Page 5 of The Rise of Saint (The Sins of Saint 1)

Pressure crushed my chest, a strong scent of musk blasting around me.

“Jesus. Can I knock her out?”

“Do you want Saint to kill you?”

“Just hurry the fuck up.”

More pressure, my body being forced deeper into the mattress while hands continued to rush across my skin. The more I felt the unfamiliar touch, the more I started to grasp my senses, slowly gaining control.

The flashes stopped, and suddenly everything happening around me began to click into place. A man was holding me down, the woman trying to undress me.

“Stop!” I cried. “Let me go.” With the kind of strength I never knew I had, I jerked free and slammed my fist into the woman’s face, sending her stumbling back, falling on her ass.

“Jesus Christ, woman.” The man grabbed both my arms, wrapping his hands around my wrists, pulling me down on the bed.

I kicked, screamed, thrashed, clawed, tried everything in my power to break free.

“Let her go.”

My head jerked in the direction of the woman whose lip I just busted.

“Let her go, James.” She got up from the floor, nursing her busted lip with a gentle hand.

“You sure? This bitch is feisty.”

“Yeah.” She nodded, pinning a glare at me. “She won’t run.”

“Like fuck I won’t.”

She stepped closer. “Where will you run to? You have nowhere to go.”

I clenched my jaw. “You don’t know me.”

“Trust me, I know more than you can imagine.” She looked at James, who still clutched my wrists tightly together. “Let her go.” Even I could see the warning in her dark eyes.

Abruptly, he let go, raising his arms in the air. “If she runs, it’s on you.”

Her gaze snapped back to mine. “She won’t run…will you, Mila?”

Even with the hard look in her eyes, her voice was calm and soft. One would think after I almost broke her nose, she’d be a little more pissed.

I shot upright and moved toward the headboard of the bed, watching as her tall, slender frame came closer.

“My name is Elena.”

I didn’t respond.

“I can imagine you’re confused right now.”

“I just saw my friend murdered right in front of me, and now I’m being kidnapped by a man I don’t know. Confused is not a strong enough word.”

She stepped right up next to me. “Right now, we don’t have a lot of time, but I can promise you that no matter what you try to do, or how hard you fight, it will change nothing. Things have been put into motion, and there is no stopping it now.”

“What things?”

“Things you won’t understand. At least not right now.”

I wiped at my cheek with the back of my hand. “Sounds like you’re asking me to trust you.”

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