Page 32 of Villains and Vengeance
I stop walking and turn back. ‘Look, we need to talk about this. I can’t let you go, Axel, and you’re going to need to feed.’
‘Are you offering yourself?’ His tone is gravelly. Seductive.
I shudder. ‘If I don’t offer, you’ll lose your mind and take. It makes sense for me to … uh … not want to be in a position where you’ll do something I don’t want, and I’m guessing something you’d regret …’
He steps closer to me so we’re toe-to-toe, and he takes my chin in his grip, gently turning my face up to his.
‘You actually think I’d care if I hurt you?’ he asks, his mouth twisting nastily.
‘No,’ I say, trying not to show any fear. ‘But I think if you made me do something I didn’t want, you’d beat yourself up about it later when you were feeling … uh … more yourself.’
‘You think so?’
‘Yes. You aren’t a bad guy, Axel.’ My eyes drop, avoiding his. ‘I never thought any of you were,’ I whisper.
His fingers pinch my chin hard and I wince, but I don’t try to move away from him.
‘And yet you did what you did and fucked up our whole lives.’
Now I do step back, shaking out of his grip. ‘You act like it was personal. It wasn’t. I mean, come on! It was just a few hundred grand! Maddox is loaded! Ruined your lives? Please!’
He looks genuinely surprised. ‘Not personal?’ He throws back his head and laughs. ‘What you did was as personal as it gets. You inserted yourself into our clan, made us trust you and nothing you told us was the truth. You made Krase believe—’
He breaks off and launches himself forward, grabbing my shirt and pulling me close. Over his shoulder, Siggy scurries towards us, but I put up a hand to keep her from defending me. I’m not scared. He can’t do anything to me here. Without me, he’s lunch.
‘Know what else?’ he breathes. ‘Youdon’tknow me, Jules, and you definitely don’t know the others. You’re marked and always will be.’
I look up into his eyes and let out a small laugh of my own.
‘Think you’re the only enemies I got? Get in line,’ I say softly.
He flings me away with a curse. ‘You’re nothing. Just some cheap con artist,’ he snarls.
‘Tell your bruised ego that,’ I mutter.
* * *
Axel
It takeseverything in me not to take her by the throat and choke the life out of her. Fuck, I want to!
Then there’s the other half of me, the part that’s getting stronger by the second, that wants to take her by the throat and do something else entirely. I fight it. Idon’twant her!
But I haven’t been honest. My hunger feels stronger down here in these caves than it ever has before and I only just have a handle on it. Maybe it’s a defense mechanism because of the environment. Maybe it’s being so close to a female and not feeding. The reason doesn’t really matter. The consequence is a major problem though.
Thoughts intrude; of me lulling her into a daze, making her strip, telling her to get on her hands and knees, and pushing into her from behind to make her squeal, fucking her hard and dirty while she begs for more.
I swallow hard and promise myself I won’t even though I know I will if I stay here.
‘Where’s this river,’ I grind out, hoping she doesn’t look down and see the tent in the front of my pants from my dark imaginings.
‘This way.’
She leads me to the back of the cave. Her arania follows closely and every few seconds I glance behind to find her watching me as if she knows my mind. She doesn’t get closer though. She keeps to our pace, watching over Jules.
‘How did you make friends with an arania?’ I ask her, trying to distract myself from thoughts of pushing her forward over that boulder next to us and taking her on top of it.
It’s a few moments before she speaks, but she finally does, glancing back at me before continuing on.
