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My heart pounded out a frantic beat, my muscles tensed and poised for a battle. Bloodlust and violence singed the air. I’d always been a good fighter, even before training as a raven, but now that The Calling spell ran through my veins, I felt unstoppable. And after the night I’d had, I craved a little brutality.
The nightworlder, who had yet to speak a single word, studied me as I held my guard and we circled each other. Dim light from the moon glinted off the thin hoop piercing his nose and the one on his bottom lip. A shadow dusted his jaw, which was sharp enough to slice me. I was surprised a wide gash hadn’t opened on my hand after punching him.
“Nothing to say?” I rolled my shoulders and observed his movements, looking for any opening. “Do you talk at all, or are you mute? Did your brain turn to mush after feeding on so many innocent souls?”
His eyes narrowed at the accusation. One of them definitely sported that eerie demon blue, so maybe hedidfeed off souls.
He remained silent, though, watching me as I watched him. Distant car horns blared, and the scuttle of trash blowing in the wind coming off the river echoed. Strands of hair so black they even trumped the night sky brushed over a scar running along the bottom of his left cheekbone. Another scar dug into the skin at his temple and disappeared within the shadows on his jaw.
Calling this guy pretty would be like saying a raging lightning storm was pretty. He was… raw and primal. Something feral pulsated out of him, and he had a wildness that would never be tamed.
A beast. And a man.
The nightworlder took the few moments of my distraction to lunge forward. I tried to counter with a right hook, but he batted my hand away. My back hit the wall with enough force to knock the air from my lungs, and then he pressed his body into mine.
An icy chill skated down my scalp. Holy hell. He’d been toying with me the entire time. He could have had me pinned the moment he slipped into this alley.
“A raven. No wonder.” His voice—a rough timbre that sounded as if he spent most of his life snarling at everyone—hit the nonexistent space between us, raising the hair on my nape. “That’s why I couldn’t find you.”
My head jerked back, cracking into the bricks. “Find me? Why the hell were you looking for me?”
When I tried to shove him off, he put more of his weight on me, the rough wall digging into my bare lower back. But that wasn’t what halted my breathing. I could feel every hard, hot inch of him against me. An earthy, spicy scent that made me think of warm fire on a cold autumn night wrapped around me like a noose slowly drawing out my death.
He smelled like a holiday bakery, freshly cut wood, and leather. Raw sexuality infused those notes, mixing with the destructive, all-consuming fire.
I trembled, and a violent surge of lust unfurled in my gut, forcing me to choke back a moan.
What the hell was wrong with me?
This nightworlder had attacked me, and suddenly I could only focus on the sexual energy flowing off him, causing a throb to hit me right between the legs.
A vicious leer pulled at his lips as if he sensed the urges rippling through me. His head dipped so close his warm, cinnamon-flavored breath ghosted over my mouth. “I would rather disembowel you and play with your entrails than—”
I slammed my forehead into his nose, the crunch of cartilage popping through the alley. He stumbled back and grabbed his face, a dribble of burgundy blood leaking through his fingers.
Not a demon. His blood would be black.
“Use your tricks on someone else, nightworlder prick,” I snapped even as flames crawled up my neck and into my face.
He scoffed and wiped blood from his nose, smearing it on his heather gray t-shirt. “No tricks here, sweetheart. Apparently, me trying to kill you turns you on. You must be one sick little deviant.”
A crimson haze cascaded over my vision, and I bolted forward, shoving him into the building on the other side of the backstreet. His vicious roar shook the cobblestone ground, and for a moment, heat simmered from him like ice water hitting a hot blacktop in the summer.
What the…?
Before my brain could comprehend the sight, his arms enveloped my middle, and my legs kicked at the air as he lifted me. I crushed my fist into his back and struggled while he sprinted farther into the alley.
“Get the fuck off me, asshole!”
He dumped me to my feet, whipped me around, and threw me face-first into a chain link fence. His body, like a scalding piece of rock, crashed into mine to keep me pinned.
Fire erupted in my core, and my knees would have buckled if he wasn’t holding me. His hot, ragged breath coated my neck and washed over my cheek. I clenched my teeth from the electric sensations wreaking havoc through my system. Some unrecognizable part of me screamed and begged me to provoke his touch.
I choked back the misplaced desire and curled my fingers around the thin metal links. “Get. Off. Now.”
His head lowered, and his lips brushed my ear as he released a low hum, the vibrations carrying through his chest and into mine, shooting sparks through my bloodstream. “I’ll get off once I destroy you.”
I lifted my boot to stomp on his foot, but only cobblestones met my sole. “Why did you follow me? I’ve never even seen you before. What could I have possibly—”
