Page 16 of Bite of Passage
“Good for you,” Gemma said out loud.Pride swelled her chest.She’d done that.
“That doesn’t mean they’re all without merit,” Serish pointed out.“It’s been two weeks since you’ve left the castle.”
Two weeks?It had been a day for her.
He leaned further back in the tub.“Would it hurt them to ask nicely?It’s not their asses that’ll be on the line.”
“These pay well.We could use the money to fix the roof on the south tower.You want me to reply and ask that they rephrase their requests using polite words?”
The vampire’s lips lifted with a hint of a smile, although he didn’t open his eyelids.“I’ll look at them later.”
“You’re cranky.Maybe you need another juice cleanse.”Serish plucked at his left ear.“Maybe this time I’ll?—”
“Serve me that shit again and I’ll shove it up your ass.”
Gemma giggled.
“I admit it didn’t go well last time.”Serish shook his head.“You need blood.It’s been too long.I’ll go order you a steak from the cook.”He left.
“Gemma.”
She shot to a stand, heart hammering against her rib cage.That voice had been in her apartment.
Inside.Her.Apartment.
It hadn’t been Skarde or on the TV.Someone was in here with her.
Dread slithered across her shoulders.She recognized the male voice.How had Dr.Dylan Myerson gotten in?This confirmed her suspicion he hadn’t only been torturing her at work, but had also begun stalking her.
She couldn’t make it to the front door.She had no weapons.The phone was too far away on the kitchen counter.
Dylan emerged from the shadows of her bedroom and moved to block her from exiting out her front door.He let out a kind of cackling laugh—head back, launching the sound upward.It came out like a crazed moon howl.He tugged at the chest hair near his collarbone so that bits of skin attached to each follicle pulled up, a strange nervous habit he’d done repeatedly on their date.
She let loose a high-pitched scream while backing toward the TV as if Skarde might save her.A lot of ifs in that hope—if the magic came alive, if he decided it was worth getting out of his bath to help her, and if he could even come through from his side to hers.She could try to go to his side.All she needed was a few steps to get near the screen.
“Stop that noise.”Dylan stalked toward her with a switchblade in his left hand.
Her scream kicked up a notch.With one finger on the TV she felt the screen give, which meant the doorway was open.Why wasn’t it sucking her into it?
“Babe, this won’t do.”Dylan backhanded her.The momentum threw her away from the TV.Her shoulder struck the coffee table.The wood didn’t give.She’d chosen the piece because it was solid, which meant there was no leeway when she landed against it.She rolled, clutching her shoulder.
Dylan pushed her flat to the floor with a knee on her chest.He duct-taped her mouth shut.
Can’t breathe.
She struggled to get him off.
He slammed his knee into her again.Stunned, she stilled.
After a repeat of the cackling noise he said, “Much better.That screech was annoying.”He glanced at the TV.“This is perfect.You’ll learn what it’s like to be with a real man while watching a fake one.”
* * *
Skarde launched himself out of the bath, tugged on pants, and had a blade in hand within seconds of the woman’s scream.For fourteen days, he’d waited, dreaming of Gemma, agonizing that he’d scared her away with his threat.In his gut, he knew her magic wasn’t done with him yet.
That had been a woman’s scream.It had to be her.
His breaths came in short gasps.Tension squeezed his stomach.
