Page 194 of Immortal Bastard

“Christian—”

His back slammed into the wall, shattering the glass displays as her scream was cut short. The immortal held her by the throat, jerking her off her feet.

“Move and I’ll snap her neck.”

Christian stilled, despite the compulsion holding him down. Delilah’s eyes watered and her legs kicked. “Let her go.”

“I think not.” He turned his face to Delilah and pressed his nose into her hair. “She’s fresh. I can always smell them right before they’re ready to be claimed, but nothing holds more of a challenge than a freshly bonded female. Yours?”

Christian seethed and bared his fangs. “I’ll kill you.”

The immortal laughed. “You’re no threat to me, boy. By my calculations, you’re still half a decade shy of three centuries old. You’re still wet behind the ears.”

Christian scowled, struggling to stand to no avail. Delilah’s panic was sapping his strength as he tried in vain to gentle her. Stay calm, pintura.

Hysteria poured from her thoughts as she struggled to breathe. Christian, what’s happening?

“You’re choking her!”

The male glanced dispassionately at Delilah, then dropped her to the floor. She gasped and coughed. Before she could run, the male fisted her hair and yanked her back. “You don’t know who I am, do you?”

She reached for a shard of glass and gasped when the male kicked it away. She fell forward to her hands and knees and he stepped on her fingers, crushing them into the shards on the floor. Delilah whimpered, and Christian struggled to break free of the forces holding him down.

“I won’t hesitate to take your fingers, girl.”

He’s reading your mind, pintura. Be careful of your thoughts. Don’t act hastily.

The male jerked Delilah to her feet, and she screamed. Christian growled and snapped, “What do you want?”

The male closed his eyes and sniffed Delilah’s throat. Christian’s claws elongated and his eyes dilated. He fought the forces that held him down, but the male was much older, his strength and control impenetrable

“I want what’s in her blood.” The studio light glinted against his long fangs, another marking of an aged immortal. Delilah whimpered, her tear-filled eyes watching Christian, and the male moved her hair to whisper in her ear, “You smell of a girl I once knew.” His jaw opened—

“No!” Christian bolted forward only to be hurled back, his body imprinting in the wall deep enough that the wooden studs broke his fall. Delilah screamed and Christian roared.

The male bit into her throat, tearing open her delicate skin and gripping her roughly as he fed. A ballistic rage took over Christian. The glass in the front windows exploded onto the street and the bulbs in the overhead lights shattered. The walls shook and furniture vibrated as he seethed with uncontainable fury.

“Get off of her!”

The male drew back, jaw open, Delilah’s blood coating his sharp fangs and tongue. His eyes rolled closed as he sighed. “There it is. I can taste her in your blood.” His eyes snapped to Christian and flashed, his pupils elongated like black diamonds. “What a curious turn of events.”

He sensed her intentions too late. No, Delilah!

She bit down on the male’s hand. The immortal roared and yanked her by the hair, hard enough to rip several strands from her scalp.

“Bitch!” The male jerked her head hard, snapping her neck and her body went limp.

Christian snarled, on his feet, fighting the compulsion that held him to the wall. “I’ll end you!”

The male hoisted Delilah’s limp body over his shoulder and watched him with sinister disregard as he struggled. “You’re weak, because a female raised you. It would have been merciful to drown you at birth. Believe me, I would have tried had I had the chance.”

Christian stilled. A shiver of disbelief thrummed through him before the truth rocked him to the core. The set of the male’s eyes and the cowlick of his hair reminded Christian of himself. He recalled Delilah’s greeting. Maddox. As in Cerberus Maddox. This male was his sire.

His blood chilled. Delilah was full of Christian’s blood which was replete with his mother’s unique plasma. “My mother…”

“I plan to hunt her, then I plan to kill her. Slowly.” He shifted Delilah’s limp body and opened the shattered door, his shoes scraping over the glass. “You can have your mate back once I find mine.” He looked into Christian’s murderous stare with cold indifference. “Get in my way, and I’ll return her to you in pieces.”

Christian hissed and lunged, but there was no breaking the invisible restraints that held him. His father was a rogue immortal, full of mortal blood and several centuries his senior. The veins in his neck and arms popped as he strained with all his might, baring his teeth. “You harm her, and I will personally burn you alive.”

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