Free As Twilight Falls by Amanda Ashley

under the bed.
    Saintcrow unfolded from his chair and rounded the table. He stood next to her, his expression enigmatic, and then he lifted her to her feet. “I’ll show you what’s real,” he said, his voice whiskey smooth.
    Before she had time to think what he might mean, he bent her back over his arm and kissed her, his lips punishing hers, his tongue invading her mouth.
    There was nothing of tenderness in his kiss. It was meant to humiliate her, to prove he was the one in control.
    She didn’t fight him. What was the use? There was no escape from the arms that imprisoned her, just as there was no escape from Morgan Creek.
    He deepened the kiss, one hand sliding up and down her back. His lips were warm and firm. His kiss gentled, his arm loosened around her, and she found herself kissing him back, clasping her hands at his nape.
    He whispered something that sounded like an endearment in a language she didn’t understand, and then he kissed her again. Heat engulfed her, spreading to every part of her body, arousing a need deep within her unlike anything she had ever known. What was he doing to her?
    She was gasping for breath when he let her go.
    He stared down at her for stretched seconds, his dark eyes flashing ebony fire. “Go to bed, Kadie,” he said gruffly.
    She didn’t argue.
    Her first instinct was to run up the stairs as fast as she could, but some ancient sense of self-preservation reminded her that she was prey and he was a predator. With that in mind, she made her way slowly up the stairs and quietly closed the door.
     
     
    Saintcrow stood in the kitchen, hands balled into tight fists, as Kadie climbed the stairs to her room. He had known hundreds of women in his time, perhaps thousands. Old and young; pretty and not so pretty; sassy and submissive. None had appealed to him the way this one spitfire of a girl did. She didn’t beg for her freedom. She didn’t pretend to like him in hopes that he would relent and let her go. She would never stop trying to escape. He had to admire that.
    He drew a deep breath, his nostrils filling with her unique scent. He could taste her on his tongue—warm and sweet, vibrant and alive. He had taken women in the past, used them as long as it pleased him and then thrown them away without a second thought.
    But this woman—Kadie—he had known the moment he’d woken to her scent that he had to have her. He had sought her out in the library and other places, making sure she didn’t see him.
    He grinned inwardly. One of the perks of being the oldest, biggest badass of his kind was that no one ever dared oppose him.
    Which meant Kadie Andrews was now his for as long as he wished it.
    And whether she liked it or not, it was going to be for a good long time.
     
     
    Kadie stood with her back against the door, her thoughts spinning round and round like a hamster on a wheel. She couldn’t escape Morgan Creek. Saintcrow knew everything she did. She wasn’t sure how, but it didn’t alter the fact that her comings and goings, her innermost thoughts, were his. He was like a Greek god and she a lowly mortal, a minor piece on the chessboard of his life.
    She trailed her fingertips over her lips. She couldn’t escape from Saintcrow. And now, with the memory of his kiss and her reaction to it fresh in her mind, she didn’t know if she wanted to run from the man or beg him to kiss her again.
    She had been kissed before, many times. Most had been pleasant, a few had been remarkable, but none had been as amazing as Saintcrow’s. Of course, he’d had over nine hundred years to perfect it.
    Nine hundred years. Feeling suddenly weak, she slid down to the floor. What would it be like to live that long? She shook her head. It wasn’t normal. Or natural. People weren’t meant to live forever, at least not on Earth. Even contemplating eternity in the hereafter was beyond her comprehension. What would people do when forever stretched ahead of them?
    Leaning her head back against the