Free Soulbound by Kristen Callihan

forcing a person’s hand. Or using your power to coerce those weaker than you.”
    A black scowl twisted his face as he glared at some distant point. “Fine. May I continue, or have you more complaints to heap upon my head?”
    “Please do continue,” Eliza granted.
    His golden gaze flicked back to her. “I want to kiss you.”
    “No.” The word burst out of her with force. “Absolutely not.”
    Unfazed, Adam shrugged. “Unless you have something to offer in exchange for your freedom, Mellan and Mab will, as you say, merely hunt us down, and you’ll be back to where you started.”
    “Then I shall find out what he wants.” Eliza straightened her back. She could do that. She must. Like hell was she going to kiss this demon.
    Adam simply gave her a slow, wicked half-smile. “Fortunately for you, lass, I already know what he wants. What they both want. More than controlling you. More than torturing me, even.”
    “Then why in blazes haven’t you used it to secure your own freedom?” Eliza blurted out.
    “I’m only alive because they cannot break me into revealing where this item might be.” The belligerence burning in his eyes was gone in a blink, replaced by a look of pure cunning. “However, I might be persuaded to help you use the knowledge. All I require is —”
    “Fine,” she snapped, irritation getting the best of her. “I’ll kiss you.”
    Silence fell, and Adam stared at her with those eyes of his. Devil’s eyes. Eyes that made a woman forget herself. Heat rose up over her breasts and crawled along the back of her neck. Eliza grasped her skirts, her fingers twitching. She would kiss him. Kiss a man who had brought her nothing but irritation. Maybe she’d bite him to boot.
    His chest, gleaming with sweat, rose and fell in a soft pattern. A bead of perspiration broke free from the top of his shoulder and ran down along the firm rise of his pectoral muscles, straight toward the dark nub of his nipple. All this time arguing with him, she’d forgotten his state of undress. Not so now. She’d have to press up against those hard muscles, touch his skin. Eliza wrenched her gaze back to his face, and his sinful lips curled in a knowing smile.
    “You know,” he said casually, “I believe I shall pass for the moment. I’d rather it be when you aren’t wearing such a sour face. Kills a bloke’s ardor, you realize.”
    Eliza blinked. And then his meaning hit her. “Why you… rutting… cheap, trickster…”
    He laughed, a flash of even teeth. “Come now, Eliza, fret not.” He stopped then, that obnoxious smile growing and heating with promise. “I’ll take that kiss soon enough.”
    She rose to her feet in a rustle of skirts. “And I’ll be sure to bite that wicked tongue when you do!”
    She marched out of the cell, slamming it behind her, as he began to laugh again. Bastard. She might just leave him here to rot after all. His laughing taunt echoed through the dark. “Now that I know tongues are involved, I’ll be sure to collect.”

Chapter Four
    E liza climbed the stairs, irritation with Adam still so high that she did not take proper heed. Not until she walked directly into Mab’s path. They locked eyes, and Eliza’s skin prickled in utter terror.
    “I… I heard a dog howling.” Not a lie. “I thought…” Eliza gave Mab what she hoped was a shocked look. “I did not expect to find the demon.”
    It seemed an eternity ticked by as Mab’s gaze bore into her. Eliza did not flinch but let herself show the confusion and the questions that she’d first felt upon finding Adam. She’d learned long ago that, when telling a lie, walking as close to the truth as possible was the best course of action.
    The silence between them grew as taut as corset boning. And then Mab spoke. “And what did you feel when you saw your tormentor trussed up like the pig that he is?”
    Horror. Sorrow. “Satisfaction.” It was the emotion Mab wanted, and Eliza was going to give it to her.
    Mab’s