Page 30 of Sweet Nightmares
Nightmare froze, hovering above his meal like an animal on alert. He was listening for something, feeling for something.
But what?
He didn’t turn his head, but she saw his gaze lock on her out of the corner of his eye.
Was he asking for permission? Did he think she didn’t want this?
“Alexei,” she whispered in a raspy, broken voice. Nightmare’s head slowly turned to her, his demeanor a pit of black cruelty. “Please, kill him for me.”
It was fitting that these were the first words she’d spoken to him in months. A request that might help mend their broken relationship.
His lips curled into a slow smile. “It would be my greatest pleasure.”
Draculei, Lord of Nightmares, placed a hand on either side of her husband’s face and squeezed. Like popping a grape, her husband’s head burst. Blood, brain, and skull fragments exploded into the room, covering both Jane and Nightmare in a waterfall of death.
She inhaled sharply, tasting her husband on her tongue. She had never enjoyed tasting him, but tonight was the exception.
Chapter Eleven
Age 24.
Shock coiled around her body, and it felt like she was swimming in a sea of snakes. Reaching a hand up, she wiped her face. Chunks of flesh and blood came off, and she doubled over and vomited onto the floor. Then everything rushed back into her. The pain from the attack, the truth of her husband’s death, and a weariness that she couldn’t escape.
Her knees buckled, and she hit the ground hard. But within moments, she was no longer on the floor. She was in his arms. Warm. Safe. Gently, he set her on the couch as he knelt beside her, taking in all of her injuries and emotions.
He let out a low sound that might have been a hiss or maybe even a growl. It was hard to tell with him, and then he ran a thumb along her jaw and the bruises forming there from her husband’s fingers.
Jane sucked in breath at his touch, from pain and something else she couldn’t quite put a word to.
“I should kill you.” He ran his thumb along her jaw again as his second hand laced into her hair, both caressing and assessing.
Jane chewed her cheek for a long moment, matching his intensity. “You should.”
But he wouldn’t. They both knew it. He hadn’t saved her life just to take it now. Jane believed he would kill her one day, but she also thought it would be a long time from now. Because now, he needed her as his anchor. He had a plan that needed to be seen through. She would worry for her life when he finally got what he wanted.
And what he wanted was still maddeningly unclear.
“Heal,” Nightmare’s low voice commanded.
Jane’s skin, muscles, and bones tingled, stitching themselves back together. One command, and her body was better than ever. It was unsettling. But what came out of Nightmare’s mouth next was even more unsettling.
“How many men has he sold you to?”
Jane merely stared and swallowed. How had he known? Did he overhear what her husband had yelled while he was trying to kill her? He must have. But there was no way in all the heavens and hells that Jane was going to admit to the answer.
“How many men have violated you?”
A thick tear rolled down her face.
His voice turned soft. “How many, Jane?”
She swallowed past the lump in her throat, her chest tight and full of pain. “Seven.”
His eyes flashed. “Names.”
“No,” she breathed. “You’ll kill them.”
“Yes.” He ground his teeth together.
