Or want to.
The flight lasted an eternity… then came to a sudden halt as the dragon swerved and dove down into a midnight-black castle, like Lucian’s only the glass was obsidian instead of clear. A million sharp spires and hard-cut angles of black glass glinted in the moonlight, but she only caught a glimpse before they dropped into a dark maw that had opened below. Then they landed with insane, skull-jarring speed—he dropped her just before they reached the stone floor, and she hit it hard, barely getting her hands in front before her face smacked down. A rustle of wings and a stomp of boots said he must be shifting, but she couldn’t see him with her face smashed against the floor. Not to mention, she was so terribly cramped, every muscle in her body seizing up.
She hurt everywhere.
Her arms were frozen—she could barely get them under her, much less control them—so she stayed down, sprawled on the floor. Something wet trickled down her face. She swiped at it with the back of her hand, and it came away bloody. Her clothes were tattered from where his talons had gripped her, and there were slices of pain and blood there as well. She was almost too numb to tell, but she didn’t seem to have any major injuries. Yet.
Holy shit, I’m going to die here. That was as far as she got in her scattered, scrambled thoughts before something gripped her arms and hauled her up from the floor. His dark eyes glinted with a sharper blackness the color of his wings. He held her close to his face, his nostrils flaring as he breathed her in.
“Lucian’s treasure,” he said with a satisfaction that sent ripples of fear chasing each other throughout her body. “So easy to take. And you bleed… so he hasn’t sealed you yet. So sloppy for a crown prince.” He seemed delighted by this.
Arabella could feel her body shake in his grasp. “Fuck you,” she gasped out. If she was going to die, she wanted to go out with her pride intact.
Something growled deep inside him. “Oh, yes. He pretends to be better than me, but he likes them feisty, just like I do.” His cruel smile made her shudder.
Oh, God… she recognized that look. That horrible, terrible look in a man’s eyes when he knows he has all the power to hurt you any way he wishes… and he wishes to very much.
Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. Her breaths were becoming rapid. She needed to think of something to say to make him reconsider. Or at least end it quickly. Something.
Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.
He leaned forward and—oh, God—he licked the tears as they ran down her face. “Your fear… it tastes so good.” He licked his lips. “But let’s make sure, shall we? If Lucian’s mark is on you, then the fae can have you. But if not… well…” He rumbled that growl again like he was tasting her in that magical way and liked it. “Maybe I’ll take you for my own. If you’re such a treasure that Lucian wants you, then sealing you for myself will be all the more satisfying.”
One of his hands gripping the top of her arm shifted into those terrifying talons. She couldn’t help the gasp and whimper that escaped her as he gripped her t-shirt and tore it to shreds, taking her bra with it and leaving half her chest naked. Thin lines across her skin, where his claws had raked her, wept with tears of blood—she was so terrified, she hardly felt the pain. Then he turned her around. She held as still as she could while shaking like crazy, but she couldn’t help crying out as he tore away the rest of her shirt, leaving her bare from the waist up. Pain lanced across her back as he grazed her with those razor-sharp talons.
His hand shifted back to human, skimming up her back, tracing every curve. He sighed out a long breath that she felt hot on her back. She couldn’t help cringing, but his other hand gripped her shoulder so hard, she couldn’t move.
“So you are unsealed,” he whispered in her ear, making her shudder so violently that she banged into his lips hovering near her. He slid a hand around to clamp down on her breast. She gasped from the pain of it. “Should I just take you now or seal you first? Or maybe give you a chance to run… I do like my prey fresh from the hunt. Decisions, decisions.”
Fear was clouding her mind, trying to send her away to someplace where she wouldn’t have to live through this. Wouldn’t have to feel it. But the raking of his teeth across her shoulder jolted her back, churning her stomach with revulsion and making her whimper again. Tears gushed hot on her face.
Then suddenly, a boom wrenched the air, pounding her eardrums and wrenching him away from her body. She jerked in surprise, then whirled around, her entire body still shaking. Her captor had shifted into his dragon form, roaring with displeasure, then shifting back to human just as quickly. He picked himself up from the floor and snarled… but it wasn’t directed at her.