Release In The Dark (DARK erotic romance series) by Natalie Kristen Page B

white hair and scarred face. “Owen,”
I gasp.
    “ Zoey,” he growls,
tightening his grip on the back of my neck. He leans in suddenly and
presses his lips against mine. I try to turn away, but he is holding
me too tightly, too viciously. When he squeezes my neck, I gasp in
pain and his tongue plunges into my mouth once my lips part. I blink
furiously as his mouth ravages mine. His lips and tongue are
relentless, seeking, probing, demanding.
    He moves his large hands all
over my body, even as I pound my fists into his chest and back,
digging my nails into his neck to try to pry him off me. But Owen is
too strong. I have seen him kill another Slave in the Palace with
his bare hands. He had enough strength and stamina to satisfy the
rapacious Empress, enough to become the Empress's pet Slave.
    With the Empress's permission,
he had tried to take me by force in the middle of the Great Hall,
before the drunken, lustful eyes of the Emperor and his debauched
guests.
    Owen Vesparr, favorite Slave of
the Empress.
    What the hell is he doing here?
    As I grab a fistful of his black
uniform, my eyes round even further. He is wearing the black uniform
of the Imperial Army. He is a soldier, a Commander in the Emperor's
Imperial Army! Not a Slave. A Commander.
    He finally releases me and I
lurch backwards. I am breathing and blinking furiously. I stare at
him from head to toe. He looks the same with his closely cropped
white hair, piercing, predatory green eyes and scarred face. I can
see more scars peeking out from his collar on his neck, and I know
that underneath that black uniform, his chest and back are covered
with rippling scars. I have seen his powerful, muscular body, and
his lethal speed and strength in the Great Hall when the Emperor
ordered a fight to the death between two Slaves as entertainment for
his guests.
    My eyes fall on the stripes on
his broad shoulders and the Commander's insignia over his heart. “A
Commander? You're a Commander?” I whisper, choking out a
brittle laugh.
    “ Yes. I am a Commander,”
he says, placing particular emphasis on the last word.
    Jaxon had been a Commander as
well.
    I run my hand over my mouth.
“How did...”
    “ Did you think I would be
a Slave forever?” His green eyes darken. “This—"
He points at his Commander's stripes. “—is my reward.
I was conferred the rank of Commander by the Empress, for
my...services to her. And you, you Zoey, you were to be mine as
well.” His eyes blaze as they search mine. He looks me up and
down, his nostrils flaring as his eyes linger on my heaving chests.
He licks his lips when he sees my erect nipples pushing against the
thin fabric of my tank top.
    He stares down my bare thigh,
down my legs and slowly up again.
    “ Zoey,” he says at
last. “I've been looking for you. And I found you—here.”
    At his words, I freeze. He
has been sent to hunt me down.
    When I don't reply, he continues
in a tight voice, “Why did you run away? Why did you run from
me? We were in the Palace together, a Slave and a Siren. We would
be together. The Empress promised me that I could have you. You are
mine, Zoey. You belong to me. Mine! Why did you leave me?”
    I start to back away, shaking my
head mutely.
    Owen closes his eyes briefly.
“Why did you leave? Why?” His eyes snap up, and I gasp
at the scorching wrath and hatred churning in those emerald depths.
“You left me, to come here? To be a whore in the Red Lantern?”
he roars.
    My back thuds against the wall.
Owen charges at me, and before I can scramble away, his knuckles have
smashed into the wall on either side of me, caging me in with his
powerful arms. I turn my head to the side as he leans in, his lips
against my ear.
    “ You let other men fuck
you, didn't you?” he hisses. I can feel his stubble against my
cheek. His hand grabs my neck suddenly, forcing me to face him. I
look into his hard, hungry eyes, and see the murderous rage in them.
“This,” he pants. “All of this...”