Page 26 of The Carnage We Keep

I swear, I feel his hips grind into me.

“Snuff it right out.”

My pulse jangles.

“Swallow your fucking soul.”

Jesus.

My core pulses with wet heat that’s instantly flooded my panties, my eyes hooding as time itself slows to a crawl.

“Just remember that,” he whispers right into my ear, sending a clawing, tingling throb cascading right through my center.

His hand abruptly unwraps from my throat. Instantly, his weight leaves my body. My eyes fly open like I’ve been doused in ice water as Damiano nonchalantly gets off me and rises to his feet like some vampiric wraith.

He calmly extends a hand and I blink up at him.

What the fuck just happened?

Numbly, I take his outstretched hand, my pulse skipping as he effortlessly lifts me to my feet. My face heats as I feel slickness coating my thighs and my panties sticking to my arousal.

Humiliation curdles inside me as I quickly drop his hand and step away from him, looking away and avoiding his eyes.

I know he was trying to scare me. I don't think he was trying to turn me on and make me feral.

…But here we are.

“I know…”

His words trail off as my eyes snap to his in horror and the color drains from my face.

He knows? He could tell how much he was turning me on?! How wet I was?

Jesus fucking Christ, he knows⁠—

“I know that little gremlin inside you wants to say something biting or do something stupid,” he growls. “But I would urge you to resist those urges, little menace. For your own continued health and well-being.”

The scene falls utterly silent, aside from the thud-thud-thud in my chest. A somewhat dizzying and completely unnerving thought cuts through my brain: for the first time in my life that I can remember, I don’t have any words. No biting comeback. No blisteringly sarcastic, witty reply. No “fuck you”, no middle finger. Nothing.

Just the cold reality that the psycho looming over me might be both the first person to put a little fear in my veins and the hottest man I’ve ever encountered.

The sound of footsteps on gravel from around a bend in the pathway shatters the moment.

“Someone’s coming,” Damiano growls. He turns and grabs the bag with Beckford’s head in it.

I’m more than a little pleased when he doesn’t throw it over the cliff.

His gaze slides to mine, his dark eyes stabbing right into my fucking soul. His mouth opens as if to speak. But the footsteps are getting closer, and I’m honestly not sure if I could actually say anything back right now anyway.

Damiano frowns, slipping the bagged head behind his back as he glances at the bend in the pathway, listening to the approaching footsteps

…Which is exactly when I decide to cut my losses and bolt.

I spring away through the trees, with visions of piercing dark eyes and memories of his big, muscled body pinning me down as his hand tight around my throat.

6

BELLA