Chapter 6

Josephus tore his mouth away from hers. He was breathing like a dying man.

He slid his arms under her back and behind her knees. He stood up in one fluid motion, lifting her off the sofa as if she weighed nothing.

Abigail's head lolled against his shoulder. The room spun in violent circles.

He carried her down the dark hallway and kicked the bedroom door open with his foot.

He threw her down onto the center of the massive king-size bed.

She bounced against the thick mattress. A dizzying wave of nausea washed over her.

Before she could crawl away, Josephus followed her down. His knees bracketed her hips.

His mouth found her collarbone, his teeth scraping against her sensitive skin.

His rough, calloused hand slid up her neck. His thumb brushed against her left cheek, moving to push her hair out of the way.

His skin grazed the raised, jagged edge of her scar. As his hand cupped her jaw, the heavy, rare-earth alloy of his custom signet ring pressed against her cheek.

Abigail's body violently seized.

It was as if he had hit her with a stun gun. The absolute terror of being exposed shattered the drug-like haze of the moment.

She violently twisted her head away from his touch.

She ripped her hands free and clamped both palms tightly over the left side of her face. She curled her knees to her chest, folding into a tight, defensive ball.

Josephus stopped. He hovered above her, his chest heaving. Frustration and drug-fueled rage warred in his dark eyes.

"Please," Abigail sobbed. Her voice cracked, raw and pathetic in the quiet room. "Please, don't look at me."

She squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm a monster."

That single word-monster-hung in the air.

It hit Josephus like a physical blow to the temple.

The drug in his veins stuttered. A violent flashback ripped through his mind.

He saw flames. He heard the sound of a collapsing roof. He saw a little girl crying in the smoke.

A sharp, agonizing pain seized his heart. It was a phantom pain from a past he had buried deep.

The emotional shockwave temporarily overrode the chemical fire in his blood.

He looked down. The moonlight spilled across the bed, illuminating the woman trembling beneath him.

He couldn't see the scar clearly, but he had felt the ruined, uneven texture of her skin.

He didn't feel disgust. He felt an overwhelming, crushing wave of empathy.

He reached out. His movements were no longer violent. They were slow. Deliberate.

He wrapped his large, warm hands around her wrists.

Abigail thrashed, crying out, terrified of the rejection that was about to come.

"Shh," Josephus murmured. His voice was a deep, rumbling vibration.

He gently but firmly pulled her hands away from her face, pressing her wrists into the pillows on either side of her head.

He stared down at the dark, jagged line marring her cheek.

Then, he lowered his head.

He pressed his lips directly against the ugliest part of her scar.

Abigail stopped breathing. Her eyes flew open, staring blindly at the ceiling. Her heart completely stopped beating for a full second.

The moment his lips touched the skin, a bizarre, electric sensation shot through her face.

It wasn't pain. It was a microscopic, vibrating hum.

Beneath the scar tissue, the hidden neural inhibitor violently reacted to the specific electromagnetic signature generated by the alloy and the unique, high-frequency bio-electric field his body emitted-a lingering side effect of a classified military-grade experimental treatment he had survived years ago.

The chronic, stabbing nerve pain that had tortured Abigail for years suddenly vanished. It evaporated like water on a hot stove.

A wave of profound, liquid relief washed through her entire body.

At the exact same time, Josephus felt the violent, chaotic energy of the drug in his system ground itself. The madness in his brain quieted.

He lifted his head. His eyes were dark, clear, and intensely focused on hers.

"You are not a monster," he whispered roughly against her skin.

A dam broke inside Abigail. Hot tears spilled over her eyelashes, tracking down her temples into her hair.

The tension drained from her muscles. She stopped fighting.

Josephus lowered his mouth to hers again. This time, there was no violence. Only a deep, consuming gravity that pulled them both under.