Sin of Fury by Avery Duncan

shuddering
breath. Out of them all, it was clear to her who was more
emotionally unstable. While the man on the right had the cool
demeanor, the hard eyes, and the ingrained hate that she had no
idea about, the other could barely control his anger, he was
shivering so bad.The air around her turned frosty — possibly from
the men? She shoved her trembling hands in her arms as she
tightened them across her chest, well above the swell of her
breasts.
    The sound of a chair scraping against
the floor drew her attention back to the men. A sickly delicate
whisper floated to her ears as one of the men appeared behind her
suddenly. Her back tensed, face paling as his breath caressed her
cheek.
    She could smell the
metallic smell of the bloody...thing that he had been eating. Their
plates were all filled with the same disgusting creation — a still
pulsing something with pieces of charred...skin? Strips of meat? Bacon? Her
stomach heaved. Jamie desperately prayed it was the
latter.
    “ You will go into that room. You will seduce the monster. You will give
us our pay. If you fail to do so, I will tear you apart with my bare
hands, along with your family. Everything you love, every drop of
their blood, will caress your skin as I force you to watch their
demise.”
    Jamie shivered. He was the colder of
the two and yet, it was the one who was so unstable and looked at
her with eyes that said she owed him, that made her hoist her
backbone.
    “ No.”

Chapter 5
     
    The thick door slammed shut, the
action making Talon’s ears ring as the sound echoed through the
room. An array of scents wafted over him.
    Sweet.
    Soft.
    Fresh.
    Female .
    His hackles rose, and he pressed
farther into the shadows. His guard rose as well, furious at Auro
and the new presence. Was he meaning to tempt him, to make him want
even more than he had before? Disgust roiled through him as he
spied a curl of dark black hair shimmering in the light.
    Talon’s eyes darkened as he forced the
shadows to cover him, wanting any source of light to vanish. By
just being there, the woman was in danger. Not only from Auro — but
from him as well.
    He wrapped his hand around his arm,
chest tight as a sense of familiarity came over him. The form lay
still, curled defensively. She hadn’t moved since she had been
thrown in, something for which Talon was grateful.
    His body tensed. The woman
stirred.
    It felt like forever since
Talon had been in the presence of a woman, had even looked at one
from a distance. Not many people walked by, wary of the foreboding
mansion, and even if they did , none paid him or the prison any
heed. The forest around them was Auro’s fence, his grand force of
protection. Crows were his daily visitors, squawking at his treats
of food.
    He was disgusted.
    The small form lay silently on the
ground before him, only moving in jerky movements. Soon enough, he
realized that she was shivering. She made no sound, made no move to
look at him. For a millennium, he felt as if she didn’t know he was
there.
    Talon was perfectly fine with
that.
    She knew he was there, could actually
feel his gaze on her back. Although the lighting was dim, Jamie
knew he could not see anything of her but her hair. She refused to
move, refused to equate herself with him. Already she loathed the
supposed “monster”, had no wish to “copulate” with him, as Auro had
informed her.
    The act of sex had become repugnant to
her, as disgusting as the men above, and the one she was trapped
with. What was supposed to be a beautiful coupling of two people
had turned into a horrific act that made her cringe every time
Chris had entered the room.
    A ray of light beamed from the small
window, bright enough to give her a sense of her surroundings, but
not bright enough to show her the face of the man that lay in the
shadows. She curled tighter, shudders wracking her body. She could
have gasped at how cold she was, but clenched her teeth hard enough
that their chattering stopped.
    If I ever