"Girl, I got a raise!" I wish I could share in her excitement and joy but something is eating at me. Slowly, crawling under my skin, up my chest, in my heart, my brain, and I can't get it out of my head, no matter what I distract myself with. My nail snaps as I bite down on it, staring hard at my tab, waiting, fidgeting. "Okay, what's got you over the edge? You been acting like you hooked on somethin'," Ray quips, snatching the tablet from my grip before I can turn it into splinters. I snarl and grab it from her violently. Another snarl leaves my lips, along with the frustration that has begun growing from the moment I realized Mr. Winchester had left and the anger that keeps building with each message I send to him that he doesn't respond to. "Leave me alone!" Ray blinks, and her pupils dilate. She shudders, back hunching and her head hangs as she turns away, moving like a puppet whose strings are being pulled. Oh, Goddess. My eyes widen

I drift, for what seems to be an eternity filled with excruciating pain and pleasure. Sparks explode behind my eyes and my knees buckle. I see red, and lightning. My world cleaves and all that I am, all that is left is that tether that makes us one. I may have been crying or moaning. I can't say, my consciousness is somewhere else, floating, shattering, transforming, becoming. Ezra's joy knows no limit. I could tell her she's a fool for feeling joy, but my reservoir for words has been emptied out. I lose myself slowly. Who am I? I am his Erasthai, and I have been marked for all of eternity. Who is Gin? Gin is gone. Mr. Winchester's teeth retracts slowly, his tongue caressing where his canines had been. He does it slowly, like he has all the time in the world. Territorial bastard, some part of me thinks as his velvety tongue continues stroking. Heat pounds between my thighs and I know deep in my core that I hate him so much. I k

"I'm leaving." Ray doesn't bother to glance up from her laptop, or whatever she's intently scribbling into her journal. "Cut it out. You've got nowhere to go." It's the first time she's strung more than a word together for me since that night at the club. Her gaze rarely meets mine either. I can't tell if she is scared of what she thinks I am or she just happens to find me repulsive. "There is nothing left for me here and I am tired of leeching off of you." Ray taps the head of her pen on the table, but she still doesn't meet my gaze. "Never said that to you. I've got no idea where you get your pretty thoughts from. You wanna leave. Ain't got no papers to hop on a flight, no greenbacks to your name. I could lend you some if you wanna bolt, but we both know there's no corner of this godforsaken planet where you can hide from Mr. Winchester's grasp." Maybe there isn't. Perhaps, I should return home, to my father and be the daughter

Many times, I recall what my life had been at Lycanthia, and how pathetic I must have looked, holding on to a relationship that had no future; to a man that had been mine to begin with, but I lost him somewhere along the line.I wonder if I look the same way now.But I can tell the difference. He wants me. He doesn't nothing to hide that from me or the world. It's in the papers. They say I'm his mistress. It doesn't bother me. The only thing that does bother me is my face on the papers. The fear that Alaric might show up at my door step one day.Even that is taken care of when I discover just how much my safety matters to Sin. He has Ray's home under watch at every hour, and I know if I called, he'd be here immediately.""You're walking into a heartbreak, girl," Ray says with a solemn tone as we climb those steps together. "I don't know what universe you hail from, but 'round these parts, messin' with a married man usually ends in tears. No two ways about it."I slice her a sharp look

His hand disappears into my skirt and my eyes close, a harsh breath leaving my lips as his warm fingers trace the outline of my underwear.Slowly, he tortures me, playing between my thighs, but not quite where I want him. I'm long gone from the meeting and I'm drifting on a different plane.Skilled fingers shift my panties aside and...I sigh, fingers curling into tight fists.Each breath is faint, and my eyes unseeing. The first stroke of his finger has my nipples tightening, and a moan threatens to escape my throat. I shove it down, even as I part my thighs, allowing him more access up my skirt. The clients carry on with the presentation, oblivious to Sin's fingers plunging into my wet sex in a slow torturous motion. In, out, in, deeper, out. My entire world has been reduced to those motions, and my claws jut in and out at the loss of control.I feel eyes on me, and I turn to find El watching. My expression is that of boredom, having taken years to master it, but so