Page 5 of Hunt the Dusk
He laughed roughly and cruelly and gave me what I wanted, grinding into me through layers of restrictive clothing while I screamed at him to stop, to not stop, to fuck himself, to fuck me.
The small part of me, detached from the scene, ordered me to stop. To get a grip. That this wasn’t the way. That this wasn’t who we were.
But I was lost beneath waves of sensation and emotions that tangled and writhed together until they made no sense.
His breath kissed my cheek then my ear, filling my head with words. Whispering wicked, dirty things that spoke to the selfish darkness inside me.
I’d come back too soon.
Been forced back by him. The murderer.
Agatha. Sweet Agatha and all the rest. All the fucking rest.
Icy claws dug into my arm, tearing at the blessed mark that never failed to ground me, and pain shocked me out of the dark grip of fury. I surfaced on a gasp and forced my body to still. To calm.
He froze above me, pulling back to look down at me, golden eyes like fire blazing around inky dark pupils. “Well, hello there.”
“Get off me.”
He obliged instantly, slipping back into his seat by the dresser and picking up his silver goblet.
I took a moment to gather my wits before pulling myself up. “Why did you bring me here?” My voice was dry and raspy from all the screaming, and my pulse beat hard against my skin.
Ezekiel sipped from the goblet, the liquid staining his lips a deep scarlet for a beat before sinking into his skin. “It seems that you’ve forgotten your way home.”
Home? I swallowed the bitter fury attempting to crawl up my throat. “Thisisn’tmy home.”
“It is if I say that it is. Besides, we had a deal. You were to stay here. There are those that wish me harm, and thus would do you harm in order to get to me.”
“Spare me the bullshit. This isn’t about me. It’s about you. You want me here so that I can protect you.”
“I can protect myself just fine, Miss Lighthart.”
“Like you did at the Exciatio? Or have you conveniently forgotten who saved your ass by donating her blood?”
“Which is the only reason I haven’t had you flayed for your many insubordinations.”
“Insubord…What thefuckare you talking about?”
“You disrupted the entertainment at my party. Caused a scene, then fled.”
Ascene?Entertainment? Rage threatened to choke me, but letting it in would be opening the door to dark emotions that I wasn’t sure I could control. “You killed innocent women. You killed my friend.” I climbed off the bed, balling my hands into fists and locking my knees to stop myself from flying at him again. Instead, I paused to breathe. To calm my racing pulse into something steady and reliable. “It’s my fault. I wanted to see good in you. Ineededto see it to make my job easier. But I was wrong. You showed me good and proper how wrong.” I blinked back angry tears. “I’m done pretending. I’m done playing games. I’ll stay in Dracul territory, and I’ll do my job in protecting the innocent people from the monster in their midst the best I can. But the last place I want to be is anywhere near you. You make me si?—”
His hand was around my throat, his body vibrating with the lethal intention before I’d finished. “Let’s get one thing straight, Miss Lighthart. I don’t give a fuck what you want or what you think. Yourfeelingsdon’t matter to me. You’ll stay here, in my castle, becauseIsay so. BecauseIwill it.”
I glared up at him, eyeballs sizzling. “No.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said no.”
“Iwasn’tasking.”
Blessed wrath bloomed in my veins, spilling through my blood like ribbons of warm honey. “I don’t belong to you. I belong to the fucking Order.” The markings on my arm tingled, and I didn’t have to look at them to know that they were glowing, while the amulet around my neck stained my skin with heat. Ezekiel’s gaze flicked to my arm, then back to my face. “You can’t kill me, Ezekiel. Hurt me if you want, I don’t give a shit, but you can’t control me. Try to, and I’ll fight you. I’ll fight you every step of the way, and trust me when I say I can be fucking exhausting. So you have a choice. You can either lock me in your dungeon and throw away the key or back the fuck off and let me do my job.Myway.”
His eyes flinched, and his grip on me tightened a fraction, but I held his gaze, defiant in my indignant rage.
Finally, he snorted softly and released me. “You’re no use to me locked in a dungeon.”
