Chapter 48
Chapter Forty-Eight
Strong arms wrap around my waist and I curl into them.
Pressing my face into the crook of Gray’s neck, I inhale deeply, pulling the smell of him into me.
He smells like safety, like home. Pressing my palms against his chest, I let the warmth of him seep into me and my body calms. My bones seem to settle, their achiness drifting away in his presence.
My limbs stop shivering as if they know they don’t need to anymore.
His breath dances over my neck, caressing me like the gentlest kiss.
His lips touch my skin and I gasp. My skin heats as he kisses a lazy trail down my body.
His fingertips whisper along my body, tracing my hips and tickling my thighs.
My core tightens as his teeth scrape over my stomach.
I push my hips forward, desperate for the feel of his mouth against my aching sex, but strong hands push me back.
“Please,” I whisper.
He looks up at me, his icy blue eyes full of hunger. A strand of black hair falls across his face and I try to reach my fingers out to brush it away. Only, I can’t move them. I wiggle my fingers, the motion making something tug against my wrist. Why can’t I move my hands?
Gray nips at the soft skin of my calf, yanking my attention back to him. I moan as his tongue darts out, licking a line from my leg to my ankle. His teeth sink into my ankle and a yelp jumps from my throat.
“That hurts,” I cry.
He doesn’t move. He doesn’t turn his head or look at me.
“Gray?” A twinge of panic colors my voice, making it high and rasped.
I cry out as a sharp pain zips up my leg.
“Please, stop!” I whimper, feeling his sharp canines dig into my skin.
They’re so sharp, too sharp. Why are they so sharp?
My voice is hoarse, my scream crackling with fear. “Gray, please, look at me!”
He tips his face up and my breath gets lodged in my throat. Blood coats his mouth, thick and dark. It pours from his lips and splatters against my legs.
I yelp, my eyelids shooting open. The chair beneath me jostles and I force my body to still so it doesn’t topple over and dump me onto the hard floor.
“Just a dream,” I breathe. “It was just a bad dream.”
A stinging pain shoots up my leg, making me screech.
Searching for the source of the ache, I look down at myself.
Blood trickles from tiny wounds on my legs.
I trace their dripping pattern down to my ankles.
There's something nestled against my right foot, something small and light.
Squinting my eyes, a dimly lit shape comes into view.
The thing moves, fur shifting and tiny eyes blinking.
A disgusted sound jumps from my mouth when I realize what’s crawling on my skin is a rat. Its tiny teeth are jammed into my flesh, gnawing at my skin. I shoot my leg out in front of me, dislodging the disgusting creature. It sails through the air with a terrible shriek and thunks against the wall.
Claws skitter against the floor and I yank my feet up in case it decides to come back.
“Shit!” I cry.
Tears stream down my face, dribbling onto the collar of my shirt. My legs tremble and I suspect that if I wasn’t sitting, I’d have already sunk to my knees. I sob into the emptiness of the room, my head swimming with painful and beautiful memories of the man I’ve only just begun to love.
Looking around the cold, concrete room, my sobs deepen.
My entire body shakes with the force of them.
I pinch my lips together, like keeping the sounds of my sadness inside might keep me from breaking.
I might die in this room. If I don’t, if I’m given to Bianca’s son, I’m certain that I’ll wish I had.
“It can’t end like this,” I whisper. “I can’t end like this.”
I cry until there’s nothing left in me, and when my eyes finally close, I hope I see Gray again.
Even if I can only see him in a nightmare, I want it.
I’ll love him in that dark, hopeless place if it means I get to love him for just a little longer.
I’d do anything for just one more night. Just one more kiss.
I’d do anything to go home.