Merciless Love: A Dark Romance(17)

He stepped past the mess and loomed over me. I thought I'd seen him pissed before, when he hit Izzy, but I had no clue. Seeing his bloodlust from a distance and having it on top of me were two very different things.

“No! No! You said you wouldn't hurt me!” He was right over me now, and I swore I saw him winding up to crack me across the face. “You promised.”

I broke. I begged. Pathetic.

The Prophet was right! People out here are corrupt. Evil.

But there's no oasis in this endless desert, is there? No tiny beacon in the all-consuming darkness.

The blow I expected to knock me into a mindless sleep never came. He lowered his palm, and then backed up, only assuming the fighting stance again when I dared to sit up on the bed.

“You step out of this fucking bed and I won't give you another chance. Keep your ass on the mattress. Fuck, babe, don't make me...”

He shook his head. The volcano sank inside him for now. But it promised to blow if I pressed him, and he shook and flushed like he wouldn't be able to stop it.

Trembling, I watched him squat. He began picking up pieces of broken ceramic and ruined food. He kept one glance in my direction the whole time, and the glint in his eye said freeze. No more chances.

This was my second chance, the only mercy he offered for freaking out and attacking him.

I took a deep breath. My eyes wandered lower, across his well-built frame, down his arms. Little droplets of blood ran around his hand and went straight to the floor.

Guilt swelled in my heart, and it scared me.

Any sane girl would've been happy to bite this freak's hand, this crazy asshole who'd taken me prisoner and wouldn't say why. Still, he hadn't actually hurt me with more than his words. Painful, terrifying words that made me almost wish he'd used his fists instead.

I wasn't a sane girl. Being cooped up in this little room in the woods with Izzy and him was worse than I thought. During my painful recovery in the bed where I sat, I worried the cult had done too much damage to ever let me be whole, let alone sane and free.

Now, I saw it wasn't just the Prophet's taint I had to worry about. For the first time in years, I clasped my hands. Earnestly, I mean.

“What the fuck do you think you're doing?” He growled.

My eyes were closed as I mumbled, but I knew he was staring dead at me, drowning me in the hot anger rolling off him.

“Forgiveness is the highest virtue. Trapped by the material, led astray by the darkness, there are no monsters where men live.”

There are no monsters, I repeated in my head, sniffing back my tears. If I said it enough times, would my prayers come true?

“Cassie!” he shouted my name so loud the whole room shook.

My eyes flew open, and I stopped. My hands instantly went to my wet cheeks, wiping away the embarrassing weakness, the fear and anguish swept away, leaving cold strength in its wake.

“You do that shit again in my house, we're gonna do things the hard way. I've told you my world runs on other rules. Here's the first for you to drill into your sweet little head: when I tell you to knock it off and do as I say, you fucking do it. No questions. No second guessing. You understand me, babe?”

His footstep clattered heavy on the floor as he walked forward. This time, he reached out slowly, cupping my chin and running his finger across it.

I turned away, as much as he'd allow in his tight grip. It was bad enough having this brute order me around. But worse – so much worse! – if he saw the frothing conflict surging in my brain, the intoxicating hate and submission forming a new universe as big as his shadow in my flesh.

“Right now, I told you to stop praying. Forget about the shit they brainwashed you with. It's not real!” The last words bounced off the high ceiling and rained in my ears. “Your mercy, punishment, and fate begins and ends here on Earth. Not in heaven, especially one some asshole guru cooked up. And babe, in case there were any doubts, I'm your whole fucking world. You need somewhere to look for guidance, you look right here.”

He stabbed his thumb against his chest. Dark and light fought in his eyes, mingling for dominance.

I looked away, hiding the vile heat licking at my cheeks. His fingers pressed harder into my face, tensing with frustration. I whimpered and finally locked eyes with the fallen angel in front of me, the stranger who'd barged into my life and reminded me there was no escape.

None for Cassie. None for the ignorant, inexperienced, screwed up little girl who wished her way out of the fire and got into the brimstone instead.

“We got an understanding?” he said slowly, rolling the words on his tongue like a foreign phrase. “Answer me.”

“I understand. I'll stop.”

He let my chin fall. Without another word, he scraped up the rest of my mess and headed for the door. My eyes instantly fell to the floor, searching for a fragment he'd missed, anything I could stuff up my dress or underneath my pillow.