Chapter 5

Styx

Beautiful.

Voluptuous.

Innocent.

Hell. There was no such thing as a single innocent human being. Everyone carried a massive secret of dark need clawing at their insides. Everyone also had a fine line where the strength of their learned humanity could easily be crushed.

Still, I couldn't seem to rid myself of the thought the beautiful girl didn't deserve the wrath being formed like an ominous cloud over her head. What was the point in taking her right now or at all for that matter? From what information I'd learned about her life as well as that of her ruthless and savagely brutal father, if his daughter was taken, he'd easily get over it. No love lost there.

However, something didn't add up and I always followed my instincts. Still, touching and tasting her was against my rules.

As well as my better judgment.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I'd come to terms with Liam's eye for an eye mentality, but I still had a feeling I was missing something. I'd spent two weeks ignoring the man's constant emails and calls while attempting to learn everything I could about the engaging woman. That had led to me breaking my rules established in blood. But the taste had been… magnifico.

After that, I'd done nothing more than follow her. Okay, in some circles, I'd be called a stalker although I preferred the term ‘protector.' The time had allowed me to regain control of my needs.

Yet I'd be damned if I didn't want to sully her all over again, stripping what could be left of her innocence away. I took a deep breath, able to catch a hint of her sweet perfume. Did she know I was lurking in the darkness, my hunger increasing?

Fuck. I needed to pull out of this ridiculous haze.

I'd never been accused of having the patience of a saint. Not even once in my life. Tonight had been trying in every way.

Even the cackling laughter of the other women sitting around the firepit had become grating, which usually pushed me into doing my job.

Which was killing people, and I was paid extremely well for my expertise.

Tonight? That was to eliminate a single victim.

Only the fact I was having a difficult time prevented me from reacting as I normally would. The girl had already gotten under my skin, and I continued to believe women were precious fruit to be adored as well as tasted.

It wasn't the same reason I hadn't experienced any joy in slaughtering Michael. This was entirely different, as if my world had shifted on its axis. All because I'd caught Emily on the street that night, now almost two and a half weeks before.

My client was at the point of begging me to take the contract, which involved her father suffering because of his sins. But she truly was so innocent. My beautiful angel.

The moment I'd laid eyes on the girl what now seemed like months before, I'd wanted to learn more about her. Instead of finishing the job as I usually would in record time, I'd allowed myself to discover more about her. Especially after the night when I'd almost revealed myself to her before she'd scampered off, the lucky girl catching a bus. That had pissed me off almost as much as everything else had.

Her father was the bastard who deserved to die, not this sweet, innocent flower.

There was so much more to Emily Martin than I'd initially been led to believe. She had been considered a child prodigy in music, learning to play the piano at the age of three, the violin at five. She was highly intelligent, although I sensed socially inept, as clearly indicated by her lackluster social media sites. Other than having coffee with one of the three friends at the Vanilla Bean, a corner joint near her father's home, she hadn't done what other young women of her age usually did. Shopping. Sports. Movies. Clubs.

There'd been none of that. Just playing music.

Which I'd enjoyed tremendously, sitting in the back of the old church while she'd practiced. She hadn't noticed me or if she had, she certainly hadn't acted frightened that I'd taken it upon myself to follow her where I should have simply finished the job and called it a day.

No, something was off about the entire scenario.

She was here without her usual bodyguards, which clearly meant she'd lied to her father about where she was going. Or she'd snuck out of the house. Either way, that meant my angel had a very naughty side, one I planned on exploiting. Not erasing from this godforsaken earth.

Was it possible there was a scrap of humanity left inside of me? I resisted laughing. Nope. I'd even allowed myself to become mesmerized by the dark fantasy she'd mentioned. My throbbing cock was proof enough she'd managed to push me into an aroused state. No woman had managed to do that in a long time.

Fuck. Her voice was like silky smoke inside a jazz club, the sultry sound something I could listen to for days. The fantasy she'd shared had been as unexpected as almost everything else about her. While I wanted to say my desires for her were pure, that would be another lie I told myself.

And I hated liars of any kind. That had been instilled in me from the beginning.

Something dark and dangerous had bridged the surface, the longing to taste her, touch and fuck her keeping me locked into a crazy yet magical spell.

I'd felt the very moment of being drawn into the darkness she'd whispered, her longing for the touch of a sadistic man awakening the savage inside of me. It had taken every ounce of the patience I'd had to keep from dragging her off into the forest, providing her with the exact fantasy she'd presented in vivid coloration.

Unfortunately, the fact she was with three other women made that impossible.

But I'd realized at that very moment that a part of me had awakened from the dead. All I wanted to do was capture her innocence, breaking her into small pieces, fracturing her sweet soul before making it mine. All mine. I knew what I was thinking and what a part of me wanted to do was evil, dangerous even to my world, but I wasn't certain I gave a damn any longer.

I'd been forced to admit it prior to arriving at the posh campfire site that I'd become obsessed with the woman, so much so I intended on making her my possession.

My mind had been made up before I'd come here, but now wasn't the time. Not quite yet. I enjoyed the game of watching and stalking, the excitement finally returning. Even now, my cock was completely hard, more so than normal. I even felt pain, but the discomfort was a welcome relief from the deadness I'd experienced inside for far too long.

She was the reason for it.

I had to wait. To have patience. Kidnapping her here would only lead to the kind of questions that I wouldn't have answers to.

Would not killing her void the contract? Yes, but what the fuck did I care? I had more money than God. Besides, I'd kill the bastard of a father who spawned her instead as a consolation prize. That's what my client really wanted, to take the rich and prominent Gideon Martin down. The best way to do that was to carve out his eyes with a spoon. I shrank back into the darkness, trying my best to wait until the other women grew tired, retiring to their opulent tents for the night. I had a feeling given their animation it would take a while.

My Emily, my sweet innocent angel was worth the wait.

Before I'd realized, two hours had passed. Two hours of doing nothing but hiding in the freaking woods pretending I was a voyeur instead of an assassin. Maybe I did need a vacation.

Oh, who was I kidding? I couldn't last a day on some goddamn beach with a frilly drink in my hand.

When I heard a cracking sound from disturbed limbs coming from only a few yards away, I realized just how badly I was off my game. I swung around, snagging one of three weapons I'd brought with me in seconds.

When three men pushed their way toward the fire, I was more than fucking annoyed. Who the hell were these assholes and what were they doing interrupting my space and my time?

Huffing, I slunk further into the darkness. My sweet Emily didn't have a boyfriend, but the other women did.

"What are you doing here?" the one named Cara yelped as she jerked up, oh-so excited to see the dude who reminded me of some genderless model, the kind of pretty required for magazines. What in God's name did a woman see in a man like that?

"We thought we'd surprise you," the sexless dude told her. "Come here, baby. We have some catching up to do."

I could instantly tell how annoyed my sweet Emily was by the tension in her shoulders. That made me even angrier.

The rage sweeping through me was so fucking intense I could do something stupid like firing off a couple of shots. Exhaling, I backed down, waiting and watching.

Another ten minutes went by, the three couples finally trailing off one by one, leaving my sweet Emily all by herself. I should kill all six of them for that alone. No, nothing that messy was called for, at least not right now.

At least I had a few minutes of basking in her beauty as she remained by the fire. I wasn't entirely certain how long she'd waited by the dying flames. Perhaps she was enjoying the warmth or thinking of the new life she was headed for in a couple of weeks. New York City. The Big Apple. The place where not all dreams came true.

In my mind, the place was filthy, somewhere only rats deserved to live and there were plenty of them in the boroughs and on the crowded city streets. I understood her desire to leave home. God knew I did, the orchestra she'd been hired to serve arguably the best in the country, but it was too dangerous for someone so innocent and sweet.

She could get eaten alive by predators.

The thought wasn't lost on my sick sense of humor. I was the ultimate predator.

I hadn't been prepared for her to jerk up, immediately taking long strides toward her private tent, which was the farthest one away from the fire, the very one enshrouded in darkness. The other three girls had selected the better accommodations, which made me incensed more than I should be. However, Emily Rose Martin deserved the best.

Exhaling, I was sad my night was coming to a close. But I had other business to attend to prior to bringing her to my private island. The Boston estate simply wouldn't do for my angel.

I was about to turn, heading back the way I came through the woods when I heard something, the sound instantly setting off red flags.

She was struggling with someone.

What the fuck?

No one hurt my girl. No one.

I quietly made my way toward the tent just in time to catch sight of my sweet Emily pitching one of the boys away.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Tyler?"

Tyler. I'd done my research on everyone connected to Emily. She couldn't know he was a rapist, shielded by his daddy's wealth.

"Come on, Em. Don't be such a bitch. You know you want it."

I bristled hearing the exchange, a cold chill coursing down my spine, which wasn't in anyone's best interest.

Especially the fucker who'd dare accost her.

"You're out of your fucking mind. And you're drunk. Go sleep it off with your girlfriend, my best friend. Remember?"

"Come on, baby. Just one kiss." He cupped her face, trying to pull her closer.

I had to give my girl credit. When she hauled off and punched him, I had another smile on my face. There were more surprises with the dazzling woman than I'd originally believed.

"Get away from me and stay away or I'll tell Cara." She stormed into her tent and I dared the kid to follow her.

"Bitch," he said, swaying slightly as he remained where he was. Then he turned abruptly, walking toward the woods. I watched in silence as he lit up a cigarette, taking several puffs.

Nasty habit, although I did enjoy my Cuban cigars from time to time.

He didn't hear my approach, which is what I intended of course. He also didn't have a chance to cry out before I had my arm wrapped around his neck, pulling him onto his toes seconds before I raked my knife from one ear to another.

Now this asshole I would have enjoyed taking my time to gut.

"Didn't you know smoking would eventually kill you one day?"

After his body went limp, I tossed him aside, tamping out his cigarette.

I waited until there was no sound coming from anywhere, except for the slight baying of wolves in the distance. Only then did I slide into the tent, slowly walking toward the bed. It would be so easy to put a bullet in her head, to end this obsession.

But not only had she become my addiction, she'd also become my curse. So be it.

I took a few seconds admiring her from where I was standing before hunkering down. Her breathing was fitful, her body shifting back and forth. When a slight moan escaped her mouth, every muscle tensed.

"No, I…" she whispered before shoving down the sheets and blankets covering her. She was wearing cute hot pink shorts and a tank top, the thin material unable to hide the shape of her voluptuous breasts. She kicked the covers down even further, twisting her head to the side and pressing her fingers across her lips.

What she did next couldn't have been any more delightful. She licked her fingers then slid them under the elastic of her shorts. I was completely mesmerized as I'd been that night, fighting hard against the desires tearing through me.

God, she was beautiful.

"Mmmm… Lick me." Her whisper was almost inaudible, but I managed to capture the three little words, which created a racing vibration in my heart. She lifted her leg, her bent knee finally released from the covering.

She was wet, the sweet scent of her luscious pussy embroiling my senses.

As she stroked herself, I only hoped she wasn't dreaming about the fuck in the woods. That made me want to kill him all over again.

Her slight moans continued and I couldn't help myself, palming my aching erection. Goddamn, if the woman only knew what she did to me. She thrashed more violently until I reached out, rubbing the rough pads of my fingers down her cheek. "Rest, sweet girl. Just rest."

I was rewarded with the flutter of her eyelids, her eyes opening slightly and a smile crossing her face. As if she knew I was here. Watching her. Protecting her.

"My beautiful Emily. Soon you'll belong to me."

"Mmm…"

I brushed my fingers down her arm, savoring the electric sensations shifting from one to the other of us. I sensed she could feel the connection we shared as well, every sound an affirmation that she knew somewhere in her mind that she belonged to me.

Yet she would be punished for thinking of another, the fucking prick who'd almost attacked her getting what he deserved. I fisted my hand, fighting the urge to destroy more lives. I'd never been a man to follow my emotions. They weren't allowed. They were useless in my world, a weakness, but I needed a release. Something that would keep me on track.

When she pulled her other hand from inside her shorts to her stomach, I risked everything by sliding my fingers under her wrist, lifting her arm and bringing it closer. I took a deep whiff, almost instantly intoxicated from the scent of her sweet pussy.

Moments later, I could tell she'd fallen into a deep sleep, her breathing returning to a soft and even sound. I tugged the covers up to her shoulders before easing to the chair positioned only a few feet away.

"Rest, my sweet angel. Soon, you'll belong to me."

I'd allow myself a few more minutes of indulgence.

To plan.

To hunger.

And to grasp and mold the insanity of what I was determined to do.

To make her mine against the odds, feeding the darkness, the sickness ebbing and flowing inside. My father had called it inevitable, a man needing something he couldn't avoid any more than he could breathing. I not only craved her. I needed her.

She was the light to my darkness, the sweet whisper of salvation that I'd been searching for.

My angel.

Yet I would certainly enjoy every moment of deflowering her, using her for anything and everything I wanted.

Yes, I was a famished man.