CHAPTER 16 #2
The roar wasn't human. It vibrated through the actual trees, bouncing off the ravine walls with a terrifying acoustic violence.
It was the sound of a predator realizing its prize had just broken the leash.
And it was followed immediately by the terrifying, heavy crash of boots descending the path above me, tearing through the brush with a speed that defied the steep terrain.
He was going to kill me. He was actually going to snap my neck when he caught me.
I duck-walked under a massive, low-hanging rock ledge, trying to completely obscure my silhouette from the ridge above. The smell of damp moss filled my nose as I scrambled blindly in the dark toward the lower valley floor, aiming for the sound of a rushing stream.
I broke through a line of ferns and stopped dead.
A thin, emerald green laser line swept the tall grass exactly three feet in front of my face. It hummed in the mist, cutting through the dark like a scalpel, searching the grid. The Silvestri snipers. They were already down here.
I was completely boxed in. Angelo’s boots thundering behind me, my brother's executioners scanning the tree line right in front of me.
I pressed my back perfectly flat against a massive, damp stone, trying to physically merge my body with the rock.
I dug my fingers into the thick moss until the dirt packed under my nails and they started to bleed.
"No... no, no, no," I breathed out, squeezing my eyes shut. I was a dead rabbit caught between two starving wolves.
A massive shadow detached itself from the trees directly above me.
Before I could even scream, Angelo launched himself from the ledge.
His massive frame was just a dark blur of kinetic violence.
He tackled me squarely around the waist, the sheer force of his momentum knocking all the air out of my lungs in a sickening oomph.
We crashed sideways into a deep bed of damp pine needles, rolling in a violent, tangled mess of limbs.
My survival instincts flared. I threw my hand up, aiming my nails straight for his eyes to blind him. Angelo snapped his head forward and caught the side of my hand perfectly between his teeth, biting down hard enough on the meat of my palm to shock my nervous system into freezing.
He spat my hand out and used his sheer, overwhelming body weight to completely pin me down into the mud.
"I’ve got you," he snarled, his voice a ragged, breathless rasp. "Fight me one more time, I dare you."
I thrashed under him, kicking my legs wildly.
He shifted his weight, straddling my hips.
He grabbed both of my wrists in one massive hand and slammed them deep into the mud above my head, pinning them there with an iron grip.
His free hand dropped instantly to my hip, grabbing the torn hem of my silk slip and ripping it completely up the side to get a direct grip on my bare skin.
His fingers dug into my hip bone with a bruising, unapologetic force that I knew was leaving a permanent mark.
He leaned all the way down, his face inches from mine, his chest heaving.
I tried to knee him in the back, but he just ground his knee ruthlessly between my thighs, forcing my bare legs wide open in the dirt and completely neutralizing my leverage.
"You thought you could run?" he demanded, his voice dropping an octave into something completely unhinged. "Look at me, Fiorella. Look at the man you just tried to kill with your stupidity."
"Get the fuck off me!" I spat, twisting my head, but he just tightened his grip on my wrists.
He let out a short, dark laugh that sounded like it hurt.
He hauled me to my feet with a grunt of raw effort, lifting me entirely by the waist so my toes were barely skimming the wet ground.
He spun us around and slammed me back against the massive trunk of an ancient pine tree.
The rough, jagged bark bit directly into my bare shoulders where the jacket had slipped down, scraping my skin raw.
He caged me within the span of his arms, his massive body boxing me in. A piece of the tree bark got caught in my messy hair, and he completely ignored it, his eyes dropping to my mouth with a look that made my stomach bottom out.
"Nowhere left to go," he whispered, stepping entirely into my space. "The woods belong to me. You belong to me."
He pressed his body flush against mine. The hard, heavy ceramic plates of his tactical vest crushed the breath out of my chest. He ground his hips aggressively into mine, and I gasped as I felt the rigid, demanding line of his erection pressing heavily through the thick layers of his combat trousers and my ruined slip.
It wasn't romantic; it was a sheer, terrifying assertion of dominance. A physical consequence.
He hooked his heavy boot behind my ankle and jerked my leg forward, pulling my body flush against his waist until there wasn't a single millimeter of air left between us.
"Feel that?" he growled, grinding his hips upward in a slow, deliberate motion that sent a horrific spike of heat straight to my core. "That’s what happens when you make me hunt you."
My breath started coming in ragged, shallow hits. My whole body was shaking, betraying every single ounce of hatred I held for him.
"You’re trembling," he mocked, leaning closer. "Is it fear or something else, princess?"
"Fuck you," I managed to say, but my voice was completely hoarse.
Angelo shoved his heavy, muscular thigh aggressively upward, wedging it firmly between my legs and spreading them wide against the tree trunk.
He used the upward pressure of his leg to lift me slightly higher, forcing me to take his entire weight against my center.
The friction of his rough trousers against my highly sensitive, bare inner thighs made my toes curl into the dirt.
His hand abandoned my hip, sliding up my chest to wrap around my throat. He didn't squeeze to choke me; he just held me there, letting his thumb press exactly over my erratic, jumping pulse.
"Open for me," he commanded, his eyes completely black in the shadows. "I should leave you for the snipers right now, but I’m too fucking greedy for that."
He gripped my jaw with his free hand, his strong fingers digging deep into my cheeks to force my head back flush against the tree. He leaned in, his lips brushing the delicate shell of my ear. The hot puff of his breath sent a shiver straight down my spine.
"I’m going to mark every inch of you so Alessio knows exactly who you belong to," he whispered directly into my ear. He opened his mouth and nipped my earlobe with his teeth, a sharp, stinging bite that instantly transitioned into a slow, soothing lick of his tongue. "Say it. Say you’re mine."
I wanted to tell him to go to hell, but my brain was completely short-circuiting from the heavy, rhythmic pressure of his thigh against my center.
Angelo didn't wait for the answer. He crashed his mouth down onto mine in a brutal, punishing kiss.
My lips parted on a gasp and his tongue immediately invaded my mouth, dominating the space.
His teeth clashed hard against mine, tasting like copper and adrenaline.
He ground his hips into me one last, forceful time, stealing the rest of my air.
My hands, finally completely free, didn't push against his chest. I hated myself for it, but my fingers flew up and knotted violently into his short, dark hair, pulling his face even closer to mine.
"(Muffled groan)," he vibrated against my mouth. "Mine. Mine."
The bark of the pine tree was stripping the skin off my back, and the green laser of a sniper rifle cut through the mist just twenty yards to our left, but I didn't care. I kept my mouth open, taking the bruising weight of him against the wood.