Page 12 of Faerie Fate
I ignored the pain in my entire body and sent another wave of power at him.You’re going to let me go. You’re going to leave me alone. You’ll never touch me again. Your legs won’t work. Your shift won’t come.
No sound came out when I moved my lips.
It must be the zombie curse keeping me from my full potential. That, or how hard I’d fought with my powers before Kendrick caught me.
His laughter boomed, loud enough to drive piercing sharp needles into my brain. Then his wolf rose and a barked command bristled through me, making my wolf sit back at the blatant command from someone so much stronger than her.
The pause was enough for him to gain the upper hand again.
Moving much faster than I’d have thought for someone his size, his legs fell on either side of me and his hands grabbed my wrists, thrusting them above my head with such force my shoulders nearly wrenched out of place.
I bit down on the scream, making sure I kept direct eye contact with him.
“You think I have no idea what you’re doing? I’ve been around long enough to know about your fae powers. To understand them.”
His grip intensified until my tendons protested and I swallowed over a yelp of agony.
He transferred my wrists to one of his massive hands. Kendrick reached for something beyond us. His face was close enough to mine for the waves of fetid hot breath to caress my skin. The queasy sensation in my gut sent bile rising to scorch the back of my throat.
“There.”
He let go of me only to slide something over my eyes and turn my world black.
The moment the fabric touched my skin, my magic disappeared again. The wall between it and me grew larger and thicker than the last time, cutting me off from my abilities.
“Or maybe you didn’t know you needed to make direct eye contact with me for your magic to work?”
I didn’t need to be reminded of how little I truly knew, or how much I still had to learn.
“We can’t have a repeat of this little performance.” His hot breath tickled the whorl of my ear and I groaned, sick, sweating. “You understand. I already know you can shapeshift. The bird flying through my garage? Cute trick.”
He ground his pelvis against mine and just when I thought I’d lose it entirely, he stood, dragging me up with him.
“Didn’t think I’d figure it out. Perhaps now you’ll finally understand that underestimating me won’t serve you, Tavi,” he finished.
He wrapped me tightly in a chain, something cold and metallic, pinning my arms to my body. Pushing me back a step, he attached the chain to something, and my back hit the solid stone wall.
“Try to get out of this. I have a few tricks of my own.”
I screamed the moment his lips touched mine, the electric shock of ice at the touch chilling me down to the bone. There was no room to shapeshift. No room to sob, scream, to rage.
“If I can’t take you the proper way, then we’ll do it the hard way,” he added. “You forced me to do this, Tavi. If only you’d been a good girl.”
My heart throbbed, thundering in my ears, but it wasn’t loud enough to cover the distinctive snick of a blade flipping open.
Kendrick gave no warning before he pressed the knife to my neck and tore through my flesh, slitting my throat.
Chapter Four
Terror never felt this way before, mingled with the agony of feeling my skin part.
The muscles tore and blood poured down toward my clavicle, dripping onto the key to Faerie looped around my neck.
Blindfolded and arms pinned, I couldn’t reach for the cut, couldn’t draw my fingers along the wound myself to pull the pieces together and stop the bleeding. I was completely at Kendrick’s mercy.
I gasped and the skin shifted, opening even further.
“Christ, stop shaking,” Kendrick growled. His voice skittered over the wound and made the pain worse. “This is nothing. A little bloodletting will seal our mating. The slice isn’t deep.”
