Page 133 of You Only Love Twice
Don't ever approach an injured blue blood.
Don't ever cut yourself in front of a hungry blue blood.
Don't ever fight him if he grabs you, or cuts you. It only excites them more.
Surrender. Surrender and you might just live.
Well, she was done surrendering. She'd finally found a way to protect herself, and Malloryn wasn't going to bloody well thwart her now.
"I cannot just leave him here! He needs blood." And like it or not, she was the only one who was available to offer it.
It would barely hurt at all.
She knew from experience, even as her heart gave a threatening lurch. Adele gritted her teeth as a flash of memory overtook her, leaving her momentarily struggling on a garden bench under the weight of Lord Abagnale as he shoved her down and slashed her throat and took what he wanted from her, regardless of how much she begged.
She locked it all away, refusing to allow thosevile creaturesto drag her back into the shadows that haunted her. She was Adele Cavill. She wasn't about to let a bunch of pasty-faced vultures scare her.
And Malloryn could tear at her all he liked. The hemlock ring on her finger wet her knuckles, ready to hand him a hefty dose of paralysis if he lost control of himself.
It might almost be worth it to see the look of shock on his face if she had him on the ground at her feet, and at her mercy.
We'll see who doesn't give a damn then.
"Get out of here," Adele said firmly as she found his kit and removed the thin lancet he used.
Setting it to her wrist, she paused. The wrist was less intimate, but she needed her hands free so she could paralyze him if she needed.
It had to be the throat.
Adele undid her ornate choker from where it hid her scars and dropped the pearls on the floor.
Hattie's eyes widened in fright. "Adele!"
"Go. He won't hurt me."
And this was something she didn't want another to witness.
She didn't want to scare her sister, for Hattie was still young enough to believe she'd make a happy arrangement and be loved and cherished by her future master.
Adele couldn't bring herself to shatter Hattie's foolish dreams.
Hattie slammed the door shut, leaving her in the dark with her husband.
Adele cut herself swiftly, dragging her fingers across the small mark. Another scar to add to her collection, for she doubted Malloryn would have the wherewithal to use his saliva to heal her wounds at the end.
"Malloryn?" she whispered, reaching out with bloodied fingers to waft them beneath his nose.
His head turned as he drew in a sudden, sharp breath.
Adele let her fingertips trace his mouth. It was the closest she'd ever been to him, and her heart was suddenly pounding.
If one was being strictly honest with oneself, then one could concede one's husband was a physically fine specimen.
And that was almost the outmost limit of "ones" she could allow in a single sentence.
Perfect chiseled lips. The slant of a hawkish grace to his cheekbones. The allure of his broad shoulders, and those lean hips that cast an excellent cut to his coat and trousers.
Malloryn was the epitome of dangerous, moving with all the fine instincts of a predator in broadcloth. She often watched him when he thought her eye elsewhere, for it wasn't as though she'd ever know him. Physically.
