My Wicked Enemy by Carolyn Jewel Page A

let me go.” Her plea might have been spoken in ancient Egyptian for all the effect she had on him. They were inside an empty house. Vacant. He walked to her and grabbed her by the shoulder in a merciless hold. He marched her through the house, away from the windows and toward the back, where darkness seethed with malice. She twisted and brought up a knee, but he slammed his body against her. Her head hit the wall hard and opened a cut along the side of her head. Warm blood trickled down her temple. Carson prayed Nikodemus was angry enough to come after her.
    “You seem to have figured out a few things since you ran off,” he said.
    “Yes,” she said. She focused on keeping her breathing even. “Yes, Kynan, I have. I know what Magellan did to you. I know you’re not free.” Words bubbled up, low and desperate. “I’m a mage—maybe I can fix that.”
    He laughed. “Carson, you couldn’t touch your magic if your life depended on it.” He slapped a hand on the wall above her shoulder. “You forget, I’ve been watching Magellan poison you since I brought you to the house. You’re expendable, Carson. You always have been, and when you’re gone, he’ll just send me out to get him another witch or mage to use up.”
    Her stomach felt like a rock. Nikodemus had been telling her the truth.
    “Seems like you know a lot now. So maybe you know what this means: I’ve been released from the prohibition against harming one of the magekind.” He put his head by her ear. “You do know what that means, right?” He grabbed one of her hands and pinned it against the wall. “Did you manage to find out about that?”
    She stared into his gorgeous eyes. Thick black lashes. Golden-brown irises. “It means Magellan sent you to kill me. It means you have no choice.” She dropped her voice. “You never have.”
    “You learned fast while you’ve been free.” His mouth came closer to her ear, close enough that his breath heated her cheek. He licked blood from her temple. “What’s it like, Carson? To go where you want, when you want? To look around and know you can do whatever the hell you want?”
    Her head was pounding again. She might just float away from her body. “I hate him, too,” she whispered.
    “He told me to bring him your eyes and your heart when I’m done.”
    Carson stared back at him. She wanted to be sick, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.
    He pressed her against the wall, trapping her there with his arms and body. He was erect. He rolled his hips against hers to make sure she knew his physical state. While he leaned against her, he traced a finger along her lips. “Every time I looked at your mouth, I imagined you on your knees. Did you know that? In my head, you’re always naked, and you’re touching me, your mouth on my body, and I can do anything I want. What I want. The way I like it. I’m going to have your mind, Carson, and when my cock is hard inside you, I’m going to make you come. You’ll hate it, you’ll hate every second of every minute while I bring you.”
    She felt him slipping into her head and threw up a wall, the way she had when she was trying to stop Nikodemus.
    “It won’t last, Carson.” He growled. “You can’t hold out on me forever.”
    “I hate him as much as you do.”
    He snarled, a sound more animal than human. “Nobody hates Álvaro Magellan as much as I do. Not even you.” She felt his presence around her, heavy and monstrous and trying to get into her head. Walls, she thought. Her mind was protected by a wall. The sense of him receded. “I killed your parents for him, Carson. I’m the one who took you from your loving family and gave you to Magellan. Poor little orphan. Raised by the man responsible for your parents’ murder.”
    She shook her head.
    “On your knees, Carson. The way you saw me with Magellan.” He pushed her down. “Do it. Just like that. That’s how we’re starting. You do to me what I have to do to