Page 84 of Stalk the Dark
“That’s right, Orina. I can make you feel…” His voice was thick with desire, but there was a rasp to it too, a sound that my ordained ass recognized as hunger. I was in the arms of one of the most ancient, seductive predators in the world, and he wanted my blood.
Focus. Breathe. Say it. Fucking say it. “Let me go.” The words came out as an uncertain whisper.
“You don’t mean that.” He pinched my nipple, and I moaned. I fucking moaned like a hussy.
Fuck. I pushed back against him, my ass rubbing the base of his cock, long and thick against my spine.
His growl reverberated through me, and primal fear tightened my lungs, desire warring with the innate need to flee.
This wasn’t me. This washim. He was making me feel these things. An icy fist formed in my chest. I had to fight it. Fight him, but it was as if I was drowning in him, in the echo of his words and the sensations of his body pressed to mine, and all I could do was claw at the air to try and get to the surface.
“No…I said no. I donotconsent, and where I come from, that’s all that matters.”
“You’re in my world now, Orina. In my castle, and I’m fucking hungry so take. It. Off.”
Myhand went to the amulet, trembling with the effort of fighting his command. I was losing, too weak to resist him. He’d have me, my blood and my body, and I’d let him. I’d let him take my blessing, and then I’d be done. Used up. Useless. Everything I’d worked for lost.
“Are you afraid, little silver? Finally…” He ran his nose up my neck, taking long drags of my scent. “The blood is sweeter this way. Always…”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“No…you’re afraid of yourself. Of your dark desires. Of what you’ll allow me to do to you. So many things…anything I want…” He licked me, and my pussy throbbed while my mind screamed in horror.
No! I couldn’t have this. Wouldn’t allow this. Gathering the final vestiges of my will, I took a deep breath and let it out in a scream. “Hemlock!”
My fingers closed on the chain of my amulet, ready to yank it off, lips ready to give consent, just as my door flew open.
Hemlock stood framed in the doorway, bare chest heaving as he took in the scene.
Ezekiel tensed, his grip on me so tight I was sure it would bruise. “Mine,” he hissed, the voice bestial and guttural.
Oh God. He was going to kill me. Right here. Right now, in front of Hemlock.
Hemlock glanced at my hand, wrapped around mychain as I fought against the urge to pull it off, then slowly lifted his gaze to my tormentor.
“Ezekiel Tepes.” He walked farther into the room. “I invoke the rite of sanctuary within your walls. For myself, my brother, and our charge Miss Orina Lighthart.”
Ezekiel let out an inhuman snarl and released me as if he’d been burned. I sagged like a puppet whose strings had been cut, but Hemlock caught me, tucking me under his arm, tight against his side.
Ezekiel stood at the door, his back to us. “Well played, Mr. Singer.” He sounded normal now, tone clipped and cool and…relieved? “Good night, Miss Lighthart.”
He vanished, and the sob that had been trapped in my throat broke free as the full potential of what could have happened hit me like a fist to the gut. I exhaled then gasped, choking on another sob.
Hemlock held me, stroking my back and whispering soothing words that I could barely hear over the pounding of blood in my head. When I finally calmed down, he led me to the bed and asked me to sit before crouching in front of me.
“He can’t hurt you now. You’ll be safe. We should have invoked the rite the last time we were here, but neither Ordell nor I considered that he might become…fixated on you. But tasting your blood seems to have done just that.”
He’d tried to coerce me. To make me want him. Hemight as well have tried to drug me. “I hate him. He’s disgusting.”
“I know, but hating him is a waste of time. Would you hate a panther or a shark for craving the hunt? Ezekiel is a predator, no matter the pretty packaging, and predators don’t ask permission before taking what they need. In this case blood.”
“He wanted more than blood. He said…” I couldn’t bring myself to repeat the disgusting things he’d said because the shame of how those words had affected me was too much. “He wanted to have sex with me.”
Hemlock blinked sharply. “He said that?”
I couldn’t bring myself to look at Hemlock, keeping my eyes downcast in case he saw the truth, the fact that in the moment I’d wanted it. “Yes, but not as politely.”
He lightly touched the amulet around my neck, the twin to the one hanging around his. “You were about to remove it?”
