Escaping The Beast: A Darkhills Romance (The Darkhills Series Book 2) by Elizabeth Greene (young adult books to read TXT) 📕

marble, each ridge of his stomach rolled down into the next until forming into a precise V that disappeared beneath his tailored suit trousers. Her heart was in her throat and every cell in her body was telling her to reach out and touch the fine specimen before her. Her eyes traced over his exposed body once more and this time landed squarely on a red line that ran from his ribcage down to just above his navel. The wound was still open and was weeping some kind of black oily liquid. The skin around the wound was swollen and red. Whatever had caused the injury had clearly also caused an infection. Her hand reached out to lightly touch the angry skin to see if it felt hot. Her wrist was clasped firmly in one of his large warm hands.

“Don’t touch it.”

Katherine looked up from where she knelt at his feet and found his solid dark eyes looking at her with his usual intensity.

“Why? It looks infected, does it feel hot?”

“Dragon poison can burn the skin upon contact with the strength of a thousand suns, so please, Katherine, don’t touch it.”

“Oh my God, what can I do?” Katherine’s eyes widened as she stood, ready to fetch whatever it was that would help.

“You can do nothing, I will heal given a little time.” Lucian gazed into her eyes, his hand still wrapped around her wrist.

“Lucian, you were worried about a few scrapes on me but you expect me to be unconcerned that you have a poisoned wound that must be causing you agony.” Katherine stepped forward to argue.

“It doesn’t cause me the same level of pain that it would cause you. My body is already purging the poison from my system, please believe me; I will be fine.” His dark features held stoically in the face of her opposition.

“How do I know you will be fine? What makes you be OK with this kind of injury but I’d be in agony if I were to touch it?” Katherine’s other hand darted downward to try and feel her way along his ribcage. She didn’t even see him move but she found both her hands firmly grasped and pinned against his chest.

“Because I am not like you, Katherine-”

“Well I figured that much out for myself; you move faster than I ever thought possible, you speak telepathically with dragons and you’re capable of carrying me all the way back here while sporting a hugely infected wound.” Katherine narrowed her eyes as she looked up at him. “Who or what are you, Lord Nightingale?”

He looked down at her, his eyes darting from each of hers before a shroud of heavy resolution dropped over his expression. He tugged her closer, pressing her against his chest making the air leave her in a gasp. He lowered his face to hers, his eyes so close that she could see her own stubborn reflection staring back at her in his dark depths.

“I am a vampire, Miss Daxton.” His voice low and deadly.

“And what? Is that supposed to intimidate me?” Katherine snorted back.

OK, so in truth, it did intimidate her, he frightened the life out of her but when she was threatened she had a tendency to become more stubborn, her poker face becoming one of arrogance and superiority.

“It should,” he ground out, his lips a breath away from hers.

“Well I hate to break it to you, buddy, but you don’t scare me. I just saw an actual, fire-breathing dragon, one that you fought off to protect me. You’re on my team,” katherine argued back.

She could feel the adrenaline pounding through her veins as she faced off with a man who had the ability to frustrate her, scare her and cause her heart to thrum like a bass drum all in equal measures.

“Perhaps I’m simply possessive. Perhaps I wanted my prey back where I could keep her tied up, so I could feed on her whenever and wherever I wish,” his voice became a promising whisper as he dipped his head lower to run his lips over the sensitive skin on her neck.

Katherine shivered as she felt his hot breath against her skin and she fought with her own instinct to squirm in his hold. He was trying to intimidate her and she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her fear.

“If that were the case we would be having this conversation in some dungeon, and I don’t see any chains holding me down, Lucian.” Katherine said quietly, she didn’t trust her voice not to give her away so she gritted her teeth and continued,  “Instead, I woke up in a bed that smelt of you, and you practically begged for me to explain to you why I left. A monster who only wanted an easy meal, wouldn’t beg.”

“Perhaps I prefer comfortable surroundings when I feed,” Lucian countered his mouth back to being just a breath away from touching hers, “Perhaps I don’t want an easy meal.” Lucian moved forwards, forcing her to step back until her legs hit the edge of the bed. “Perhaps I prefer the thrill of the chase, the challenge of understanding my prey’s strengths and weaknesses,” His teeth lightly grazed her bottom lip and a sharp pang of need struck her, “Perhaps the challenge makes the feast all the more satisfying.”

“Perhaps you should stop talking and put your mouth to better use.” Katherine husked before she ran her tongue across his upper lip, unable to resist a small taste of him.

Lucian groaned, his tongue lightly swiping against hers before she found herself falling backwards onto the bed. His dark eyes were no longer distant and cold, a hunger stirred in their depths and Katherine found herself desperate for more of those looks. Lucian climbed onto the bed his shoulders rolling as he stalked his way up to straddle her. She had never been more nervous and excited, the anticipation of whatever would happen next caused her body to sing with baited need. She was fairly