Page 54 of Cruelly Bitten

Toavengeher.

Because how fucking dare Michael touch her. Especially after what I’d said to him a mere hour ago.

Ismerelda was mine to punish. Mine to control.Mine to protect.

I swallowed and pushed away that last thought. This need to possess her, toclaimher, all came from the bond between us.

Which was why I’d tasked Lilith with finding a better alternative to taking anErosita. These possessive instincts were dangerous and distracting.

Still, I couldn’t deny my desire to heal Ismerelda.

I didn’t want to risk losing her to death and her bizarre waking state again. Not when I had yet to fuck her properly.

She was my toy.

My primary source of sustenance.

And I couldn’t thoroughly enjoy her in this condition.

Rather than think on it further, I lifted her into my arms—just barely managing to ignore her sharp intake of breath—and phased up the stairs to my floor, then directly to my room.

It was maybe two or three seconds of travel total, but it was enough to have her biting her lip again and drawing more blood as she fought the urge to react to her injuries.And what had to be excruciating pain between her thighs.

I’d bitten her clit to keep her in an aroused state.

Clearly, that had backfired.

I’d remember that for the future.

“You shouldn’t have gone wandering,” I told her as I laid her on my bed. “If something like this ever happens again, wait for me here.”

She swallowed and lowered her gaze. “Yes, my liege.”

My lips threatened to curl downward at the sign of her submission. Which was strange because she should be submitting to me, just as everyone else did. But I’d rather enjoyed her warrior-like display in the stairwell. It’d been much more alluring than this docile appearance.

Interesting.The female I’d witnessed on the landing had been one I’d consider changing into a vampire, if nothing more than because her spirit was obviously superior to most humans.

However, this version of her was weak and exactly what was expected of inferior beings.

Maybe this is why I’ve kept her as a blood slave instead of making her my queen,I thought.And perhaps I’ve kept her all these years because I saw the potential for more.

Yet this display proved she couldn’t handle true immortality.

Because a queen would never bow this easily. Not even to her king.

Sighing, I lifted my wrist to my mouth and bit down. “Drink,” I told her as I placed the open wound against her lips.

Glittering green eyes glanced up at me, the emotion shrouded beneath a veil of unshed tears. For a moment, I thought I caught a hint of surprise in her watery gaze, but it was gone in the next blink as she obeyed my command.

My opposite hand went to the back of her head, holding her to me while she fed. I’d intended for it to be a way to control how much she drank, but her knotted strands distracted me from the task.

Her hair appeared tousled. Like someone’s fingers had roughly tangled with the strands.

Or another man’s hands.

I narrowed my gaze. “Did Michael touch you here?”

Those pretty irises found mine again as she slightly dipped her chin in confirmation.