Page 22 of Infernal

He wiped his nose with the sleeve of his jacket and then smiled at me. “I let you have that one.”

“How nice of you,” I said as I threw another fist at his face.

This time, he caught my hand and used it to pull me into him. “The first one was free. You’re going to have to work harder than this for the next one.”

“Not a problem,” I said and then rammed my knee all the way up into his crown jewels.

He dropped to his knees with a savage growl. I stood there for a moment, basking in the sight of my handy work. My enjoyment was quickly squashed by the sound of his fangs clicking out.

Shit.

He was pissed.

Time to run.

My feet slapped against the concrete road as I barreled for the woods. It was useless, really, I knew I couldn’t outrun him, but I gave it my all anyway. I barely made it to the brushwood along the side of the road before I felt his body slam into mine from the back. I faceplanted into the grass as the air swooshed out of my lungs.

“Get off me!” I yelled as he turned me over, my body still trapped beneath him.

“I think you’ve had enough fun for one evening,” he said, his face so close to mine that I could almost feel his lips on me when he spoke. “Now get in the car,” he repeated, this time without giving me the option.

Damn it.

I had no choice but to obey his command, but I didn’t have to be happy about it.

Glaring at him, I pushed him off of me and then wrangled myself back to my feet. He was right there behind me as I walked myself back to his car and climbed into his black Audi—against my will. He slammed the door shut and walked around the car to the driver’s seat.

My hands were still tremoring from the adrenaline rush as I yanked at the seatbelt and ran through all the different ways this thing could go bad. If he wiped Taylor’s memory and sent her away, obviously he had nefarious intentions. Then again, this was Dominic Huntington. His intentions were always nefarious.

“How did you know where I was?”

“I have a tracker on your phone,” he announced without shame.

“A tracker? Seriously? You know that’s illegal, right? I’m not your kid, asshole!”

Dominic didn’t pay me any attention as he pulled out his cell phone and made a call. “It’s me. I have her.” Tossing the phone onto the dashboard, he put the car in drive and fishtailed onto the moonlit road.

“Who was that? And where the hell are you taking me?” I asked as I rolled down the window and chucked my phone onto the side of the road.

That’ll teach him to put a tracker on my phone.

“That was Gabriel, and I’m taking you back to the manor. Where else would I be taking you?” He looked over and inspected me. “I knew you were susceptible to mind games, angel, but this is just embarrassing.”

I glowered at him. “Bite me, Dominic.”

“I’d love to, angel.” A smirk curled the corner of his lips. “Just tell me where and when, and how hard.”

Was he seriously making lewd remarks right now? Obviously, his debauchery knew no bounds.

His eyes lingered on me for another moment. “Please tell me you didn’t believe that nonsense back at All Saints?”

I refused to confirm or deny the fact that he had me going for a good minute.

“He was lying, angel. Every word of it.”

“I know.” I didn’t meet his eyes when I said, “I realized it about two secondsafterit was too late.”

“Then why are you—?” He looked at me again, carefully appraising my features. “Did he hurt you?” he asked, his jaw muscle feathered with obvious tension.

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