Page 146 of Unholy Bonds

The very thought of it frightened me more than the knowledge of dying ever could.

“Jacob Levey. Enzo Morelli is…”

“Oh. Hanna Morelli’s brother.”

He nodded. I traced his clenched jaw, and he let out a long sigh.

“You did a good thing, Ryden,” I said. “I’ll bring my sedan around. It’ll be easier to transport him in that.” I turned around and jogged through the trees. Soon I was where I parked the sedan. Starting the engine, I drove deeper into the woods along the small trail until I was closer to the marsh. I parked the car and got out. Grabbing a roll of tarp and two pairs of gloves, I walked to where Ryden was standing. Handing him the gloves, I pulled mine on.

“I wish I could bring him to life and then kill him all over again for you, Red.”

“You helped… by just being there,” I said as we quickly worked together to wrap Logan’s body in perfect sync. It was as if we had been killing together for forever. When Logan was wrapped fully, looking like a bloody pork sausage, Ryden turned to me with a smirk.

“What are you looking at, Turtle Mocha?”

“I hate that nickname, Red,” he said as I leaned against the tree with a shrug.

“No, you don’t.”

Ryden walked closer to me, and despite the blood, despite the gravity of what just happened, my pulse quickened at his proximity. My brain warned me not to lean closer, not to take more. I was already so close to breaking my own rules, but my body was a fucking French woman who didn’t understand a word of English. It wanted what it wanted.

“What?” I moaned when his body came against mine.

“Blood,” he murmured, swiping his thumb across my cheek. “I’ve never stood around chattering with a killer just a few feet away from a dead body before,” he said, his eyes meeting mine. “Everything feels different with you. Intense, and… breathtaking. Kiss me now… touch me.”

“You want me to kiss you? Now?”

The man is madder than you.

“Yes.”

I leaned closer and pressed my lips against him. The kiss was soft, comforting at first but soon turned demanding when my hand went to his cock.

“Fuck, Red. I want you. I always want you.” He pressed me against the tree and his hand went to my pants. “I want to fuck you here. I want to fuck you when you’re looking like a monster and a goddess, covered in dirt and blood.” His fingers went to my right breast as his other hand roamed down.

“We can’t. What if—” He cut me off by kissing me as I tightened my fingers around his cock. The rumble he let out was so loud it swallowed my moan. “I want to fuck you like…” His eyes shone. The dangerous gleam in his eyes thrilled me, and excited me. “Like an animal. Take you… break you. Make you my whore.”

Before I could even blink, he grabbed me by my hips, lifted me, and slammed me against the tree, his lips coming down hard on mine. I was so lost in his lips that it took me a moment to hear it, but when I did, I jerked away from him.

“Do you hear that? Fuck.”

“What?” he asked, protesting my distance.

It was too early for people, but I knew I heard it loud and clear.

“I heard something. We need to get out right now. Voices. Shit. You fucking distracted me, Ryden,” I said with a frown. “Quick. Throw him in the marsh.” I glared at Logan’s mutilated body—he was gone, but the void in my heart where Kat once belonged was still so breathtakingly empty. We both stilled when we heard the familiar sound following the voices. “Is that a fucking siren?”

That wasn’t just any car. It was a cop car.

Ryden hurled Logan into the marsh, and soon, the muddy sand swallowed him whole without any protest. “Get in. We have to move now.”

“I drove your car here,” Ryden said, grimacing. “If someone finds it and the dead body…”

“Throw the gun in,” I said, pulling the car door open, my voice urgent. “We can’t worry about the car now. I can’t stay. Nobody would believe what I did to Logan was self-defense.”

If I were the one to autopsy Logan’s body, I’d carefully dissect the dead bastard, and I’d tell the detectives that this was more than self-defense. This wasn’t survival. This was something savage, fueled by a darker compulsion. An urge to hurt, to destroy. I could see my insatiable hunger in his wounds, and anyone else would see it, too.

I turned to Ryden with a nod. “I always knew my life would be over the moment I killed The Strangler. I can’t… let you destroy your life for me. If something happens, you need to walk away.”

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