Page 58 of Capturing Sin

A scream pierced the lab.

Something warm wrapped my throat, pulling tight. I grabbed the heated rope as I stumbled back.

No, not rope. His tail.

The smooth heart-shaped tip, dripping warm blood, came to rest against my cheek. I watched in horror from the corner of my eye as pearlescent spikes slid back out from the entire mass, pricking my skin in warning.

I stilled, unable to move. Hardly able to breathe.

A low tutting sounded. “No, no. Squeaky toys are higher pitched. Let’s try that again.”

Martin shrieked behind me. The shrill bleat shot terror into my heart.

Dark spots patterned the edge of my vision, covering the gleaming spikes in my periphery. My hands spasmed around Sin’s thick tail, fighting to keep some tendrils of air squeezing through my throat.

Another wave of dizziness crashed over me, but whether it was from the choking or the starvation, I couldn’t tell.

Ironically, Sin’s hold was the only thing that stopped me from falling.

“Better.” A dark chuckle haunted the room.

With a sharp tug, Sin’s lethal tail twisted me to face the violent scene.

Martin dangled from Sin’s grip, legs kicking uselessly as the demon choked him with a single hand and impossible strength. My boss’s arms drooped oddly inside his lab coat sleeves.

“Let him go,” I croaked, voice barely audible over the scientist’s distressed gurgles.

“Another dead hunter…” Sin smirked up at his thrashing victim before eyeing me over his spiked shoulder. “You look good collared for me, poison.”

“Sin,” I hissed. Fury loosened the shock holding me captive. “Don’t do this.”

I hated Martin—for all he’d done to the beings trapped here—but I still didn’t want to watch him suffer like this.

The demon drew his prey closer, baring his fangs.

He shoved his thumb under Martin’s jaw, snapping his neck to an unnatural angle. Martin fell limp like a marionette with its string cut.

“But it’s so much fun.” Sin’s smirk was pure evil, malice dripping as thickly as the blood from his wounds.

With all the damage etched into his flesh, he should have bitten Martin. The fresh blood would have helped him heal.

So why didn’t he?

My eyes narrowed on the demon.

I supposed his eating habits didn’t matter to me anymore, since I was about to become another mad scientist with a snapped neck.

I wanted to rage at the injustice. Freedom was finally within my grasp, and Sin was going to take that from me along with my miserable life.

But for all the things I’d done, maybe I deserved it.

Dread curdled my stomach, but I tightened my grip on Sin’s tail at my throat as I prepared to fight until my last bitter breath anyway. “Fuck you, parasite. If you’re going to kill me, get on with it.”

“Ah, my sweet poison. You’re not getting away from me that easily.” He smirked, drawing me in with his tail until a mere whisper separated us. “I made you a promise. I’m going to toy with you endlessly. You’re not allowed to die until I let you.”

He yanked me flush against him. Solid heat radiated through my clothes to warm my skin. My chest brushed his with every rapid breath I took.

Nothing could have prepared me for being this close, no safety glass between us.

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