Destiny's Revenge (Destiny Series - Book 2) by Straight, Nancy (management books to read .TXT) 📕

pretty convincing Max. She took care of me, cleaned and dressed my wounds, offered to run away with me, and, oh, that’s right, she shared my bed last night.” I gripped the wall to steady myself as I envisioned the two of them in the throws of passion. My deepest love intertwined with my tormentor. I wanted him dead, more than dead – I wanted his existence erased.

“That isn’t possible. She would never believe that you were me. She can see through you. She can tell when you are within fifty feet of her, and I guarantee if you ever got within fifty yards, she would put a five inch hole through your chest. Keep talking, Samael. The more you lie to me the stronger you’ll make me.”

“So confident, are we? Maybe she did know it was me and not you. You do realize she has spent more time with me this lifetime than she has you. I’ve always wondered what would happen if I interfered, and after my evening with Lauren last night, I can only tell you that I regret not bedding her centuries ago.”

“Show yourself, you filthy animal. You can say anything you want in the dark, safely on the other side of the wall. You are nothing. You aren’t worth my time. She’ll find me; you know it, and so do I. When she does, there won’t be a dark enough, deep enough hole for you to slither into to save your sorry ass.”

“Oh, the consummate submissive mate, aren’t you? Waiting for your girlfriend to come to your rescue. Pretty pathetic really. If I didn’t already have plans for you, I might just do you the favor and end your sad little life right now. No, Max, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to be a little more patient with me. Don’t worry. After you’re gone, I’ll take really, really good care of our Lauren.”

I heard his footsteps walking away and knew I was again by myself. The warm glow I had felt before his arrival evaporated with him. I began to wonder if my link to Lauren was somehow now tied to him. The two of them together made me want to vomit. I was in a frenzy, my blood boiled, and I was in this dark vault that I had asked to be placed in. I screamed out, still holding the wall, I felt if I let go, part of me might disintegrate.

“Max, it is Renny. Can you hear me?” The voice was so crystal clear I looked in all directions, feeling the empty air with my hands to try to find her. Though I had heard her voice only days before, it was like the sound of an angel. I felt every inch of my chamber and knew she wasn’t with me, the madness must be taking hold. I smiled thinking to myself, I had imagined when I really did go mad, it would be Lauren’s voice I’d hear.

“You aren’t going mad yet, and Lauren isn’t a telepath.” She was speaking to me, she could hear my thoughts. “Do you know where you are?”

“Renny, yes, I’m in the old First Federal building downtown off of Church Street. Have you seen Lauren? That thing has her!”

“Max, calm down, Lauren is here with me – she is safe, we are coming to get you. Do not worry about your bargain with the Beast. He hurt Lauren, so he has no hold over you anymore. We will be there very soon.”

My mind raced, and I had a visual of the two of them in bed with him tearing her apart. Rewsna must have gotten the visual from my head, when she said, “Lauren did not show me the extent of her injuries, but she is safe and he is nowhere near her now.”

Rewsna spoke to me for the next twenty minutes, telling me I would be okay, letting me know that they were getting closer. I could see through Rewsna’s eyes as the three arrived to rescue me. Lauren was at the door and popped it open. The light flooded in and blinded me, the way it did when Samael opened the door to give me the supplies.

I didn’t know what emotion to feel first. Thrill that I was free, that Lauren was here with me, that she was protected by these people when I couldn’t protect her, anger that I had put myself in this situation, rage that Samael was still alive, or any other of the hundreds of thoughts swirling in my head.

Lauren came in and grabbed me hard. As my eyes adjusted, I noticed huge hand marks on her neck, bruises where someone had tried to choke the life out of her. I heard Samael’s voice as clearly as if he had been standing next to me whispering in my ear. “Ah, now we really can share her. Don’t be alarmed, Max, I asked you before we made our arrangement if you understood what it meant to be indentured. You willingly agreed. I knew one more encounter with Lauren, and she would take the strength I had left. You are mine. You belong to me, and I can live through you.”

I looked at Rewsna, my eyes wide with Samael’s words. I was horrorstruck. Lauren was talking, but I couldn’t understand her words. The next thing I knew she had pulled the vault’s door off by the hinges. Rewsna was paying no attention at all to the words racing through my mind.

Samael’s voice stung, “Every time you touch her, I, too, will feel her. We will share her. Don’t worry. When your mind has to rest, I can awaken. I can do things to Lauren that will make her beg for mercy, for hours on end. She’ll have the best of both worlds. Her sweet, loving Max that she has wanted for years during the day, and a demon that can cause pain in the most sadistic of manners in the bedroom at night. I