Page 114 of Capturing Sin

The coldest parts of me infused with power. My limbs felt lighter, my blood fizzing with energy, despite my brush with death.

The pearly strands of Sin’s hair glowed under the artificial light. It caught on the sharp tips of his horns and shoulder spikes, highlighting the dangerous creature even as it cast his cruel features into shadow. Blood splattered his charcoal skin, smearing brightly over the white tattoos hugging his broad chest and thickly corded arms. Power brimmed through every muscular inch of my demon, overflowing from starlit eyes. Even on his knees, wounds healing across his bare chest, Sin was a formidable sight. A warrior to his core.

And he was mine.

“Shouldn’t you be rolling over for a nap right about now?” I asked, my voice embarrassingly husky after the way he’d stolen my breath.

He ran the spiked heart tip of his sinuous tail along the last zip ties around my ankles, freeing me completely. The sharp tips trailed up my calf, sending shivers racing through me.

“Healing is draining, but our bond is powerful. Its energy flows to strengthen us both.” He pressed a clawed hand to the centre of his chest. “I can feel you here, where you were always meant to be.”

I nodded, understanding the warmth that radiated from a single point beneath my ribs. A sensation I now realised had stirred more than once over the past few weeks, that odd heat that seemed to nestle against my heart.

Stars glowed through the blackness of my demon’s eyes. “Poison… My beautiful bonded… Unless you want me to fuck you on the bodies of your enemies, you’d better run.”

Sparks ignited low in my body, and I bit my lower lip to stifle a gasp.

“Your demon is showing again.” I tutted, struggling to unstick my vocal cords.

He grinned, flashing pointy fangs glistening with venom. “You haven’t seen anything yet, Liliana. I’m going to hunt you down, and when I catch you, you’ll scream yourself hoarse.”

I smirked back. “If, not when.”

Shoving him aside, I surged from the chair, leaping over the monsters of my past as I raced out of the room that I’d almost died in, heading straight for the cabin’s back door.

Mocking laughter followed me, drenched in violent promise. My lips spread wide, even as adrenaline flooded my system at the demonic sound.

I burst out the backdoor, racing into the starlit night.

Blood coated my arms, highlighted under the cabin’s rear lighting. It should have turned my stomach, but the warmth in my chest seemed to soothe away the panic before it could steal this moment from me.

I grinned, darting between slender birch trees, plunging into the dark forest.

Footsteps echoed behind me.

My nape prickled. I was being chased by a monster.

Excitement hastened my steps.

I swept around tall trunks, flowing over roots and fallen branches. I’d trained in this forest for years as a teen, and I knew exactly where I was going. A bird cawed in the distance, piercing the quiet.

“Run faster, poison!” A raspy masculine voice taunted behind me. “Or someone might think you want to be caught.”

I drew a deep breath, racing quicker until my heart pounded. I reached the stream I knew would be there and turned right, heading for the road.

Shadows moved in my periphery, and I put on a burst of speed right as claws raked out from the darkness, slicing into my sleeve. Only years of training had me swallowing the scream lodged in my throat.

Sin snarled at my back. A low growl flooded the woods as his footsteps pounded the earth. I swore I could feel his breath fanning my neck as I fled along the riverbank, trainers sinking in the soft mud.

Moonlight pierced the forest up ahead, and I burst through the tree-line, suddenly exposed to the midnight sky. A dark vehicle sat abandoned on the side of the quiet country road.

Victory surged through me at the sight.

I raced towards it, but something slammed into my side, knocking the world out from under me. The air burst from my lungs as I fell, tumbling and rolling on top of something hot and hard.

Sin chuckled, pinning me to the tarmac as I gasped for breath, blinking the world back into focus.

Stars swam behind him, paling in comparison to the silvery glow trapped in his eyes. The moon haloed him, outlining his curved horns and casting his dark features deeper into the shadows.

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