Page 112 of Cursed Lifeline

Talon

song: out of my cage | UNsecret & Alaina Cross

“Release me,”Celeste growls as she struggles against the chains holding her hostage. “Or I swear, Talon, I’ll…”

“Nothing you can threaten me with is worse than what you’ve already done,” I hiss as I lean back in my seat and try desperately not to get off on the sight of her restrained against her will.

Licking my lips, the devil in me wants nothing more than to set her free so we can explore all the ways changing her has increased our thirst for one another. Bloodshot eyes hold mine as visions of painfully fucking our inescapable craving for each other out of our systems fill both our minds. But the truth is, no amount of fucking now will ever make the ache to claim her go away.

She’s one of us. I brought her into this life. For eternity, we’re now bonded whether she likes it or not.

“I dare you,” Celeste taunts as her thoughts dance around the depraved cravings of a starved man. “Try one stint like you did in that carriage, and I’ll destroy you.”

“Don’t tempt me,” I growl, remembering how hard I came as I stared into her eyes and she denied what her body so evidently needed. “Wrecked to ruin from your hands is the only way I want to meet my end, Celeste, remember? Holding out on all the immoral thoughts running through your now damned mind would be the real torture.”

“Then it’s a good thing I now have eternity to make you suffer,” Celeste snarls as she pulls against her restraints. The clattering sound of metal rings through the dungeon beneath Felix's mother’s estate, and I grin at my kitten's defiance. Punishing her is going to feel so damn good.

“Besides,” she snarls, “it will be a cold day in hell before I ever let you take from me what you so desperately seem to want.”

“Seem?” Rising, I hold her temptress stare as I stalk closer. “I never denied anything, remember? My intentions with you have been and will always be clear. You’ll soon realize in the eternity we are now destined to spend together, I’m a very determined, decisive man. Once I catch feelings, they don’t waver.”

“Feelings,” she scoffs. “I take it back. The day you show me your heart is capable offeeling, Talon, will be the day Idon’thold back.”

“Hold back?” I chuckle.

She turns her head to avoid my stare. Gripping her chin harshly, I force her to look at me.

“When that day comes, Celeste, you do what your heart tells you.” Tears brim her eyes as her gaze holds firm on mine. “If you still feel like running a stake through my heart, I’ll gladly kneel at your feet and die by your hand. But if you feel for me even the tiniest bit of the way I feel for you, I pray you’ll let me show you how I intend to spend eternity making you happy.” She tries to jerk her chin away, and I become furious having to deal with her bratty ways. Pinching her cheeks, I hold her face still and whisper against her lips, “Let it be known, even if you continue to deny me for the next several centuries. One day, I will have you.”

She steps forward, her chains rattle as they extend to their max. Heat fills her eyes, but it doesn’t flood her veins. Worse, it doesn’t reach her heart. Instead, bitterness clings to her tongue as she says, “You stole the ability to make me happy when you changed me against my will, Talon.” I try to speak, to tell her there is no other way, but she cuts me off. “I’d rather you sold my soul to Ember in exchange for immortality instead of turning me into the demon I’ve been trained my whole life to kill. In a moment of weakness, you proved how selfish you really are. You thought nothing of me, only of yourself. When the opportunity presented itself for you to make me yourplaything, yourpet, you took it. Little did you take the time to think how that self-serving act would backfire.”

“Kitten, I…”

“Call me kitten one more time, and I’ll make your damned eternal life hell until you’re pleading with the devil to restore my soul.”

The loud banging of doors behind us pauses our conversation. But we’re long from finished here. As boot steps hastily approach, I stare into Celeste’s eyes and hope one day I’ll find a way to climb this wall between us. Shaking my head when the furious fledgling’s stare never wavers, I open my mouth to respond when my shoulders are grabbed from behind, and I’m violently thrown to the side.

Stumbling to the floor, I’m tossed a few feet away and stare up at my attacker with wide eyes. Felix pulls a sword from his hip, raises it, and aims it at Celeste’s throat. Scrambling to my feet, I attempt to barrel into him, but I am restrained by two sets of hands as Silas steps out of the shadows at Felix’s left. Glancing angrily over my shoulder, I’m met with Alfred and Caelum’s enraged stares. The duo tighten their hold and keep me from saving Celeste from a fate which may prove worse than the one she met a few hours ago.

“Felix,” Celeste cries, fumbling over words, “I’m sorry, I…”

When she can’t find the right thing to say, she looks to her left, at her watcher and pleads silently for him to step in and save her. Silas bows his head and frowns.

“You’re dead to him,” Felix growls. Celeste’s eyes snap back to the Prince of the Damned. “You’re part of the coven now.”

Celeste’s chest rises and falls quickly as fear ghosts across her features. Felix steps forward and sharply holds the tip of his blade against her neck. Celeste cries out as a drop of blood gathers under the metal’s edge. Struggling to break free from Alfred and Caelum’s hold, I yell for Felix to stop, but my brother pays no attention as he twists the blade against Celeste’s porcelain skin.

Flipping it so it rests sideways against her throat, he grins wickedly, loving the fact that one quick roll of his wrist would decapitate her and damn her soul to hell before she ever got the chance to live out a day of her immortal existence.

“Please,” Celeste begins to beg.

“You took away my reason for breathing,” Felix seethes. Emotion causes his voice to shake. “Begging for your life won’t bring her back. ”

“I didn’t,” Celeste cries. “He did!”

Her eyes find mine and Felix whips his head around to meet my stare. Stalking away from the woman in chains, Felix angrily approaches as Alfred and Caelum restrain my arms and force my chest forward to meet the tip of his blade.

“You’re both to blame,” Felix growls. “Killing either of you won’t bring her back, but it sure will make the sting of losing her easier to bear until we meet again.”

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