Page 17 of Cruelly Bitten

I stared down at the back of her head, my brow furrowing even more. The notion of ending her before tasting her left me uneasy. She felt so good beneath me. Soright.

Her tight little ass was pressed to my groin where I had her pinned to the bed, her slender wrists delicate joints beneath my palms as I held her arms over her head.So breakable.

And yet, she’d fought me with the spirit of a vampire. She’d just lacked the strength and speed necessary to take me down. However, each movement had been fluid and displayed evidence of her training.

Who taught her how to move like that?I wondered.Me? Her brother? Another man?

A growl taunted my throat at that last thought.It better not have been another man.This female wasmine. My blood kept her alive. My essence thrived through her veins. My very being was tied to hers.

I could slaughter her almost as quickly as I’d made her.

But right now, I didn’t want to kill her. I wanted to… to figure out why she was acting this way. Why she’d thought I wasn’t real. Why she’d fought me.Why she’s so still beneath me now…

It was as though she was barely breathing.

She still had her face pressed into the pillows, her body entirely unmoving.

The scent of terror wafted off her in an alluring wave that should have made me eager to fuck her, yet something about it all felt off.Wrong.

What the hell is going on?

I’d been hell-bent on destroying her when I’d walked in here, my cock rigid with the need tofuck. I’d been so damnhungryfor this female, so intent on teaching her a lesson, on making her heel. But I was just as frozen as she was right now.

Stop this idiocy,I told myself with an inner growl.Just use her the way she’s intended to be used and be done with it.

My thumbs skimmed her wrists as I fought my instincts, my inner beast growling in defiance as I forced myself to move the way I should.

She remained absolutely still while my hands slid down her arms, memorizing the silky texture of her skin all the way up to her shoulders. I sat up more fully, allowing myself a full view of her bare back. It was so much more beautiful now that she was breathing again.

Shewas more beautiful this way.

Alive. Pliant.Mine.

A possessive rumble reverberated in my chest, one driven by the predator within me. Only it sounded wrong. Too deep. Too territorial. Too…angry.

It caused the female beneath me to shiver in response. Goose bumps prickled along her previously smooth skin, and the scent of terror washed over me again. Except this time it was mingledwith something else. Something even more potent. Something… I strongly disliked—despair.

Not arousal.

Not excitement.

But true anguish.

I should revel in that scent, force her to scream, and devour her pain. Yet nothing about her distress enticed me. Itrepelledme.

This isn’t the way we play, I realized with a frown.Or is this just a result of her rebirth?

Her words echoed through my mind again.

“I’ve never died before.”

Maybe she just needed more time to heal.

Or maybe time had destroyed whatever had previously existed between us.

I shook my head.Why am I wasting my thoughts on this? She’s nothing. Just a broken toy.

And obviously no longer of use to me since I was more revolted by her than turned on now.