Free Bitten: A Vampire Blood Courtesans Romance by Michelle Fox, Kim Faulks Page B

flinched at the sound. Devlin took a step toward me and the memory of Kol slipped away. That ache flared, branding my head with a sudden realization. He did this. He… pulled at the edges of my mind to watch me unravel. Ice slid along my spine as fear wrapped its arms around me.
    The center of Devlin’s attention was a very bad place to be.
    My mouth was filled with ashes. I couldn’t swallow, couldn’t speak. Kol lingered inside my mind, whispering against my ear, don’t look him in the eyes, Nova. Don’t listen to a word he says.
    “I’m fine, thank you.” I forced the words out.
    My escort stepped away from the wall to find me in the dull light. His brow creased in the middle. Concern flared in his gaze. The whites of his eyes were neon in the dim light. He opened his mouth to speak, then clamped it shut.
    “The light is perfect, Levi. I won’t be needing you anymore tonight. Leave.”
    The guard jerked and shuddered, dragging his feet across the floor as though his mind obeyed one master, and his body another, until the scrape of the door behind me ended with a bang.

Nova
    “ Y ou look stunning , Nova. I hope you don’t mind me calling you that. I find formalities are wasted on a moment such as this, as is free will.”
    Devlin’s slippery voice brushed my mind and burrowed deep. “Come to me.”
    His emotionless voice didn’t just graze my mind, it slipped between the cracks, and smothered right and wrong. I thrashed my head as my feet shuddered, skimming my heels across the carpeted floor.
    “Why are you fighting me? Isn’t this what you want? To be owned? To be used?”
    I stared into those cold eyes and spat. “No, I don’t. So, get out of my head.”
    His chuckle sped my heart. The thunder of galloping horses filled my ears as I took another step.
    “You’re a fighter. Good, I do enjoy a challenge. Come to me now, Nova.”
    Fire lashed the insides of my arms. My muscles strained like over tuned piano wires—one small twist and I’d break.
    “That’s the way. You want to obey me, Nova. You want to do exactly as I say.”
    A tortured hiss slipped free as I closed the distance.
    His bloodless lips curved in a smile at the last slow step. “There. That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”
    “Yes, it is. You disgust me, no wonder we drove your kind into the ground.”
    Those gun-metal grey eyes never moved from my face. The hard lines of his nose cast shadows across his cheek. This monster was petrified, there was no warmth, no humanity. He was a rock, razor sharp edges and cold as ice. I shuddered under his stare.
    “Disgust you?”
    The word lingered like an echo, until I blinked and he moved. Devlin Holland forced my brittle bones and soft muscle to yield as he forced himself against me. His dark eyes blazed in the dim light. Steel girders wrapped around my waist. A tortured sound slipped from my lips and was soon swallowed by his own.
    My body bowed. Every muscle screamed. His icy lips stole the warmth from mine. Something sharp stung the inside of my mouth and I was smothered in the metallic taste of my own blood.
    He dragged the soft flesh of my lip into his mouth and I moaned. My muffled cries were swallowed by his mouth. I swung my fist. My blows bounced, thudding against this suit-covered wall, until his arms relaxed. I thrashed, wrenching my head to break the kiss and growled. “Get off me.”
    An inhuman sound lingered in the air. The remnants still dark and dangerous and not mine. Shivers raced across my skin, inside my belly quivered. I sucked in the air and blinked, brown eyes consumed me like a landslide. I struggled, wrenching my arms from his grip on my wrists. I stared at the beast, searching for the man he’d once been—and found none.
    “Do I disgust you now, Nova?”
    He craned his body, towering over me. I ran my tongue along the inside of my mouth, peeling my lips from the ridges of my teeth. My swollen lips pulsed from the brutal kiss, so hot, bruised.
    Danger hovered