Voracious (The Edge of Darkness, #2)

by Leigh Rivers

She’s like my own sunrise. Beautiful. Perfect. She fills a part of me that’s been empty and dark for as long as I can remember.

I’m the son of Tobias Mitchell, for fuck’s sake. I’m not a fucking toy – but in order to protect those I love, I need to pretend to be one.

I need to hear her voice. I need to touch her skin. I need to know this is real, that I am real.

“You’re going to play this game with me,” he whispers against my lips. He tastes like smoke and mint and everything I’ve missed. “The only person stopping me from pulling my gun out and blowing someone’s brain out is you – I need you. I can hear them. Taunting and laughing at me. I can fucking feel them everywhere, but I only want to feel you.”

He pulls his hood down, his dishevelled hair nearly as dark as his blackened heart – my vision still distorted from the euphoria running wild in my veins. Sliding his mask up, and then mine, his eyes darken with possessiveness. “Ty moy, Vesnushki.”

“Have you let anyone touch you?” His voice is deep – a threat. I shake my head. “Kiss you?” I sink my teeth into my bottom lip, and his eyes drop to my mouth. “There was this one guy,” I say, breathless as he leans down to my throat again. “On the dance floor.” “Yeah?” he says against my heated skin, peppering my pulse with soft kisses. I gasp as he nips the skin below my ear. “Yeah. He was a terrible kisser though.”

I never wanted to say those words to Stacey. I wanted to tell her that I’ve already broken rule five. That she can have every fractured shard of my heart, if only she knows how to fix it back together – but I’m an asshole, and I broke her heart instead.

I keep reminding myself that I’m doing all of this to protect her. Because not only is she my weakness, but she’s also my strength – my main reason for continuing, the air to my fucking lungs.

“I n-never stopped loving you.” My heart is fucking sore, but I need to get this last part out. I know I’m dying. But the only thing I’m worried about is her getting the fuck away from those evil pricks. “I will… will always lo-love you, Freckles. Go, live your life and be free. Meet someone who can tr-treat you ri-ight. For-for-forget me.”

Look at me now, my little princess. Daddy’s gone, and he’s never coming back.

I'm literally choking on sobs

I fell head over heels for Kade Mitchell. My best friend’s brother. The guy who teased me whenever I was near him, who made my nerves shatter in both good and bad ways. He made me smile when I was sad, laugh when I felt like crying and warm when I felt so cold. He reminded me of what it felt like to be alive.

“We have an emergency announcement. Reports say that Tobias Mitchell has escaped his institution this afternoon and is currently at large. The murderer and psychopath was given a life sentence over twenty years ago.”

DADDY’S HOMEEE