Bound by Sin: The Beginning of a Prophecy (Prophecy #3) (9 page)

The huge man moved on
to the car on the other side of him and punched through the windshield. Horns were blaring, people were screaming. Colton floored the accelerator, slamming into the back of a sedan in front of us. Our tires squealed as Colton tried to find a way to get us out of there. Several people jumped out of their cars, darting between vehicles and running in all directions.

The hairs on my arm stood on end.
I was screaming at Colton, my nails had dug into his forearm, and I had managed to crawl out of my seat on top of the console in an effort to put as much distance as possible between me and the path of the man. I watched, absolutely mortified as the man picked up the body of another woman whose neck he’d snapped. He tenderly brushed her brown hair to the side and placed his mouth to her neck. The muscles in his jaw flinched, and I realized he was biting her. The man lowered his head, craning it to the side as he pulled his blood-covered mouth away from the woman’s neck, and then his eyes locked on our car. His stare honed in on me and one side of his mouth slowly pulled up into a twisted smile. His teeth had a thick red film coating them, and when he opened his mouth to laugh a long string of blood stretched from the middle of his top lip to the middle of his bottom.

“Oh, fucking hell!” I cried out, forcing the vomit that was bubbling up my throat back down.

Just then, the light changed. Colton veered around a car that had been abandoned and we sped away.

My heart was thumping so hard in my chest, every few beats it would skip and then race again. “What – the – hell just happened?”

Colton shook his head. His knuckles were white from where he’d been gripping the steering wheel.

“
People’ve lost their damn minds!” I said, still shaking.

That night I asked Jared to stay with me. Between everything with Brooke, the funerals, and the madness that I’d seen on the way home, I had an anxiety attack just thinking about being
by myself. Before bed we turned the television on and, much to my surprise, every station had been taken over by the news.

It appeared that the
mass killing earlier wasn’t an isolated event. All over the country, people had been going on killing sprees. It was absolutely insane. Reporters were actually urging people to stay inside and lock their doors. They couldn’t rule out terrorists or a massive cult movement; the world had literally lost its fucking mind.

I laid
in the bed, my mind racing, spinning, tripping over itself trying to make sense out of everything. After hours of replaying the past few days in my head, I drifted off to sleep.

I woke
to my entire apartment shaking. The window rattled, the pictures on my dresser toppled over. There was a deep roar coming from all around me as the shaking grew more violent. The wall split, cracks reaching out in all directions in the sheetrock. Sitting up, I grabbed on to the mattress. Jared jumped up, yanking me out of the bed and bringing me into the doorway. Within a few seconds everything became still.

Holding my
hand over my chest, I panted, “What the fuck?”

“Earthquake.” Jared said, completely calm.

I was shaking uncontrollably. “An earthquake… in Atlanta?”

Jared shrugged and plopped back down in my bed. “Well, you know, it’s the end of
the world. What’d you expect?” He laughed, running his tongue ring across his teeth as he stared at me, smiling. “Weather’s crazy. You know, winter vortex and all… just gonna get worse.” His lips curled up, the corners causing deep crevices in his face.

I’d never been one to beli
eve in the entire “the end is nigh” thing, but the way he said it gave me chills.

Brooke

Chapter
Eleven

September 19, 2014

The smell of melted plastic filled the room. I walked through the suite into the kitchen. Gavin was leaning over a pot, smoke rising around him. He glanced back at me and I walked beside him.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Burning anything with my name on it.” He stared down into the steel pot. “We should probably leave tomorrow. Drive over to Dover and take a ferry across to France.”

“Why?”

He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have used my card to pay for this room, or that flight. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

Leaning against the granite count
ertop, I said, “Okay. So how are we gonna pay for anything?”

His lips turned up into a soft smile and his fingers lightly stroked along the side of my cheek. “You shouldn’t worry about that.”

Rage trickled through my veins as I stared at him. I was suddenly so angry at him. Angry because of what he’d done, of the position I’d been put in, and I was terrified of death. I had waves of hating him, usually followed by guilt for feeling that way. One minute I was absolutely perfect, content within his embrace, and then the next I just wanted to beat my fists on his chest and yell at him for doing this to me. The thing that outraged me the most was the fact that he could stop this. That he could turn me into something that would never be bothered with death, and he refused. I was only human, and the reality of death was something I’d have given anything to avoid.

I sat down on
a barstool. My eyes filled with pleading tears. “I just don’t understand why you won’t save me!”

Gavin slowly turned from the stove. His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. “
Save
you?”

I wiped the tears from the corner
s of my eyes and stared coldly at him. “Yeah, save me. What? You not ready for that kind of commitment or something. How could you be so
selfish
? I thought you loved me, Gavin?” That comment was a jab at him and he knew it.

He took heavy s
teps toward me, predatory steps, claiming steps. “Stand up,” he growled. The perfect olive coloring of his skin flushed red.

My heart felt like it may
rupture at any moment. His demeanor was beyond intimidating as he stalked toward me. Reaching down, he forcefully grabbed my shoulders and jerked me to my feet. I felt myself go limp as he pulled me to him, inching his face toward mine, his eyes flaming with anger and hurt.

“
Save you
?” His voice became deep and rough. His pupils dilated and warm air blew hard from his nose across my skin. “Don’t act like it’s that easy. You’ve no idea. No
damn
idea what internal hell
you’re
putting me through.” His eyes darkened and he growled, “Commitment? You’ve not the slightest idea of the ‘commitment’ allowing myself to give into you – to love you has caused. I’ve made a commitment that
shames
any mortal ideas of what loyalty truly is. The question is, what part of you would you have me save, your life or your soul? Because I can’t save both, Brooke,” he said through gritted teeth.

His eyes shifted to my mouth and he released one of his hands from my shoulder. His fingertip pressed down
firmly on my bottom lip, his eyes narrowing as he stared at my mouth. “I could damn you with me, make you immortal and we could be together, entwined within an ageless love.”

Gavin brought his m
outh to mine and kissed me tenderly. The warmth of his kiss fell over me and the tension in my body faded into a weightless oblivion. “Sounds utterly romantic, aye?” he asked, his lips crushing against mine as he spoke. His thick tongue crept into my mouth, lapping against the ridges of its roof.

Drawing
in a quick breath from me, he pulled away just as his hand found its way into my hair. Gathering it up in his palm, he forcefully tugged my head back. His mouth met the flesh of my neck and his grip on my hair tightened, twisting it as his full bottom lip rubbed up toward my jaw. His breath was heavy and rushed into my ear as he bit down on my skin.

The
feeling of his perfectly straight teeth scraping against my skin once caused only a surge of arousal to course through me, but now that sensation struck a twinge of fear and apprehension. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time, knowing that having his lips that close to my flesh made him shove an innate desire to kill me deep inside. His teeth sank a little deeper into my flesh and my breathing became uneven. I swallowed, trying to calm my nerves.
He won’t let me die. He won’t kill me. He’ll save me.
My fingers curled into my palms and sweat quickly formed against my fingertips. Gavin let out a soft groan; his teeth clamped down and grinded my skin back and forth. I kept waiting for the feel of his teeth breaking the surface of my skin, and I grew lightheaded from the fear I couldn’t seem to control. A sated moan vibrated against my neck, and then he released my flesh from his grip.

Keeping his mouth
pressed against my skin as he spoke, he panted between each word he uttered, his whisper coated with want. “The restraint I’ve had to not take you – I’m not going to lie, love, at times it’s been almost
unbearable
. The taste of you …” he groaned again. “The way you fucking taste – my God.” He panted out a long hot breath on my neck, almost like he was trying to warm my skin up to just the right temperature.

My breath caught and Gavin
quickly moved his face in front of mine. Leveling his eyes on mine, they burned into me. “You will never know grace, only darkness, and you’ll be forced to become a murderer. You don’t want that.”

Realizing he was
more in control than I’d hoped and that he wouldn’t turn me, my heart sank. “You don’t know what I want!” I snapped back at him.

A devilish smile chased across his mouth. “I don’t?” His hand slowly fell from my shoulder and reached between my thighs. His fingertip traced along the inside of my panties. “I think you should just go ahead and realize I know
exactly
what you want, and I know what’s best for you.” His finger found its way inside of me and Gavin pressed his body against mine. “And for now… I’m only concerned with saving your soul,
not
damning it.”

Gavin reached his arm around my back, pulling me into him tightly and holding me
. His eyes studied me while his hand traveled underneath my shirt and unfastened my bra. The sensation of his touch caused a heated flush to spread across my skin. He pulled the strap from each of my shoulders and then reached underneath the front of my shirt to pull my bra out. Pushing his body against mine, he bent down to kiss me. His hands forced the top of my pants over my hips, and they fell around my feet to the floor. His kiss became harder, more desperate, and I clumsily pushed my panties down.

The way he could make my body
need
him still amazed me.

Grabbing
my waist, he lifted me up and set me on top of the island behind him. The cold granite sent a chill up my spine, causing my back to draw in.

Gavin pulled his shirt over his head,
and tossed it to the floor as he loosened the string on his sweatpants, letting them fall to his feet. I’d lost count of how many times I’d seen this man naked, and it still made my breath catch every time.

His eyes locked onto mine as he knelt down in front of me. Spreading my thighs apart with his hands, his tongue found its way between my legs. The warmth of his caress enve
loped me; his tongue gave tender lashes inside me, around me, over me, while his hands gripped onto my hips, kneading my flesh with his fingers. The deep groans that escaped him every so often added to the sensuality of him fucking me with his mouth.

He gave one hard and long lick while he stared up at me.
The way he looked at me with a deep-seated, primal stare made me feel like I was the only thing on this earth that could give him what he needed. Pressing my thighs farther apart, he moved his face back between my legs, stopping and looking up at me as he gritted his teeth and said, “The way I want you –” His tongue dove back into me, making small circles before he pulled away once more and continued, “– is a damn sin.” He rose and placed the tip of his head at my entrance. “The sweetest temptation,” he groaned against my neck as he pushed himself into me. I let out a soft, helpless sigh from the initial gratification of feeling him inside me.

Gavin placed his hands underneath my ass and picked me up onto him. I wrapped my legs around him and dug my heels into the meat of his hips.

Pressing into me, he moved his arms up to my shoulders, forcing me down harder on top of him. Gavin’s head tilted back, his eyes closed, and his lips parted faintly while a whisper of a smile crossed his lips. “I’d damn my soul all over again just for this moment with you. You could be poison and I’d gladly drink you in.”

His fingers dug into my flesh and he drove himself in
to me with passionate movements, ravishing my body like I was the only thing that could give him life. Making love to me with his words, he walked around to the dining room table and laid me down. The warm sun from the window fell over my bare body and shadowed his face in the most perfect light. Pulling my leg up, he placed my heel on his shoulder. His hands skimmed down my thigh, gripping my skin; groping up my stomach to my breasts, then his fingers stroked the side of my neck. “Death,” he whispered, staring intently at me. “I’d welcome death if it meant I would be promised just
one
more
day with you.”

My pulse quickened and I fought back the torrent of emotions threatening to conquer me. The way he talked to me… I knew I meant that much to him
, and the idea of it was almost unbearable. This man, this immortal being loved me in a way I knew no one else ever could. Moving faster and harder, he caused my back to bow. His hands reached underneath the small of my back, slipping over the sweat forming all over me as he pulled me back up on top of him. He carried me toward the living room and stopped in the hallway. That wicked smile of his formed on his face and he slammed my body against the wall. His knees bent slightly and he angled himself deeper inside of me, to the point he couldn’t physically get any deeper in me. One of his hands held my leg to my chest and the other dug into the meat of my hip.

The stubble on his face brushed against my cheek with each thrust. Heat spread across
my body, pricking flames along its way, and I felt every muscle inside of me tighten up, lighting on fire. Tracing his fingers down to my breast, he pinched the bead of my nipple between his fingers and twisted lightly. The warmth of his mouth laid over my neck and he bit down gently as he panted and groaned with each movement. Each time he’d push into me, he did it harder, rawer – more like he couldn’t fill me enough. Releasing his hold on my leg, he pushed me down onto the marbled floor, positioning himself over me and pressing my thighs apart as he shoved my knees up to my chest. My legs involuntarily tried to close, but his arms held them apart as he continued to please me with each hard movement.

I opened my eyes and watched as he leaned slowly down toward my face. The cool metal of his necklace rested between my breasts, brushing against my skin with delicate movements each time he drove himself into me. His eyes focused on mine and his bottom lip rolled under his teeth. “I know your body bett
er than you do. Each indention, each groove of your skin. I own your obsession, your desires – I own
you
in a way no other being ever could.”

My extremities
tingled. A faint ringing formed in my ears, and an uncontrolled scream of pleasure escaped me. “I love you, Gavin,” I managed to pant while my body writhed beneath him. The flood of undeniable, relentless, and unmatched ecstasy shot through me, bringing me to the brink of absolute madness. My body convulsed as each last fiber of my being was drowned in the sensation of this man. From the way he could make me feel, I should’ve known he was sin, because nothing blessed could’ve felt so damn perfect. Only things forbidden and prohibited could coax pleasure this strong.

His head fell toward his chest
, and a deep groan echoed from the walls. His movements slowed and became less fluid. Releasing his grip on my knees, my legs fell weightlessly to the side. “And I love you,” he said.

Rising
, Gavin looked down at me and pushed a strand of loose hair behind his ear. “A mortal angel in love with an immortal demon. Such a shame.” He shook his head. “Such a pure emotion for a wicked creature. But hell itself wouldn’t be able to keep me from you, love.” He turned to walk away from me, but stopped. His eyes focused blankly in front of him and then they fell down to my face.

“Never have I experienced pleasure the way I have with you,” he said.

He closed his eyes. “Something about you, love, something about your touch, the taste of your kiss, the essence of your soul as it wraps around me sustains me. The demonic urges, the impulses I have – my carnal need for the immortality of man is almost subdued – somehow you sate the beast within me. Your body satisfies me in ways even I can’t completely understand.”

H
is breath drew in and his lips pressed together as he thought silently to himself. “It’s as though just being so close to you feeds me, sustains my very life.” Casting his eyes up and down my still naked body, he said, “It’s as though you’re my saving grace, a salvation from my darkness – and if that’s not true, love, I don’t know what is.”