Succubus Unchained - Heather Long Page 0,62

I had to. I wasn’t remotely hungry, but that didn’t stop me from dragging at him. His laughter chased me into unconsciousness as the world faded around me, even as I pulled and pulled.

It wasn’t going to be enough.

Dammit.

Power surged through me. A roar of pure fury followed by a flood of strength like I’d never felt. I dug my fingers into his neck, teeth gritting as my fingers rent into his flesh. It did nothing to dislodge him, so I grasped the wrist of the hand he was using to strangle me.

And I shattered it.

Anton’s shriek twined with Dorran’s until both threatened to pierce my ears from the volume, but I kept dragging it in, the raw, unfiltered, and untamed lust like a bad case of acid as I inhaled it. The moment shredded when Anton was suddenly yanked away from me and flung across the room.

There was a sickening crack of bones as his whole body hit the rock face. Gagging both from the crushing bruise on my throat and the intemperate emotions burning in my system, I could barely make out the remote and unforgiving expression on Alfred’s face before he turned all of his attention on Anton, who was currently picking his broken body up and staggering to his feet. The click and roll of bones grinding on each other in unpleasant ways echoed across the steamy room.

“Not Anton,” I rasped out. Fuck my throat hurt.

“I’m aware, Hellion.” Alfred’s presence seemed to fill the whole cavern as he faced off with broken puppet currently limping toward him, more dragging his right leg than actually using it to walk on.

I leaned against the wall, waging a battle to get my rioting system under control. My skin crawled from the amount of corrupted lust I’d taken in. If there was a way to vomit it out, I might be tempted to purge. But there was only riding out the worst of it. I’d done it before.

I could do it again.

“You overstep yourself,” Alfred—yes, I know he was still an asshole, but showing up when he did scratched him out a point, for now—didn’t look remotely disturbed. If anything, he seemed almost relaxed, and that was somehow a hell of a lot more unnerving. “There is a protocol to these things.”

“Is there?” Dorran smirked, but his puppet struggled to stay upright. Vampires could heal a lot of damage, but I didn’t want to think about how many broken bones Anton probably had at the moment. “The protocol would seem to be break in and take what you want. Why else do you have my prize?”

A soft chuckle slipped from Alfred, and I swore all the hair on my body stood up and my panties would probably have burned up—if I were wearing any.

“Your prize? I think not. Do you not see the mark, demon?” Conversational, almost droll Alfred was really doing something for me. I could practically taste the blood scenting the air. “Think you have a greater claim than a dragon?” He paused and shifted to stand almost sideways so he could glance at me. The weight of his gaze drifting over me was like a physical caress. “Or my own?” The last three words were leaden with meaning as he faced puppet Anton.

A scowl darkened his expression, and I swore I could actually see Dorran’s own features for a moment. “I had her first.”

“I don’t care.”

“I’m not a fucking bone to be fought over by the biggest dicks in the room,” I snapped, even if every single syllable grated like I’d swallowed gravel to get it out. I’d been sick of the conversation long before it got started. Now it was just insulting.

Dorran looked past Alfred to stare at me. “You’re going to come to me, Fiona. When you do, I’ll be waiting.”

The inky darkness seemed to cut at me, even from as far away as he was, the lash of it stroking down my arm. I jerked away from it just as Alfred pulled me to him and then flung something. Anton shrieked, the sound so awful, I cringed and fucking hid my head.

Yeah, call me a coward. It actually sounded like he was having the skin torn from his body, and I’d seen that before.

It wasn’t pretty.

Not even a little bit.

Alfred covered my ears with his hands, tugging me into him as the sound intensified around us, only to cut off abruptly as the scorching scent of sulfur stunk up the air. When I would