Page 126 of From Hell

She pulls out the knife, the onehegave her.

“How did you—” I shake my head. “Never mind.” I was about to ask how she even smuggled a knife through customs, but I don’t actually care.

“Come here,” she orders, embracing her bossy side.

I stalk up to her, take her face in my hand, and kiss her so hard we’re both out of breath when we finally pull apart. How can one woman have so many sides that drive me crazy?

I don’t protest when she cuts away the buttons of my shirt or when she drags the belt through the loops and slices through the fastener on my waistband. Halfway through, she cuts me, the slice of the blade searing the flesh of my groin.

“Oops.” Her devious gaze connects with mine.

With a sneer, I grab her wrist, twisting the knife from her grasp and into mine.

“Get on the bed.”

She hisses and scrabbles backward onto it, but she isn’t fast enough, so I hoist her onto it with one hand and straddle her. I still have the knife and use it to cut her clothes away, her dress first down the middle, then her bra. At last, her panties. Then I tease the blade over her bare skin.

Her eyes light with fire as I run it over her breasts, pausing over her erect nipples and then down her shivering stomach, where the drag makes a nick in her perfect flesh. My little fox makes a throaty moan. The sound of it has me on edge, her need crawls up my spine, just as the thrill of the chase thrums through my veins.

I want to bleed her dry, cut her into pieces, and rearrange them.

My vision flickers, my head pounds, and that’s when I know.

He’s here.

She’s mine,I snap at him internally.

Ours. Your words. Share her why don’t you, brother?

“Jaxon,” Laine says in a hushed tone. “Your eyes.”

I stare down at my prey, but she’s not afraid. Cautiously, she sits up and draws her finger along the cut on my lower abdomen, then she sticks the finger in her mouth and sucks. All the while, her eyes are on mine, glowing with lust.

“He wants you too.”

She tilts her head. “Can you both have me at the same time?”

“I can control him enough now to switch him in and out.”

She nods and lies back, but I can feel her body shaking. Her eyes are wild, driving me fucking insane with how much I want her. I take the knife, lock her fingers around the hilt, and then lay down on top of her, breathing in her delicious scent as I kiss the scar on her neck.

“If he hurts you, kill him.”

Then I let Jack out.

43

LAINE

He looms over me, a dark, twisted grin on his face. His eyes are bottomless pits, sucking me down in their depths. I grip the knife in two hands, my whole body shaking as he reaches down and trails a hand over my naked body.

Despite myself, heat spikes through my core, making me squirm with the threat of forbidden pleasure.

“I’ve waited a long time for this, little bird,” he growls. His voice is deeper, harsher than Jaxon’s, just like I remember it from that night. I didn’t see his face because everyone was wearing masks from the ball, but I’d never forget his voice. “Jaxon calls you fox, but we both know women are either whores to be ripped or delicate birds waiting to be devoured.” He licks his lips, crouching over me, his hand snaking around my throat. “Which one are you, Laine?” he asks, voice hushed in my ear.

“You’re him, the Ripper?” My voice comes out strangled, but my hands are steady as I slide the blade to his neck. I may be on my back, vulnerable, but I’m not helpless. This fox bites.

He chuckles, a rougher sound than Jaxon’s, and tightens his grip. “Shall we find out?”