Page 18 of Hunt the Dusk
I’m fine. This is just Ezekiel being Ezekiel. Please step aside. I’ll call you.
“Laudon…” Ezekiel’s tone vibrated with lethal intention, and there was panic in Laudon’s voice when he spoke.
“Dammit, Kaster.”
I felt Ezekiel’s muscles tense then relax and knew that Kaster must have stepped aside. My assessment was confirmed a moment later when we shot out of the doors and into the night.
Chapter 7
Ezekiel threw me unceremoniously into the back of a car, and I’d barely scrambled into a decent sitting position before he was crowded against me.
The door slammed, and the engine roared to life as the driver took his cue.
I drew a breath.
“Don’t speak,” Ezekiel growled. “Don’t breathe too loud. Don’t. Fucking. Move.”
The urge to snap back, to fight him, coursed through me, but common sense and survival instinct took precedence, reminding me not to poke the fucking beast.
The drive to the stables was tense, the air vibrating with unsaid things, but it gave me the chance to compose my emotions. By the time we reached the stables, I was done with the silence.
The engine died, and I turned to the vampire king, doing my best to ignore how close he sat, and how his thigh was pressed to mine. “You hadnoright to behave the way you just did, and I think you know it.”
His jaw worked, his gaze remaining fixed straight ahead.
“Explain to me why? Why did you do it?”
“I don’t need to explain anything to you, Miss Lighthart. You belong to?—”
“Enough!” I glared at him until he turned his head to look at me. His eyes were honey-toned again, only the rim of the irises crimson. “I’mnotyour property. I’m a fucking Order operative, here because theyassignedme to be, and I accepted. But Icanchange my mind and reject this assignment.”
His left eye twitched. “You think you can just leave.”
“I know I can, and I almost did.” Heat clawed at my throat and pricked my eyes. “You killed my friend. You planned a massacre just to prove some twisted point. This is thelastplace I want to be. Here in your territory, obligated to be around you. To watch over you, so yeah, I’ll do what it takes to make it easier.”
“Like date Kaster Black?”
“Yes, and I?—”
He had me pressed to the seat by my throat in a blink, his body caging me. I stilled, trapped in the snare of his hungry eyes as his free hand slid up my side to lightly cup my breast. My stomach flipped, desire pooling between my thighs as my body betrayed my mind.
The corner of his mouth lifted, thin and cruel. “Your mouth says one thing and yet your body says another. Which is it, Miss Lighthart? Your body’s reaction…” He squeezed my throat, gently pinching my nipple through the fabric of my shirt with the other. I was too late to bite back a moan, and disgust flared in the pit of my stomach. “Or the pretty lies that spill from your delectable lips?”
“I’mnotlying.” My words came out hushed and breathless. “I hate you.”
His mouth coasted against mine. “Do you now?” He massaged my breast and pinched the peak once again.
I gritted my teeth, heat gathering behind my eyes as my pussy throbbed with need.
“Let me make something clear, little Silver: Your freedom is a gift from me. Test the boundaries again, and it will be taken from you.”
Ice pricked at my skin. “You can’t keep me prisoner.”
“Yes, I can. I can keep you prisoner and bind you to the bed and fuck you until you scream if I wish. Do you want that?”
Heat flashed through me, setting every pulse throbbing needily. “You’re sick.”
“And your point is?”
