Page 88 of Touched By Darkness

That gets my back up, and I glare at him until he seizes my chin in a tight grip.

“Show me your fucking fire.”

“Or else?”

His grip tightens, and he digs his calloused fingers into my cheeks until I’m sure I’ll bruise from his punishing touch.

Despite that, I want more.

I crave more.

His wings part the air as they erupt behind him. “Or else I’ll have no choice but to teach you a lesson.”

I snort, then push past him, but he grabs my arm and pulls me right back. It’s not gentle in the slightest. The wind gets knocked out of me when my back connects with the tree. I’m reminded of how uncut Daemon is.

How unapologetic, rough, and unrefined he can be when he wants something.

“What will it take to lure your monster to the surface?” he whispers, brushing his thumb over my bottom lip.

His question takes me by surprise.

So much so that my lips part, and he dips his thumb inside.

“Come out to play.”

His dark gaze intensifies, burning through every layer until my shaky exhale is his to command.

His to leash and tame.

To wrangle into submission.

I bite down, and his thumb retreats. “What are you doing, Daemon?”

“Is it triggered by the fear in others?”

Terrified sobs steal my attention as Alaric and Ronan drag a crying human across the grass.

“Daemon?” The tremble in my voice causes his lips to pull back into a cold smile.

“What can I say? I’m curious about you and what makes you tick.”

My attention snaps back to him when he wraps his hand around my throat in a possessive grip. With his eyes on me, he says to Ronan, “Hurt the human.”

“What? No!” I blurt, but he slams his other hand over my mouth and shushes me. I try to avert my gaze and look anywhere but at the scene in front of me, but Daemon’s grip on my throat tightens until I whimper with pain.

“You’ll watch.”

Despite his instructions, my eyes slam closed as Ronan shoves the man to his knees, grips his arm, and snaps it.

The sound of the bone breaking and the man’s pained cry tears at my splintering heart.

I pant through my nostrils while desperately trying to wrangle the darkness that crawls across the grass like a pale demon with twisted limbs and rotten flesh.

Closer and closer it crawls.

“Watch,” Daemon whispers, his breath teasing my ear.

More broken bones.

---