Mask of Poison (Fall of Under Book 1) by Kathryn Kingsley (great novels to read txt) 📕

But he didn’t squeeze. He just made the silent promise that he might.

Her heart was pounding in her ears. She knew she’d die from the hungering dead eventually. But never in a million years did she think she would die like this.

He shifted his thin body against hers. He was little more than a skeleton, and she shuddered at the sensation. He pressed the forehead of his mask against her temple. “I have a world I’d like to destroy. Maybe that’s why I’m back. Maybe that’s why they’ve been given to me. To tear this world apart, tooth and claw.”

She could only shiver at the sound of loathing in his voice.

“I think I’ll take you with me. You can be my spunky sidekick while I destroy Under at its very core. But first, I think I’d rather like to taste you, little dove. We were so rudely interrupted last time.” He pulled his mask from his face with his free hand.

She froze. His pale, yellow eyes watched her reaction to him carefully, as if eager to see what she might do.

She had seen him once already, but it had been so dark she hadn’t been able to see much detail. Only that his face looked as though it had been torn to pieces by an angry animal.

She furrowed her brow. She distinctly remembered being able to see the tendons of his cheek. But now, it was mostly grown over with new skin. His face was still torn to shreds, but…not as bad. “You’re…healing?”

“I am? Oh, fantastic.” He grinned. His teeth were white, and she could see his pointed fangs. They were just a hair longer than the rest of his teeth, and just a bit too sharp. “I would love it if I could, y’know, have all my organs again. They’re really underrated things.”

One of his eyes was bisected with a thin white line. The three gashes she had seen before that ran down one half his face were still there, cutting down to the bone. She cringed at how painful it must be.

He frowned. Part of his lip was still missing. “I’m hideous, aren’t I? I knew it…disfigured and horrible.” He winced. If she didn’t know better, he might be tearing up. “Fine. Fine.” He grimaced, and she watched as his fangs grew longer, extending from his jaw as if by command. The hand at her throat was against her cheek then, turning her face away from him and pressing her head to the wall. “I won’t make you look.”

“I—it wasn’t—it isn’t—” She grabbed on to him, trying to push him away. It was useless.

“Shush. You’re trying to be nice. I appreciate that.” She felt his hot breath against her throat as he leaned in close. “No need to lie to spare my feelings.”

She gasped as he ran his tongue along her neck, tracing the tendon from her shoulder to her ear. She couldn’t help but shiver at the sensation. “Please—” she whispered.

“Look at you, bursting out in goosebumps…” His voice dropped low, growing soft and thick like rich velvet. He scraped his teeth against her throat. She jolted at the sensation, her body shuddering against her will. The feeling of it made her head spin. “You like being touched, don’t you, little dove?” he purred. “Good…”

“I don’t want to die—”

“You won’t. I promise. I can be very gentle. You might even get addicted to this. I know I will.” He placed a slow, sensual kiss against her throat in the hollow of her ear, before leaving a trail of them down to the tender part of her neck. He rolled his tongue in a slow circle there, lavishing her, savoring her.

A strange sound came from him. Something deep and rumbling, like the purr of a cat, but much lower. It sent a thrill up her spine. She was clinging to him, but she wasn’t sure if she was even trying to push him away anymore. She just needed something to hold on to.

And still, that purr came from his chest. It soothed her fear. It made her thoughts swim.

“That’s it…good, little dove. So good. It won’t hurt. You’re going to love it. I promise.” Sharp fangs grazed her skin. She felt them there, two needle-like knives, waiting to strike.

She was dizzy. She felt thrown over the edge of a cliff.

“Rxa, enough!”

In a flash of white light, she could only watch as something ripped through the corpses faster than she could see. When it settled, Lyon was standing there in the middle of the clearing, blood dripping from his golden claws. “Let her go, Rxa.”

“I was so close!” Rxa tilted his head back and let out a loud, annoyed groan. “Damn it, Lyon, you overgrown wet blanket. How many times have I told you? Interrupting somebody while they’re feeding is incredibly rude.” He stepped away from the wall, and for a split second she was free. She punched him in the side as hard as she could.

And her hand went into him.

She felt it sluice through muscle and touch his ribs. But there was shockingly little resistance as she found herself with her hand inside the man’s side.

“Well, this is a unique sensation. Ow.” Rxa laughed. “I mean, if you wanted to fuck me, you could have just asked, sweet dove.”

She pulled her hand out of him with a thick, wet slurping noise. “Ooh, gods…oh, gods—”

“That good, huh?” Rxa cackled.

He whirled toward her, but she ducked away before she could see what he planned. She wasn’t going to stick around to find out. She ran for Lyon. It was only when she was standing near the King of Blood that she turned back to see what had happened.

Rxa was facing them now, looking down at the hole in his side. He poked at it idly a few times. “But…I just grew that liver. Ember, why are you so mean to me? I didn’t even do anything!” he whined.

Ember flicked her hand, trying to get some of the yellow-black gore