Page 2 of Claimed

Three seconds at the most.

His bloody hands—warm and slick—roamed over me.

Possessively.

Roughly.

Leaving traces of crimson against my dark brown skin.

Each touch ignited a storm inside me.

Fear threaded through my veins, but so did an exhilarating thrill.

Was this madness or fate?

They called him the Devil of Shadows, and I believed them, because he explored me, sinfully, as if he couldn't get enough of feeling me beneath his fingers, as if he wanted to tear my flesh apart just to touch my insides—the very core of my being.

And God help me. . .I would let him.

I would let the Devil unravel me.

I would let him cut me up and caress every vein, every organ.

Touch my heart.

My soul.

As if he heard those twisted thoughts, he groaned, “Say my name, Princess.”

“Gianni.”

“Good girl.”

But would he be the death of me?

Chapter one

The Vampire Queen

Earlier That Day

The velvet curtain rose, triggering the audience in front of me to go silent.

There I stood, center stage as the Queen of Vampires—a regal, terrifying creature of the night brought to life by an unsuspecting, yet gorgeous human male.

My black silk costume shimmered with rubies. It was meant to appear like sparkling blood dripping all over me. The bodice was tight and adorned with lacework of sinister, black thorns. The flared skirt billowed around me, a swirl of rubies and silk.

Crimson ballet pointe shoes covered my feet, matching the blood-like detail of my costume. The ribbons winding up my ankles were deep scarlet.

The orchestra began playing my haunting theme song—low foreboding drums and violins violently screeching.

And although I’d heard it many times over and over when we rehearsed this ballet, the notes still delivered shivers down my spine.

Surely, the audience experienced the same terrifying sensation because they sat frozen in their seats with their eyes glued to the stage.

Every face held an expression of awe and terror.

Also on the stage and ten feet in front of me, that gorgeous, unsuspecting human male stared at me in horror, unsure of what he had done when he’d yanked the gold sword out of my tomb’s door and woken me up.