Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
And then I’m back in my body, facing the man who assaulted me. Who told me my grades depended on letting him do whatever he wanted to my body. Who preyed upon me until my stomach twisted, and I skipped classes to avoid him. And eventually, I dropped out. Even then, I couldn’t escape the nightmares of him, so I retreated into pills.
He’s here, on his knees before me, with two burly executioners gripping him to keep him still. And I have a choice. I didn’t then, but I do now.
This world is full of people who do evil. Some are like Jaeger, who kills like a wolf. Quickly and without remorse. He wears a skull ring as proof of what he is.
But worse are the people who pretend to be good and use their position to prey on others. They hide their evil behind their reputation so no one believes their victims.
For much of my life, I’ve run from my problems. I’ve run from trouble. That’s how I’ve survived.
I’ve spent my whole life as prey. I hated it, but I didn’t know how to stop it. How else to survive.
All my life, I’ve had to take it. And I don’t want to take it anymore.
Professor Boylin looks thinner and weaker than I remember him. Tied and gagged, a prisoner in the Abyss. One of the damned.
I’m the one who has sentenced him to die, and it was so easy. I’m doing it for the administration who didn’t believe me. For my ex-boyfriend who laughed and said, “What do you expect? You’re a hot piece of ass.” For my friends who told me, “Professor Boylin would never. . .”
His blood will be on my hands.
I lift the crutch until the bottom of it is level with his eye. My arm wavers under the weight, but Jaeger is there, taking the base of the crutch and holding it steady so it’s pressed against the prisoner’s eye socket.
“I love you,” he whispers to me.
I nod and pull the trigger. I don’t need to watch the blade shoot out, driving deep through an eyeball into the brain.
I feel the recoil in my arm. There’s little blood, but the body in front of me goes limp. It’s no longer a person.
And I’m no longer prey. Tonight, I join the ranks of the predators.
And we will feast.
Jaeger leads me away from the body to the place where Lucy sits. We link hands over the silver dish, and she pours a cup of bloody water over our joined hands. Bathing us in blood, Lucy intones, “And now you are one.”
I’m in a daze. I stare up at Jaeger, needing him to tell me what to do next.
He releases me, grips my hair, and kisses me. I relax, letting him take control. Reveling in it.
“You did it,” he whispers against my mouth, and I push to tiptoe, leaning into him. Rubbing my hard nipples over his bare chest. He grunts, and I remember his bandages, his half-healed wound, but he doesn’t let me back away.
So I fist my hands in his hair and kiss him back.
Because I’m like him now. His equal. I can run from him and let him chase me. I’ve learned that I like this when it’s fake and play-acting. Choosing it makes me powerful. But I’m no longer the prey in my own life.
Kaiser and the others are removing the body. The man who preyed upon me is just a sack of meat. I didn’t expect it to feel so good.
“What will happen to him?” I ask, and Lucy turns to answer me.
“There’s an incinerator. We’ll turn him to dust. Keep his teeth as trophies and scatter the rest of him to the wind.” She gives me a feral smile. “Welcome to Fraternitas.”
Jaeger puts his hand on my back, and I let him lead me away. We pass the ranks of robed members, and I hold my head high.
And then he’s pushing me in front of him and telling me to run. My ankle twinges a little, but I dart ahead of him in the darkened hallway, wanting the thrill of running from a powerful hunter. I look back to make sure he’s chasing me. He comes toward me, firelight licking across his face. His blue eyes are full of hunger.
I suck in a breath and whirl, racing away.
I don’t get far.
He grabs me and pushes me down to my hands and knees. His hand is on the back of my neck, tugging on my collar.
He thrusts inside me, and I’m so hot for him it only takes a few thrusts before I cum. My cries echo through the corridor. He slams into me from behind, again and again, and I orgasm, this time hard enough to break in two. My fingers curl, and my nails break and chip on the black marble.