Page 60 of Jack of Diamonds
“Run back to the castlenow...” he ordered through clenched teeth, “otherwise I won’t be responsible for what happens to you.”
Oh, if this was the game he wanted to play, I wasn’t havinganyof it. He could threaten and bully all he wanted, but I wasn’t walking anywhere in this forest without using the buddy system. I wiped some of the blood away from the gash on my cheek and shot him a withering look.
“Hey,you’rethe one who walked out on our lesson today!” I snapped while pointing an accusatory finger in his raging, incredulous face. “You have one job—one—to teach me how to use a fucking sword! So why amIthe one chasing you down for a lesson? What the fuck? And don’t youdaretry to hold me responsible for whatever happens to me when I’m not evenfromWonderland! Not cool, dude! Not cool atall!”
A strangled sound wrenched its way out of Jack’s throat, and the look in his eyes shifted towards maniacal.
Then dark.
Then savage.
“I warned you,” he hissed, suddenly standing over me. His left hand was wrapped around my throat before I realized he’d even moved...before the hairs on the back of my neck had time to stand up. The scent of copper swirled all around me, coming from the bunny blood all over his face, and the fresh bite dripping blood down my cheek.
Jack’s eyes were wild. Possessed. “You should’ve run when you had the chance. It’s taking every shred of strength for me not to kill you.”
I stared into his glowing eyes and saw the raw, barely restrained hunger in them.
But I also saw something else: a flicker of recognition.
Heknewme.
He’d saved my life.
I wasn’t just another meal to him. Not even a snack.
I tilted my head to the side in defiance, my pulse racing.
“You won’t kill me.”
Jack ran his tongue over his sharp teeth and tightened his grip on my throat.
“Won’t I?”
“No...” My voice was barely a whisper. “You need me more than I need you.”
His eyes narrowed as they raked over me, and a flush of heat raced over my skin. My wounds stung as more blood trickled down my cheek, but the pain only seemed to intensify the heat building inside me.
“The only thing I need,” Jack said, eerily calm, “is to tear into your soft, warm flesh. To drink deep of your blood. To fuck every hole of your entitled, overindulged body until you scream for it to stop.”
A violent shiver ran through me. I hated how much his words affected me...
And how much I wanted him to make good on them.
I lifted my chin, refusing to cower.
“Do you promise?”
He blinked, seeming confused for a moment. Then a shudder went through him. A slow, predatory smile spread across his face.
He leaned down, his lips brushing my ear.
“I promisenothing.”
Jack’s grin widened, and he let go of my neck and grabbed a fist of hair at the back of my neck. I was expecting him to bend down to claim my mouth in a bruising kiss.
But no.
He struck with a snarl.