Page 21 of Cruelly Bitten

So why shouldn’t I?

“You’re not afraid of me,” the handsome monster marveled, his gaze turning curious. “You’re covered in the blood of four now-dead men—men I killed faster than you could blink—and your heart isn’t even racing.”

A growl underlined some of his words, the predator within him peeking out at me through his enlarged pupils. I traced the sharp cheekbone beneath one of his eyes, mesmerized by his beauty, his charisma, his lethal aura.

His fingers whispered up my spine to the back of my head, his gaze leaving mine as though inspecting me for an injury. Perhaps he was. Perhaps I was injured. Maybe even dead. I couldn’t explain the unnatural calmness I felt in his arms or why his presence soothed my spirit.

Maybe being around Damien and his friends had numbed me to predatory threats. There was no one more threatening than Damien’s friend Ryder. I suspected he was the one who had changed my brother into a blood-drinking beast. There was just something so incredibly old about him.

Similar to this being before me.

They both possessed ancient auras about them, their long lives evident in their gazes.

“Are you going to bite me?” I wondered aloud, likely proving even more that I had lost my mind. But I’d seen Damien do it once to a woman—one of the women in our village—and shehadn’t made it seem all that painful. In fact, she’d seemed to enjoy it quite a lot.

I hadn’t stayed to observe what exactly happened between them, but the woman had appeared to be in perfect health the next day.

Would this male bite me like that?My gaze dropped to his mouth.Do I want him to?

“Who are you?” the male asked on a breath, his gaze searching mine once more. “I only first caught your scent yesterday, but there’s clearly more to you than a delectable fragrance. Tell me your name, little swan.”

“Ismerelda,” I replied, the name seeming to slip from my tongue as though enchanted by his very words. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was true. I’d witnessed Damien compel that woman before biting her. That was what had drawn me forward to observe them, my need to understand what he was doing a compulsory pull inside me that had all but dragged me into the hallway to watch.

My father had always said my curiosity would get me killed someday.

It seemed he wasn’t wrong.

“Ismerelda,” the male repeated, his deep tones caressing the word and sending a delightful shiver down my spine. “I’m Cam.”

“Cam,” I echoed. “Are you going to bite me, Cam?” My voice held a breathy note to it that I should have been embarrassed by, but I couldn’t muster up the necessary intelligence to react. I was too focused on this monster of a man and those perfect lips.

“I am,” he promised. “I’ve been craving your taste since I scented you in the field yesterday. But I want to know how you know what I am.”

“I really don’t.” The admission fell from my mouth, similarly to my name. “But I think you might be like my brother.”

“Your brother?” His gaze swept over my face once more. “Who is your brother, little swan?”

“Damien,” I told him.

“Hmm, I don’t know a Damien. Perhaps I’m not like your brother at all.”

“No,” I agreed. “You’re more like Ryder.”

Recognition flickered through his features. “Ryder?” He glanced over me again, his gaze pausing briefly on my exposed chest before returning to my face. “Describe him.”

“Intimidating. Lethal. Dark hair. Matching eyes. Pale skin. Blood-drinking demon…” I trailed off as Cam’s nostrils flared.

In a blink, his hands were roaming over my body as he fixed my bodice and skirt, and suddenly I was already back in his arms, his movements too fast for my mind to even conceptualize before he finished. I wasn’t even sure how he’d held me in the air through all of it, but somehow he’d managed.

Because he’s not human,I reminded myself.Just like Damien and Ryder.

“You’re going to tell me everything you know, Ismerelda,” Cam informed me. “And in the interim, I’m going to reconsider what I had planned for you.”

“So no biting?” I’d asked, feeling oddly disappointed.

“That’ll depend entirely on you, little swan,” he’d replied. “Now start from the beginning.”

I’d felt compelled to tell him everything because he’d used his powers of persuasion on me. But part of me to this day knew I would have told him whatever he’d wanted to know that night regardless of his powers.