Page 65 of The Huntress

“Your lack of appropriate fear and respect will change, my sweet.”

He clothed himself, for which she was grateful. She hadn’t liked his looming nudity nor his apparent arousal.

She trembled, praying Gabe would return, hoping she could clothe herself as well. Her gaze darted around the room, searching for any discarded garment. For once, she wished Gabe hadn’t made her clothing evaporate in the throes of their last heated embrace.

“Soon you will be, shall we say, not yourself?” Darius arched a brow. His gaze traveled the shape of her emphasized by the thin sheet. “Nausea in the pit of your stomach? Sharp pains? A strange fluttering sensation in your chest, as if your heart is palpitating?”

Shewasfeeling all those things. She frowned, not liking that he was correct and had trapped her. A violent shudder racked her body as pins and needles pierced her eyes. She cried out, releasing the sheet to grab her face. It didn’t ease the onslaught, only worsened it. Agony tore through her abdomen, like the many gunshot wounds she’d experienced. She screamed, coiling into a fetal position on the bed, whimpering Gabe’s name, needing him.

What could she do?

Leo!She called to him, hoping to somehow reach him. She didn’t know what she was doing, how to communicate with her mind, but she was desperate.

With the pain crippling her, she couldn’t fight Darius. Helpless to stop him, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Fresh agony lanced through her, the smell of him pooling bile in her mouth, coating her tongue. She gagged.

Leo, you damn suckblood! Help me, please! Kidnapping is a thing even in your stupid culture.

The floor rushed past, and she shut her eyes, fighting the dizziness. The swaying motion of Darius’s gait had her throwing up, and she hoped it was all down his jeans.

Weakness assailed her next, and with her remaining strength, she pressed and held a button on her smartwatch to send a distress signal. Darius had fucked with the wrong woman. She was Gabe’s fiancé. But more than this, she was a police detective. They protected and avenged their own. He’d pissed off Gabe and Barrows, and she almost pitied him when either one found her.

“Fuck you, Darius,” she shouted.

“Oh, yes please,” he chuckled. “As your sire, you’ll have to obey me. You’ll be sucking my cock soon, my pretty.”

“If you want it bitten off, then, by all means, let me near it.” She dry-heaved, ruining the effect of her words. The pain still searing her eye sockets had her squeezing them shut. “Besides, I’ve seen better on a human.” She wasn’t willing to let him win even something so insignificant as trading insults.

Cold night air greeted her, drenching her in waves of ice. Goosebumps rippled along her skin, puckering her nipples to hard points.

He patted her bare backside, his fingers dipping in where they had no right to. Fresh nausea hit her, and she dry-heaved again. She clenched her thighs together, but he only dug his fingernails in until she whimpered, forcing her to relax her muscles. He didn’t stroke her, though, merely kept his intruding fingers there as if he proved his point—she was at his mercy.

He burst into a run, and the dizziness doubled in strength, making her call forth a deep moan.

“Gabe will find me,” she mumbled.

As another shard of pain and a reactive scream tore through her, she hoped she was right.

She had to believe Gabewouldfind her because she couldn’t handle the alternative.

Chapter Twenty-Four

DESOLATION

“Whatdoyoumean,she’s gone?” Gabriel rose from his chair in one swift movement.

Leo’s serious and concerned expression conveyed an urgency Gabriel could not ignore.

“I heard my name, and only when she insulted me did I realize who called to me. Like I said—the Devereaux sisters are maddening.”

“I don’t give a fuck about that. Are you saying someone would dare…”

Icy fear gripped his heart, and he bolted. Dissolving into a mist was out of the question with his unstable thoughts and emotions. So he ran. The wind whipped his hair, deafening his hearing, but it didn’t matter. He doubted he’d ever run this fast, which was why he burst through his door instead of stopping in time. It hung in pieces off its hinges.

He drew to a halt once he reached their bedroom. It was devoid of her radiance, her life essence, the joy that migrated to him when he was in her presence. The blood-splattered sheet lay discarded on the floor, as if pointing in the direction she’d gone. Crumpling to his knees, he gathered the sheet in his trembling hands and buried his face in it. Her scent engulfed him, and he inhaled, drawing it deep within him.

“Darius,” Leo said from behind him, startling Gabriel.

He hadn’t sensed the man had followed since his duty was to guard Syl. He valued Leo’s skills, and therefore would not protest his company.

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