Page 59 of How Does It Feel?

The night she had been sent to assassinate me was a blood moon, and darkness shrouded the creatures of the night everywhere they ventured. No matter what realm, everything was darker and harder to see during a blood moon. It’s why we had chosen that night. But with that cloak of darkness, I hadn’t been able to see her face quite like I could now, with some of the grime and mud not camouflaging her features.

She was incandescently beautiful.

The kind of beauty you hear of but never witness. The kind that crawls inside your mind and haunts you until it destroys everything and consumes your soul.

Upon seeing me, she cried out, shouting as if someone would come and help her.

Apparently, she still hadn’t realized no one was coming for her, nor would they ever.

She was mine now.

I was still frozen, caught up in watching her.

This would end now. This distraction would end now.

Angry, I stepped forward and grabbed her matted red hair.

“Please, you’re hurting me,” she cried.

Even the unique silkiness of her voice had crept inside my mind. I would rip her head from her shoulders for making me feel this way. Human filth.

“Why won’t you die?” I growled as my frustration caused my wings to pulse.

Her arm pushed against my thigh in an attempt to free herself. The touch simmered through my leathers and forced me to wonder what her fingertips would feel like.

What has happened to me?

I was the Unseelie prince, soon-to-be king. I felt nothing for humans other than hatred. What—

Walter slammed into me with force, knocking us all to the ground.

There he was, traitor.

I slowed myself and let him feel like he was in control. He wrapped his jaws around my throat with a deep growl, and I had to fight back a bloodthirsty smile.

This was what I knew. These were feelings I was familiar with.

Killing.

He was like a brother to me, yet here he crouched with his shifter teeth pressed against my neck. He had trained with me enough times to know better.

A yelp rang out as I slammed him to the ground with a grunt. That should shake him out of whatever delusion he held toward the human.

He knew better than most exactly how much I enjoyed inflicting pain on others.

His compassion and closeness to me were the sole reasons half of the people I ruled over hadn’t been slaughtered. Yet.

“After everything, you betray me,” I growled at him.

The idiot got up and moved his body in front of the girl’s, blocking her protectively as he snarled at me.

Something foreign rippled through my gut.

I didn’t like him near her, keeping her from me. It made me want to kill them both more.

She shouted something and ran to stand in front of him.

What the fuck? Why would she risk her life for his? He was weak but still much stronger than her.