His head snapped up then, and I froze as I got my first glimpse of this man.
He was younger than I’d thought. Maybe a few years older than me. His dark hair was cut short on the sides and longer on top, and looked as if he had been running his hand through it all day. His nose and jaw were strong, and the dark stubble that covered his face somehow highlighted his full lips that were in a sneer now. But his eyes—those dark eyes were as murderous as they were mesmerizing . . .
He was darkness.
He was my own personal demon sent from hell.
“No?” he asked. His voice held no emotion anymore. He released my legs and straightened his body as his strong hands moved to the zipper on his jeans. I shut my eyes and my jaw trembled when I felt the bed dip. “You can try to kill yourself, Blackbird; I will keep you alive. When I tell you to eat, you eat. Do you understand?”
“Please stop, please stop, please stop,” I begged as his hands grasped my thighs again so his denim-covered hips could settle between them, my voice growing louder with each word. “No, no. Stop!” I screamed when one of his hands trailed up to my hip, his grip tightening. “Stop!”
I squeezed my eyes harder, not wanting to see any part of this. This can’t be happening to me.
His other hand slowly moved to the inside of my thigh, my entire body now shaking with fear and hatred and disgust.
“I understand,” I yelled. “Just please stop. Don’t do this.”
His hand stilled, and seconds that felt like lifetimes of torture passed by before he released me and slowly covered my trembling body with his own. I flinched when his lips met my ear, but otherwise I didn’t move.
“I own you, Blackbird,” he said in a deceptively soothing voice.
I let my head fall away from him, and opened my eyes to stare at the same wall I’d looked at all day as I responded, “Never.”
His fingers gripped my face and forced me to look at him, and like before, he looked murderous. Beautiful and destructive.
I had been wrong. He wasn’t a demon. A demon wasn’t nearly as evil or dark as this man. My jaw shook under his tight grip, but I still managed to whisper, “The devil will never own me.”
That beautiful mouth curved into a wicked grin, and I hated it as much as I hated the man. Just before he pushed away from me and rose from the bed, he breathed, “We’ll see.”
Chapter 8
Day 2 with Blackbird
Lucas
I paced the length of the living area on the upper level for nearly an hour after I left Blackbird and still couldn’t seem to find the strength to stop.
That had been her first lesson. I had shown her who was in control, as I knew I had to. I had taken the first step in breaking her.
William was under the impression I’d done more than I had, and he was satisfied.
I wanted to die.
I wanted to tear my heart out if it would get her screams out of my head, if it would get that look of hatred and brokenness out of her green eyes.
She had called me the devil, and I felt like it after tonight. But she would never hate me more than I hated myself.
I dropped down to a low squat and ran my hands roughly through my hair and over my face as I tried to do so many things: force myself to go downstairs, talk myself out of what I was so close to doing, and get her damn screams out of my head.
A roar of frustration filled the room, and I was storming away within seconds. Only this time it wasn’t to continue pacing—I needed to try to get her to eat one more time even though it was nearly midnight. She had looked so fragile and pale. Her lips had been so chapped and dry. I couldn’t get the image out of my head, and I was fucking terrified to think how much worse she might be if I left her until morning like I was supposed to.
“They must stay isolated for at least eight hours after a lesson,” William always said. “It’s a lesson for them, and you will look weak if you go to them before they would come crawling to you.”
As soon as I had some water, fruit, and a sandwich made, I went back to her room and unlocked the door. Unlike last time, I opened the door and stepped in slowly to give her time to prepare for me.
The lamps were still on even though she looked like she was asleep. She was curled up on the bed with her back facing me, as she had been most of the times I’d come in today, and again she didn’t turn around.
I set the plate and water on the nightstand, and reached for her shoulder, but withdrew my hand before I could touch her. “Blackbird,” I said gently. My hands fisted when I noticed her rapid breathing, but I knew we had a long road ahead of us before she wasn’t afraid of me.
Her fear . . . it was something I had been prepared for. Something I’d been trained for. I just hadn’t been prepared for how much it would bother me.
“Blackbird,” I called again, and finally touched her shoulder to turn her toward me when she didn’t respond in any way.
Her eyes were shut and jaw trembling, but for once, I had a feeling she wasn’t avoiding looking at me.
“Blackbird,” I said sharply and shook her shoulder. “Girl!” I rolled her fully onto her back and pressed my fingers to her neck.
Her pulse was weak, but felt like it was going as fast as a hummingbird’s wings.
“No, no, no, no, shit,” I roared, and brushed my hand over her face then paused. Placing my hand on her cheek again, I moved it up to her forehead and swore.
I grabbed at my pockets, biting out another curse when I remembered throwing my cell phone against a wall, and took off out of the room to grab one of the landlines.
William answered on the second ring. “Lucas, wha—”
“Get a doctor here now!”
There was a pause, then, “Did you already go back to check on her? How long has it be—”
“Did you hear me?” I yelled as I ran back to the girl’s room. She hadn’t moved. “Get a doctor here. Have him bring the IV drip and anything else he can think of.” I hung up and dropped the phone on the bed and ran my hands over the girl’s face again. Her skin was on fire. “Shit,” I whispered, and moved one hand to her throat and the other to her wrist.
I hurried into the small bathroom attached to the room and ran two washcloths under cold water, then wrung them out and folded them as I rushed back to her. I placed one on her forehead and held the other to the back of her neck as my free hand gripped her wrist until I found her rapid pulse again.
I felt helpless waiting for a doctor to show up, but I knew I had no other option. Taking her to a hospital right now wasn’t possible. Not when she had just been taken from her home days before. Not when she would scream for help as soon as she regained consciousness. No . . . I couldn’t risk everything for this girl, but in the ten minutes it took for the doctor to arrive, I considered it more and more.
“Leave the room, Lucas,” William called out as he entered the girl’s room behind the doctor.
I looked up in surprise, and growled as my eyes went back to the girl. “No. You shouldn’t be here.”