be an automatic fix. I was bleeding a lot. And if the shifting didn’t fully heal me, I would be a bleeding wolf with nowhere to go and no way to get there.

Feeling weaker with every passing second, I decided the better plan would be to get help. I couldn’t stick around here because if my psycho husband decided to take a second whack at me, there would be nothing I could do but die.

“Mr. Ricci, are you alright?” the lobby attendant asked as I rushed past him.

“I’m fine.”

“Do you need me call someone?”

“No!” I ordered making sure he saw the look in my eyes.

It worked. At least I hoped it did. Looking down, my clothes were beginning to look like I went to prom in a horror movie. I had to get out of here. I needed to get into my car and get to the one place I knew I would be safe.

Approaching Lorenzo’s apartment, I found a spot on the sidewalk to park and shut off the engine. I’m not gonna lie to you. I probably shouldn’t have made it. I was seeing double of everything on the drive over and it was a miracle that I kept choosing the right car to ignore.

Pulling out my phone I found Lorenzo’s name and called.

“What’s up, Dante?” Lorenzo asked a little confused.

“I’m downstairs. Bring your kit. Someone got me good.”

“Coming down now,” he said again proving that he was the one person I could count on.

Feeling my vision dip in an out, it felt like forever before I saw my brother and my car door opened.

“Shit! What happened?” he asked reaching for my head instead of waiting for an answer.

“I fell,” I mumbled.

“Right,” he chuckled. “And how’s married life?”

“Peachy,” I replied before the sting of alcohol sent shockwaves across my face.

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