Page 38 of Cursed Lifeline

Her eyes flash to mine. Annoyance overtakes fear, and she forces herself onto her tiptoes and extends her arm. Reaching as far as she can, she finally closes the gap between us, and I slip my large palm around her slender wrist.

“Atta’ girl,” I grin. Sucking in a shaky breath and pulling her off the cliff’s ledge, I lift her to safety, She falls against my chest, and we stumble back a few steps before falling to the forest floor.

We lay still for a moment. Her eyes hold mine as shadows play a dangerous, beautiful dance across her stunning features. My blood-stained hand raises and brushes disheveled hair out of her terrified eyes. Before I can tenderly swipe it behind her ear, her crimson-stained fingertips interlock with mine. Her hand shakes as it clings to mine with thankful desperation. I suck in a deep breath and realize my mistake too late.

Her blood, still warm from the cut on her palm, is the most addicting perfume I’ve ever smelled. Dropping her hand quickly, I ardently roll her onto her back. Framing her face with my left hand, my right, the one mixed with my blood and hers, snakes around the back of her neck and brings her lips to mine.

The heat of my bloody fingertips burns and starts to sear into her skin. She gasps out in pain, and I pull back just before our lips meet. She reaches around the back of her neck where my fingertips were, and worry fills me as a frightened tear falls in disbelief down her flushed cheek.

Rising quickly, I pull her to standing.

“Let me see,” I whisper.

She turns her head, and I take in a small heart-shaped burn seared into the back of her neck right below her hairline. Swallowing hard, I back away. She turns around slowly and our eyes lock in the moonlight.

What have I done?

“What were you doing out here, Esme?” I manage to ask.

She reaches behind her neck and fearfully touches the mark.

After a moment, she glances away and answers timidly, “I couldn’t stand the look in Lord Laurent’s eyes tonight.”

It’s not a complete lie. However, it’s not the truth I need, either. For the first time since meeting her, I can’t read her thoughts. Cursing Alfred and his minions for teaching her such tricks, I take a predatory step forward, but before I can question her further, she says, “I also thought maybe you might be out here.”

Now that is a lie. She felt my presence, even heard me say her name before she took off running.

She bites her bottom lip and continues her deception, “Dancing with Caelum left me feeling dizzy; I needed some air, and...”

“You felt like a chase?” I snarl, allowing myself a small breath of air and regretting it instantly as the smell of our vital union once again sweetly assaults my senses.

She denies answering me. I pick up her bloody hand and raise it between us. Squeezing her palm, she lets out a sharp gasp, and her mouth falls open as the moon's glow illuminates the cut in her palm.

A hungry, deep growl erupts from my chest.She lets out a small whimper.

Angry, I drop her palm and demand, “What’s more, you agreed to be used as bait?”

“What does it matter to you, Felix?” she asks furiously.

An icy wind blows past, carrying with it my death wish as I’m engulfed by her heavenly aroma.

When I don’t answer, she snaps, “If memory serves right, when we first met, you told me you’d never let me have your heart.”

Her response is a stark contrast to what I’d hoped was building between us these last few weeks. In the interest of needing answers to her sudden change of heart, I demand, “So, instead, you decide to draw out the animal in me?”

I take a heated step towards her. She takes a cautionary step backward. Her eyes fall between us. I let out a tisk and shake my head.“That wasn’t such a wise choice.”

Her heated gaze snaps up to meet mine. Before she can respond, I act on instinct, just like the animal she’s made me out to be, and back her quickly up against a nearby tree. I expect her to scream, to yell, to call for help.

After all, she’s left herself vulnerable. Defenseless.

She’s let herself be used as fucking bait.

She does this again over my dead body.

The watchers could have fed her into the wrong hands tonight if I wasn’t nearby. They could’ve ended her life.

If they’re going to be rotten teachers, her future is better held in my hands so I can teach her lessons they never can.

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