Vengeance (The Prince's Games Book 1) by Rebecca Grey (electric book reader TXT) 📕

I can do as he presses his lips against the tendons in my neck is cling to his wide unmoving form as he remains the only steady thing in this spinning reality. Marcello kisses his way back up to my lips with a tantalizing slowness. He parts my lips again with a single sweep of his tongue. In the back of my mind, where everything feels foggy, I'm still able to register that I'm kissing him back.

My hand fists his curls behind his head. A low moan vibrates against my lips, sending a wild tremor through me. I tug on the twisting strands and as if his sound is a command to keep going. Marcello's legs unfold and he lowers himself over me, letting our bottom halves become a tangle where his hips press against mine. His cock, hardened with want, pushes against the thin fabric of my pants.

I can't get enough. There will never be enough of these kisses, so I let him continue until my lips are swollen and my face is flushed. He kisses me until I might burst, until I reach for the buttons of his leather vest.

Cold air fans my face as he breaks away, catching my hands. "Not now, love. This is not the time or the place. I don't want anyone around when I pull noises you didn’t realize you were capable of making from you.” His beating heart thuds in his chest and I can feel it when he flattens my hand against him. He exhales long and low before rolling to his side.

I roll to mine to allow room for us both in such a small space. Everywhere our bodies align feels like flames eating away at my skin. I'm not patient enough for this.

"Will you stay?" he whispers.

"Stay?"

Marcello's eyes close and the length of his long eyelashes curl against his tan cheeks. I tuck my hands under my face to keep from stroking every perfect inch of his unblemished skin. I'd wanted to bolt moments ago, but now... now I can't remember why I wanted to run from something that feels as good as this.

"It was a long few hours in a dark cell before this event today. I'm very exhausted," he continues. "Will you just lay here with me? I only want to rest for a moment." He stares back at me, waiting to see if I'll turn to mist under his touch and vanish.

"I'll stay."

"Perfect," he hums and I can already see a heaviness in his gaze as his eyes fall to half hooded. "Do you know that you have the most beautiful green eyes I've ever seen?" He yawns quietly. "Green like the freshly blooming gardens outside the castle." His eyes start to close.

"Marcello?" I whisper.

"Hmm?" He doesn't even open his eyes.

"Are you the prince?"

He stays still. His mouth draws into a slight grin. "I wish I could tell you."

***

Claws come out at night. Under the moon there's the slice of a glistening blade against my skin and the hot sting of blood. My blood. Arron’s blood. I can't really be sure. But I know that it's wrong. I know we've been lied to and whether it was intentional or not it's made this night so much harder.

Teeth gnash against flesh and when my dagger finds the beast's thick hide and bounces away as if it's nothing, the animal turns on me. An upward swipe and my face is on fire. I stumble back, my feet sliding in the grass slick with dew. The wolf snaps its jaws.

Somewhere underneath the full moon, somewhere inside that horrid creature, is half a Human. The Human inside of him doesn't exist right now. Maybe if he wasn't fully turned he'd know to stop. Maybe it would slow him. Or maybe he knows exactly what he is doing.

My fingers, coated in my own blood, find my second dagger. I look behind the approaching monster. Arron lays impossibly still, his head pulled to the side. My eyes sting with the pinpricks of threatening tears.

The wolf snarls and spit flies. It prowls closer leaving footprints behind where grass is crushed under its massive weight. There are more teeth in its mouth than I have time to count and its eyes follow me. I make a move to pull my second dagger from the sheath. The wolf lunges.

As the knife comes from my belt it slips from my fingers and the claws come down on me.

I fling my hands out, fighting to push the weight of the wolf off of me. The sounds of the night are fading away, replaced with the regular chatter of the Safe Haven. Reality comes slowly trudging back, but the hands on me still feel like claws.

My chest rises and falls with panicked breaths. It takes a moment for me to realize I'm pressed against a solid chest, that a hand strokes down my hair and a lyrical voice whispers into my ear. "You're fine. It's me. Everything's okay. It was just a dream. It's not real. You're here with me. Just breathe. I'll keep you safe. You're safe." One word after another, Marcello presses his cheek against mine.

No longer am I laying next to him on the cot, but I'm curled up inside of his lap. Marcello rocks gently, still whispering to me as my heartbeat finds a gentle and steady rhythm. His hands choke the life from me everywhere he touches me. I struggle to pull away from him, pushing until I'm falling from his lap and onto the floor.

The skin on my face feels tight and dry from tears I've cried in my sleep. I drag my sleeve over my cheeks as I get my feet under me and back away. "Don't touch me!"

Marcello holds his hands up. "I won't." Every inch of my skin feels hot and all the