Page 96 of Yearning For Her

A human with weaknesses.

The front door crashed open.

Eli started, and Willow took that moment to bite down hard on his bottom lip. His pained cry was cut short by a choked grunt when she rammed her knee up into his crotch. Her fist struck his jaw next, whipping his head to the side.

Flattening her hands on his chest, she shoved him away.

Eli stumbled backward and fell to the floor. Blood oozed from his lip as he doubled over, cupping his groin. “Fuck!”

With limbs trembling and chest heaving, Willow looked up to see Kian framed in her doorway.

Kian stared down at Eli, eyes blazing. With the morning light behind him, he seemed swathed in shadow—not an ethereal fae seducer, but a monster that had clawed its way out of darkness.

Her monster.

His gaze swung to her, not losing a shred of that intensity. Eli scrambled aside with another curse as Kian strode to Willow, nearly stepping on the fallen man. Despite the tension pulsing from him in withering waves, Kian’s fingers were gentle when he took hold of Willow’s chin and tilted her face toward his.

He brushed his thumb across her bottom lip. It came away smeared with blood. One corner of his mouth curled up as he said quietly, just for her, “My vicious little mortal…”

“Who the hell is this, Will?” Eli demanded, his voice strained as he got to his knees. “Is this him? You left me for him? This emo goth freak?”

Dipping his head, Kian pressed his lips to Willow’s, lingering briefly. That time was all she needed to eradicate the feel and taste of Eli’s unwanted attentions. Of his assault.

Kian withdrew slowly, running his tongue across his lips to wipe away a smudge of crimson. The light in his eyes had shifted, had narrowed and focused into that dangerous glint she’d seen only once before—when he’d fought Lachlan.

“Excuse me for a moment, Violet.” Kian turned his head aside, glanced at the bouquet Eli had set atop the couch backrest, and plucked a single rose from the bunch.

“You’re not in your right mind, Will.” Eli let out a heavy breath, moving with clear discomfort as he grabbed onto the couch and began to rise. “I get it. You’re hurt, I fucked up, and this…this is your way of getting back at me. Lesson learned, okay?”

Kian offered Willow one more smile. As he spun toward Eli, she saw that smile twist into a snarl.

Eli continued, “Maybe the emo guy should step out so we can ta—”

Kian’s boot struck Eli in the chest. The man fell back, hitting the floor so hard that he would’ve bounced were it not for Kian following through to plant that same boot on Eli’s throat.

Eyes bulging, Eli grasped Kian’s boot, clawed at his leg, and thrashed on the floor, but the incubus didn’t budge.

“You’ve nothing more to say,” Kian growled. “You had your chance. And after what you did to her, I should tear your fucking heart out of your chest and shove it down your throat.”

Eli’s struggles intensified, and his face turned red, but still, he couldn’t move Kian.

Willow gathered the hem of her blouse in her hands and clenched it, remaining silent.

Kian leaned forward, his shifting weight forcing a choked sound out of Eli. “You’ve no idea how tempted I am, Eli. You cannot fathom the humiliations you would endure, the suffering. To take your pathetic mind apart one thread at a time would be a delight to me. You have no idea what fucked up truly means. But I could show you, Eli.

“You deserve no less. You came here, to her home, and tried to force yourself upon her? Tried to claim what was never yours to begin with? She is mine. You were never even worthy of licking the shit off her heel. And it is only because of her compassion, because of her kindness, that I’m going to give you a last fucking chance to walk away. It’s only because she is too good to witness what I would do to you, and I’ll not have her waste a single fucking moment pitying the wretched husk you’d become before I was through.”

Kian bent closer to Eli. “You’re not going to come here again. You’re not going to try to contact her again. You’re going to forget she ever existed, because if you so much as think of Willow, I will find you and finish this for good. Understand?”

Eli nodded shallowly, unable to move his head any farther due to Kian’s boot.

When Kian lifted his foot, Eli sucked in a desperate, ragged breath and arched his back off the floor, clasping his throat. His respite was short lived.

Kian sank down, bracing his knee on Eli’s chest. He batted away Eli’s attempted blows with the same amount of effort one would’ve used to shoo a fly before grasping the man’s cheeks in one hand and squeezing.

“Also”—Kian twirled the rose between his fingers, turning the petals into a red blur—“sunflowers are her favorite.”

He shoved the bud into Eli’s mouth. Eli choked and fought, but his struggles were for nothing as the incubus twisted the flower and pressed it in more firmly. Tattered pieces of rose petal flew out with Eli’s harsh exhalation.

---