Page 15 of Love and Death
His breathing has gone slightly ragged, and I can see the desire still smoldering in the depths of his eyes. Butnow, it’s mixed with something else—something softer and far more terrifying.
Fear.
His eyes widen as his hands slide from my skin with an almost reluctant slowness, tracing lines of heat that continue to burn long after his touch has gone.
“What the—”
Cerberus stumbles back a step, muttering a string of curses under his breath … and I suddenly realize what I’ve been tasting in his kiss.
Blood.
His lips shimmer in the dim light, thick droplets of deep crimson dripping from them. The hellhound drags his hand over his mouth, smearing the blood across his face and making him look far more beast than man in the process.
He stares down at his shaking hands for a long moment, looking just as shocked and confused as I feel. Then, his gaze shifts back to me. His expression suddenly hardens, anger rushing in to replace the fear within his eyes.
“Damnit!”
He practically spits the words before driving his fist into the wall next to me. The stone cracks under the force, sending a spray of crystal dust across my shoulders and a shockwave of terror through my body.
I flatten myself against the cold wall as I watch him warily.
He looks ... feral.
Agitated.
More dangerous than I’ve ever seen him—and yet, hisfury doesn’t seem directed at me. Cerberus’ gaze remains fixed on the floor, his fingers flexing open and closed as if fighting the urge to lash out again.
I feel something trickle down my neck and instinctively raise a hand to wipe it away, just as Cerberus glances back at me.
“No!”
But it’s already too late.
I scream. Excruciating pain shoots through me, white-hot and vicious, the moment my fingertips brush against a tender, still-wet wound just behind my ear.
The room blurs around me as I begin to crumple in on myself.
“Do not touch it!” Cerberus’ voice cuts through the haze of pain, tinged with what almost sounds like panic.
I want to, but I can’t seem to let go.
My knees give way, the agony soaring to a crescendo in the split second before Cerberus catches me in his arms and wrenches my hand from my neck. The pain immediately lessens, even as my eyes widen and my breaths quicken at the amount of blood now coating my fingertips.
“Do not touch it again,” he hisses, hastily righting me before taking a step back.
“Why?” I ask, despite having no desire to do so as the pain numbs to a dull throb.
“Spit,” Cerberus demands, ignoring my question as he reaches out to cup my chin firmly in his hand.
“What?” I ask incredulously.
“Spit, now!” he snaps, his tone startling me into obedience.
I grimace at the sheer viscosity of the liquid that dribbles from my mouth to pool in the palm of his hand before he pulls it away. Cerberus leans forward, and I watch in disgust as he bares a vicious canine to bite down on his own lip, drawing dark beads of blood that he spits into the palm of his hand to mix with mine.
“What are you do—"
The rest of my question is stolen from me as Cerberus suddenly presses his palm to my neck, smearing the mixture of blood and spittle across my wound, just before his hand bursts into flame. I cry out in terror, closing my eyes against the tongues of fire that lick up around me, sure that I’m about to be burnt alive … but then, just as quickly as it flared to life, the fire dies.
