Page 79 of Coal Hearts

My thumb hovered over the button.

I shot a look at Ily whose silence fucked me off and freaked me out in equal measure.

“Do you want to be free or not?” Victor coaxed. “Don’t make me regret my invitation, Henri. Do it.”

With gritted teeth, I stabbed the button.

Ily screamed.

A piercing, screeching scream.

She fell sideways, her hands curled into spasming claws, her neck straining, belly flexing, limbs twitching as if possessed.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

A ripple of chuckles echoed around the garden.

Men who hadn’t dispersed watched Ily twitching and jerking, her legs wide and body on full display. The crush of their desire oozed from a mixture of races, ages, and depravity. A few had a jewel beside them, collared and leashed with an array of marks on their pretty skin. Teeth marks on one. Whip lashes on another.

A full-body shudder wracked me as I drowned in awful craving.

I wanted, no, I fucking needed to mark Ily that way.

To claim ownership so they would never get near her.

She was beautiful.

Beautiful in the throes of such agony.

Stunning in the clutches of surrender.

Her screams cut off with a choke.

I couldn’t hide my shudder as she writhed by my feet.

Her eyes met mine. Wide and brimming with terror.

It smashed apart the sickening spell.

I turned deathly cold.

Fuck!

What the hell am I doing?

Smashing my thumb against the button, Ily flopped into suffocating stillness.

Soaring upward, my chair fell back with a loud clang as I dropped to my haunches and dragged her into my arms.

She moaned but didn’t fight.

She flinched but didn’t push me away.

Her head lolled over my arm and her hair stuck to her finger-painted cheek.

My voice was inhuman. “Are you oka—”

“Kneel, Ily,” Victor commanded. “Don’t sprawl over your Master. Kneel.”