0748469001330321113 slavetoherdesires jillmyles by Jill Myles

flaring with new hatred every few minutes. David had misled me. He‘d led me to believe that I was safe with him, when I was no more than an asset with legs to be used for his own benefits. I clenched my fists, my fingernails digging into my palms.
    Why had I thought it would be different with David? I had trusted him, and his betrayal hurt worse than anything Aloysius had ever done to me.
    The door opened. I closed my eyes, sucking in a deep breath and waiting for the next stage. If it was torture, I could live through it. Rape, I could live through it. I could live through anything.
    I only had to endure.
    The door shut. I waited. Footsteps crossed the floor, heading toward me. I waited, muscles coiling as I tensed.
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    Slave To Her Desires

    Warm fingers brushed my cheek. ―Olivia?‖ David‘s voice was a husky question. ―Are you all right?‖
    I opened my eyes and flung myself at him, now free of his awful commands. I attacked, knocking him to the ground. Either I‘d surprised him or he was a terrible fighter, but within moments I was straddling David‘s body and he stared up at me in surprise. I struck him with one hand across the face, then the other, my blows precise.
    He didn‘t fight back. My blows became wild with fury. I hammered at him, snarling with anger and rage each time that I struck at him. My palm slapped against his flesh, and when it began to sting, I attacked him with my fists. He didn‘t fight, just waited as I attacked him over and over again. Every slap, every punch, every scratch I delivered, he took with a grim look on his face.
    When my blows began to slow, he whipped me off of him and rolled, twisting the two of us until he loomed over me, his hands holding down my arms.
    I screamed in rage, a new burst of fury flashing through me.
    ―Olivia,‖ he shouted, trying to piece my rage. ―Stop! You‘re hurting yourself!‖
    I panted, frozen in place, my eyes wild as I stared up at him. His cheeks were flushed a dark red with my repeated attacks, a trickle of blood stained the corner of his mouth. Scratches lined his neck and face – scratches from my hands. And he stared down at me, his eyes as turbulent as my own. Then, recognition crossed his face and he brushed his fingers down my cheek, wet with tears. ―Olivia, you are safe.‖
    I thought hard, my mind racing with escape plans. Once his command freed me, maybe I could jump out the window. I might break my ankles, but I could make it back to town at some point—
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    Slave To Her Desires

    ―I won‘t let them harm you,‖ he said, and his fingers curled in my hair, turning my head and forcing me to meet his gaze. ―I would never let them touch you. They wanted to use you as a payment. I did not agree. You are not mine to bargain with.‖
    My gaze fluttered back to him, and I stared at him in confusion.
    ―I didn‘t sell you to them, Olivia. I wouldn‘t. They wanted a boon. I took it myself.‖ He showed me his arm, where a word had been burned in a long, flowing script. He‘d indentured himself to the Serim on my behalf.
    I swallowed. ―W-what?‖
    He stroked my hair, his expression tender. ―You‘re safe. I offered myself in your stead.
    They were not thrilled, but I refused everything else, and they had no choice.‖ A hint of a smile touched his mouth as he said again, softly, ―You‘re safe.‖
    I stared at his arm. Then at him. ―What do you have to do?‖
    A sad look crossed his face. ―I have to kill a vampire named Aloysius.‖
    Emotion rushed through me. David…he wasn‘t going to betray me? Sell me to the Serim in some misguided effort to help me?
    He‘d offered himself to protect…me?
    No one had ever done that for me. Desire flooded through me, desire and a feeling for David that I couldn‘t name – and didn‘t want to. I lifted my head, my mouth going to his. He parted his lips as if to accept my kiss, but I bit him instead, needing an outlet for the whirlwind of emotion coursing through me, and