Page 62 of Saving Her Vampire

“Why did you?” I ask instead. My answer would no doubt anger him.

“I missed you. I wanted to catch you alone, but you were always with a man.” He glares. “I was determined to give you time to adjust to my love, but I sped up the timeline once you decided to be with a vampire,” he spits.

“You don’t have him,” I state.

“No, I had to use his brainwashing on you to bring you to me,” he says proudly. “I admire your loyalty, but that’s done now. You are going to be loyal to me.”

“I don’t understand. Why?” I ask hesitantly.

“I knew you before all this. I went to high school with you,” he says.

“What?” I ask weakly. He doesn’t look familiar.

“I looked a little different then. I was skinny. I’ve had some work done since then,” he shrugs. “My name is Sammy. Well, you might remember me as Samuel Genkins.”

My mouth drops open. In horror, I realized he was at my childhood home; he had talked to my mom. He’s right—he doesn’t look the same. I was consumed with my problems in school; I barely noticed the small quiet nerd in the corner. I would always feel his eyes on me, but he never said anything to me. “Samuel, you do look different,” I say carefully. His face is angular, whereas in school, it was round. He had blue eyes, not green, and dark brown hair.

“I had to change to be better,” he explains. He rests his hand on my waist and my stomach rolls. “I want to be better for you.”

“You don’t know me,” I say without thinking.

“I do! I’ve been waiting for you,” he yells. He raises his hand, I flinch, and his eyes fill with rage. “You dare to think the worst of me?” His hand encircles my throat, pressing. “I swore I would be good to you, that I would be better than I was with the others. But you are forcing me to be rough. I suppose you like it rough now since you’ve been with that hateful vampire.”

I gasp for breath, and it brings him out of his rage. His face clears, and he relaxes his hands but doesn’t remove them. “What do you want?” I rasp.

“That’s easy. You.” He blinks innocently. One of his hands caresses down my chest between my breasts and stops at my hip; my skin crawls. “I want you to love me as I love you. I know it will take time, but I hope I'll be able to release you within a few months of breaking you in. After that, we can live as any other couple.”

A couple of months? My heart pounds harshly as the fear comes back. “I want to go home,” I whimper. The ropes burn my wrists as I pull harshly. The things he will be able to do to me overwhelms me. His fist comes swift and brutal. I cry out, and my head jerks to the side.

“This is your home,” he hisses in my ear. He rolls his forehead back and forth across my cheek, his hair rubbing my skin. “I promise if you are good, I won’t have to hurt you. I am not a monster.” His hot breath skates across the developing bruise he gave me.

Tears sting my eyes. “That’s what all the real monsters say.”

Chapter Sixteen

Bash

“I don’t think he knows anything,” Ryker’s dry voice cuts through my concentration.

I followed the bartender that worked at the club. I was sure he had to know something, so I brought him to the warehouse Ryker uses for these kinds of interrogations. He hangs from the chains we use for difficult people. I’ve been playing with him. I discovered some of the distasteful habits he has. A particular one that displeases me greatly is forcing drugs on his dates and taking advantage of them.

“He’s holding out on me,” I growl.

“He’s not,” Ryker says. “You delved into his mind. You know he can’t lie when he’s under your control.”

“I need more time with him,” I say. I don’t want to admit that he is right.

“I agree that he needs to be disposed of, but you are wasting time. Why?” Ryker walks calmly to face me. He doesn’t blink at the blood that pours from the bartender’s chest.

“I could have gotten in front of this if she had told me sooner,” I confess. It was hard to hold onto my anger last night. Seeing my mate in that state, her tempting mouth speaking about me.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do. She should have come to me. She should have trusted me,” I say, hurt.

“Oh.” He nods knowingly. “You expected her to run to you for protection.”

“I wanted her to trust me,” I say harshly.

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