Page 103 of To Catch A Rogue

But they'd bled him dry, starved him, beaten him and tortured him.

It would be some innocent.

He knew it, even before he heard the sounds of struggle on the stairs, and his heart ached.

"Please let me go! Please!" someone begged.

Jelena didn't know how close this came to tipping him over the edge.

He heard Catherine again, begging Balfour not to shoot. Saw Isabella put the pistol to her chin and beg him to save her. Both women had loved him. And both had paid the price.

They died because of you.

Malloryn sucked in a ragged gasp. He wanted blood so badly he could almost taste it. Hunger raged, the monster inside him slipping its leash.

A man dragged the struggling woman inside. He barely saw her blonde curls or the pretty heart-shaped face. All he saw was the frantic way she struggled.

He could hear her pulse beating a ragged tattoo, even from here.

They tossed her onto the cold stone floors of his cell, and she sprawled there, smothered in her green skirts.

Weak. Vulnerable.

Take it,whispered the darkness within him.

The cell door clanged shut, trapping her inside with him.

"Release him," Jelena commanded, but he barely heard her.

All he knew was that his chains finally slackened. He hit the floor, trailing them across the cobbles as he lifted his head and focused on the girl's long, elegant throat.

She scrambled into a sitting position, pressing her back to the wall. "Malloryn?"

The name drew him up short.

He remembered that face. Knew that voice.

Somehow he was swimming up through the darkness that smothered him.

"Ava," he whispered hoarsely, the color bleeding back into his vision.

Hope dawned within him like a sun rising. What was she doing here? Was he dreaming? Hallucinating? Had he finally gone mad with bloodlust?

"Are you real?" he breathed.

"We're here. We're all here to save you," she whispered, rolling onto her knees as if she sensed some of his humanity returning. "Here." She began unbuttoning her sleeve. "You need blood."

"Don't." He shied away from her, chains rattling.

Ava swallowed. "I remember a time when I'd been injected with Black Vein and you gave me your blood to heal me. Let me repay the favor."

I am not that man.

His mouth watered, and suddenly he wasn't looking at Ava. He was looking at prey.

"Stay away from me," he snarled.

"You are the Duke of Malloryn," Ava said firmly. "You can master this."