Chapter 11 Chapter 11
Anya’s POV
He began to crawl onto the bed, a predator closing in, his movements fluid and certain. I scrambled backward, crab-walking in a panic until I hit the solid wood of the headboard.
My mind shattered. I want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to be his. I don't want to be Borin's. The fight drained out of me, replaced by a cold, numbing despair. The tears were silent now. But my voice was a broken, pathetic whisper.
"Please... just make it quick. Please... just don't let it hurt."
"Make it quick?" he repeated, his voice still terrifyingly soft, as if he were genuinely curious. "What, specifically, do you mean?"
His hand lifted from the bed. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the killing blow, but it never came.
Instead, he just... rested his fingers lightly against the side of my neck, his thumb coming to rest directly over the frantic, hammering pulse in my throat. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move.
Oh, gods. Oh, gods.
His touch was casual, almost gentle, yet it was the most terrifying thing I had ever felt. He had my life, right there, resting in the palm of his hand. One flex. One sharp, sudden snap of those powerful fingers, and he could send me straight to the afterlife!
What the hell is he saying?! My mind was spinning. How am I supposed to stop someone who can snap my neck in a second?!
But I had no time to plead.
A low growl ripped from his chest as his mouth crashed down on mine.
It wasn't a kiss. It was a plundering. A brutal, bruising claim that left no room for tenderness, only an animalistic need that sought to devour. He bit my lower lip, hard enough to sting, and the sharp tang of my own blood mingled with the dark, musky taste of his.
That gasp of pain was the only invitation he needed.
His tongue invaded, hot and rough, tasting me with a desperate, savage hunger. He tasted of wildness, of power, of something metallic and dark that set all my nerves on fire. I couldn't breathe; I was drowning in him.
His strength was absolute, his body a suffocating, intoxicating weight that pinned me to the furs, swallowing me whole.
My mind was a single, shrieking "NO!"
But to my utter horror, a traitorous, forbidden heat was coiling deep in my belly, a sickening, primal response to being so utterly dominated.
My body, so long starved of any touch, was reacting to the undeniable potency of the predator claiming me.
My mind was shattering. I was drowning. NO!
With a last strength of mine, I snapped. I brought my knee up hard, slamming my boot into the one vulnerable place a male like him had.
A hoarse, agonized grunt ripped out of him. He recoiled instantly, his entire body convulsing as his grip on my wrists vanished.
The second my hands were free, I didn't hesitate. I scrambled off the bed, my fingers digging into my pocket for the brittle sprig Carla had given me. He was already straightening up, his eyes murder, his voice a low, pained growl. "You... little—"
He never finished the word.
I threw the wolfsbane with all my strength. It hit him square in the chest.
A terrible, inhuman scream tore from his throat. He staggered back, clutching his chest as if he'd been shot, his skin smoking and blistering where the herb had touched him.
The searing pain seemed to snap him out of his lust-fueled rage. His eyes widened, his expression twisting into a brief flash of horrified realization at what he'd been doing.
That was all the time I needed. I didn't wait to see more. I ran to the massive, open window.
Without a second thought for the two-story drop, I hauled myself over the stone sill and jumped.
My luck held. I crashed into something soft below—a pile of large sacks on a delivery cart, sending up a puff of white dust that smelled of rice flour.
The impact knocked the wind from me, but I didn't care. I rolled off the cart, hit the cobblestones, and ran.
I ran like the hounds of hell were at my heels, my lungs burning, my only thought the main gate. Almost there, almost there...
Suddenly, a dark shape landed in front of me, dropping from the fortress wall above as if it had wings. He hit the ground in a perfect, silent crouch, blocking my path.
I skidded to a halt, my blood turning to ice.
The Alpha rose to his full, terrifying height. The smoking burn on his chest was already healing. His eyes were no longer wild with lust, but cold, controlled, and utterly furious.
"I told you," he growled, "You can't escape me, human."