Demon Slave by Kiersten Fay

the jaw. He stumbled back into Marik, who was like a monster
from a thousand nightmares.
    Unmitigated rage rolled off him in palpable
waves. Nadua managed to turn away just as Marik snapped the man’s
neck. The sword he’d been holding crashed to the rocky ground. The
second man only made a soft gurgling noise. Next came the sound of
the bodies being dragged away. Braving a look, she realized she was
alone.
    Nadua didn’t know why she couldn’t watch.
She’d killed men herself, plenty. Would again, if she needed to.
But seeing Marik in that wild state had seemed wrong.
    Her heavy breathing echoed off the thick
walls, her body frozen in shock, but when Marik reappeared in the
mouth of the cave she reached for the sword. He was still in a
state of bloodlust and was, what she could only describe as,
stalking her.
    “ Marik?”
    His head tilted to the side, as if he didn’t
recognize his own name.
    What would he do to her?
    Unfortunately, she knew the answer to that
question by the way his desperate gaze was traveling her body.
    Ominously, he inched forward and she rose to
her full height, lifting the sword toward him. Determined red eyes
scanned the metal before sweeping back to her face. His expression
said, “I am getting past that sword.” And he probably would, but
Nadua wasn’t the type to become prey to a crazed demon without a
fight.
    He took another step. Nadua swung the blade,
forcing him back. His eyes narrowed.
    “ That’s right, demon. I’m
not so easy, am I?” As soon as she said it, she knew she made a
dangerous mistake. At the word “demon”, a fearsome sound rumbled up
from within him. When he moved again, Nadua tried to strike, but he
was much faster than she. He had her down on her back in
seconds.
    She expected pain next, but when none came
she peeked open an eye. Marik was gazing down at her, his features
unreadable. As if trying not to alarm her—as it was, her heart was
ready to burst from her chest—one callus hand unhurriedly reached
for her face. Afraid it would provoke him, Nadua stifled a flinch.
His thumb caressed her cheek while the rest of his fingers threaded
through her hair.
    Nadua was stunned by the gentleness, when he
looked as though ready to tear the flesh from her throat with his
lengthening fangs.
    Even after she agreed to journey with him,
she’d been in constant fear of encountering this side of him, with
no way to defend herself. The Cyrellians called it the Demon’s
Madness, where a demon loses all sanity and is no more than a
primitive beast.
    Well, they were right. Marik looked beastly.
But she didn’t think he was going to hurt her. Then he shifted his
hips, giving her a better idea of what he had in mind. Her throat
went dry.
    Earlier, while they were traveling the
forest, she had to work to keep her eyes from drifting his way. It
was hard not to marvel at his strong, fluid movements. He oozed
power. And every time he looked at her too, it had felt as though
he were consuming her with his eyes.
    And she had liked it.
    So long has it been, since a man looked at
her in that way. It made her stomach flip and her mind drift to all
the things she could do with him. Things she often feared she’d
never experience again. For the last few centuries, Nadua had tried
to force herself to forget what it was like to be with a man. How
good it could be.
    Could she trust Marik not to hurt her?
    Just as his eyes dipped to her lips, his
hand moved to cup the back of her neck. Nadua’s heart rate spiked
uncontrollably, while the rest of her body relaxed for him.
    She knew it was going to happen, was ready
for it, but when he pulled her to his lips, nothing could have
prepared her for the heavy rush of desire that slammed through her.
Her breasts grew sensitive against the material of her shirt.
Liquid gathered between her legs. Her head turned to deepen the
contact.
    Then his kiss, slow and testing at first,
became something more. Bodies pressing deeper, his tongue delved